Founded | 28 March 1991 |
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Commenced operations | 1991 |
Hubs | Sarajevo International Airport |
Parent company | JAT Yugoslav Airlines |
Headquarters | Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Key people | Muhamed Abadžić |
Air Commerce was a Yugoslav airline based at Sarajevo International Airport in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was officially known as "AIR COMMERCE društvo za avio saobraćaj i usluge d.o.o. Sarajevo" and had its headquarters in Radićeva Street 4c, Sarajevo.
Air Commerce was an airline based in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, then still within SFR Yugoslavia, that transported over 40,000 passengers from October 1991 until March 1992 from its hub, Sarajevo International Airport. The airline was the main contributor for the increase of passenger traffic in Sarajevo airport in that period. Its fleet consisted in two Boeing 727 leased from JAT Yugoslav Airlines, and one Yakovlev Yak-42. At some point prior to the beginning of the Bosnian War in 1992, Air Commerce was operating another type of plane leased from JAT, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9.
Before the establishment of Air Commerce, JAT had a monopoly over the international flights within Yugoslavia, and almost all international flights from Sarajevo were made trough Belgrade and Zagreb. Air Commerce was the first private airline founded on the territory of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, and began direct flights from Sarajevo to a dozen destinations in Europe. In 1991 and 1992, the airline was responsible for a record boost in the number of passengers passing through Sarajevo Airport. Despite this, the airline's most profitable route was between Zurich and Skopje, where the majority of passengers were Albanians. This boost in air traffic from Bosnia and other regions of Yugoslavia made it possible for Air Commerce to pay more than US$1 million in leasing payments to JAT in its first year of operation. However, with the start of the Bosnian War and Bosnia and Herzegovina's declaration of independence, the planes were delivered back to Belgrade to JAT, and the company underwent a major decrease in activity.