Tuzla International Airport exceeded the annual plan for the number of transported passengers, and November was a particularly record-breaking month. This was contributed by the cancellation of Wizz Air's base in Sarajevo and the increase in business volume in Tuzla, as well as the establishment of Ryanair operations.
This year for the Tuzla International Airport began with limited operations due to the pandemic measures that were in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, and significantly better business opportunities followed from mid-June, when an increase in the number of transported passengers was recorded.
The Acting Director of the Tuzla International Airport, Dževad Halilčević, in an interview for Klix, considers 2022 a good business year, considering that with 460 thousand transported passengers, this year's plan of 400 thousand was exceeded.

In 2022, the Tuzla airport left behind the busiest day ever, with slightly more than 50,000 passengers served. Such business results were certainly contributed by the increase in the number of routes, i.e. the greater activity of Wizz Air, which, after the cancellation of the base in Sarajevo, put more focus on Tuzla, as well as the establishment of the operations of the airline Ryanair.



"Since November 1 this year, with the launch of the winter flight schedule, we have also established cooperation with Ryanair, which so far has transported almost ten thousand passengers. On the other hand, Wizz Air has since November 1 (after the cancellation of the base in Sarajevo, op.a.) reintroduced the line to Eindhoven, and as for the other increase in the number of passengers, it was certainly felt in the sense that certain destinations were increased with the number of weekly departures. This increased the volume of traffic from our airport," said Halilčević.
The airport management is continuously talking with other interested airlines regarding the possible establishment of operations from Tuzla. Discussions are also being held with existing ones regarding the expansion of the flight network, especially in the context of destinations of interest to the BiH diaspora.

"In the winter flight schedule, our long-term partner Wizz Air flies to 14 destinations in the countries of Western Europe, while Ryanair flies to three destinations. It is a good thing that both carriers are quite full on all flights, but the biggest benefit is for the passengers, who have the opportunity choosing which days they will fly and at cheaper prices. We hold some of the meetings every week and we expect to improve or expand the offer from our airport by spring," Halilčević adds for Klix.


On the other hand, the focus is also on infrastructure projects at the Tuzla airport. As Halilčević revealed, all procedures related to the introduction of contractors for the construction of the third departure gate are currently being completed.
"We expect the works to start immediately in the New Year, and this project is very important to us because it creates a prerequisite for increasing the volume of business of existing partners, but also for bringing in some new ones," continues the director of the Tuzla airport.
Also, a contractor has been chosen who will build a new parking area, and the works could start already in the first days of 2023. On the other hand, the construction of the atrium is being realized somewhat slowly due to subsequently identified errors in the project, and the completion of the building is expected in the next few days, which will be followed by the external decoration of the surrounding area.