Bosnia’s Federation Endorses Sale of 49% of BH Airlines to Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines will pay 10 million euro ($14.3 million) for the minority stake under the privatisation deal, the Federation government said in a statement.

The buyer will also provide five million euro for taking on lease two Boeing or Airbus aircraft.

The Federation government chose Turkish Airlines as best bidder in the tender for the minority stake in BH Airlines in October. Turkish Airlines outbid Malaysia’s Comintel Corporation and a Jordanian consortium comprising the royal airline Royal Wings.

Following the deal, the Federation government holds a 50.93% stake in BH Airlines, while Bosnia’s biggest engineering firm, state-controlled Energoinvest, owns 0.07%.

The Muslim-Croat Federation is one of the two autonomous parts of war-divided Bosnia. The other is the Serb Republic.

BH Airlines performs regular international flights from the capital Sarajevo to Istanbul, Skopje, Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart and Zurich, and domestic flights from Sarajevo to Banja Luka and Mostar. In 2006, BH Airlines transported some 60,000 passengers. The company employs 86.

Bosnia has another airline company, Air Srpska, which is the carrier of the Serb Republic and has been grounded since 2004. The Serb Republic government said a year ago it would establish a new air carrier, to be called Sky Srpska, which would replace Air Srpska.

($=0.6958 euro)