Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport has held talks with representatives from Emirates, Etihad Airways, Flydubai and Air Arabia concerning the introduction of flights from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after aviation regulators from the two countries signed an agreement of understanding in a bid to expand cooperation in the sector. The talks were also attended by the Slovenian Tourist Board, as well as local tour operators. In a statement, the Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure said, "It is now up to the airlines, airports and tour operators to draw up specific plans". Last November, Slovenia and the UAE signed a Civil Aviation Agreement, which enables flexibility on routes, capacity, number of frequencies and types of aircraft between the two countries, for both passenger and cargo flights. The agreement also foresees the implementation of fifth freedom traffic rights, permitting carriers from the UAE to operate services to any airport in Slovenia and then onwards to a third country.
Gulf carriers have little presence in Slovenia. Flydubai, which operates services to Zagreb, offers its passengers bus transfers from Ljubljana to the Croatian capital. On the other hand, Etihad Airways codeshares on Air Serbia's double daily flights between Belgrade and Ljubljana. Currently, Flydubai operates services to Belgrade, Sarajevo, Skopje and Zagreb, with Etihad maintaining operations to Belgrade and Air Arabia to Sarajevo, although it has flown to both Tuzla and Pristina in the past. According to the "Sierra5" portal, Flydubai has shown the greatest interest in introducing services to the Slovenian capital according to "unofficial but reliable" sources, although neither frequencies nor possible launch dates have been discussed.
The Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure noted, "Passengers travelling from Ljubljana Airport should benefit from better connections to the UAE, which will play a significant role in promoting cooperation, especially in the tourism sector, which is of great importance to Slovenia". Last year, Slovenia and the UAE signed an economic cooperation agreement which the two countries see as an opportunity to boost ties in various fields, particularly in tourism. Earlier this year, the two established a joint committee on economic and commercial cooperation.
Finally! Flydubai could start 3x p/w, There would be demand for sure.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand that Adria never saw the potential in opening Dubai or Abu Dhabi. They could have provided a good feed to their Balkan network back in the day.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteToo late now I think.
I don't understand how Adria did not see any potential in so many things they could have done over the last 25 years ... but yeah, now it's pretty late.
DeleteIt would be fantastic if one of the Gulf carriers started flying to Ljubljana. Fly Dubai' Zagreb flights are filled with people from Slovenia.
ReplyDeleteHope it happens but not getting my hopes up.
ReplyDeleteDubai-Ljubljana-New York by Emirates.That would be great...For the beginning Dubai-Ljubljana is a big step for our country.
ReplyDeleteI think you are getting ahead of yourself a bit. UAE and Croatia have an open sky agreement and also have fifth freedom. It would make more sense to fly DXB-ZAG-JFK if they were ever to do something like that in the region.
DeleteYou are right but Ljubljana has to offer something new in the region. I hope they will surprise us
DeleteTalks with Air India were promising
DeleteWhatever happened with that? :D
DeleteYou know the answer, but the idea could be resumed:-D
DeleteIt ended up with a codeshare. Air India on Adria flights from Frankfurt to Ljubljana and Adria on flights from Frankfurt to Delhi.
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/p/adria-air-india-launch-codeshare.html
Nah, we don't need that, or flights to places like Italy or Spain. Let's sell everything to the Germans for peanuts, we can fly to anywhere via Frankfurt.
DeleteThey should focus on getting some more LCC first.
ReplyDeleteThey will have to start attracting new airlines soon. Adria has cut a few routes and it is having a real impact. The airport is way to dependent on JP.
ReplyDeleteWhoever is fine but we need flights to the Middle East. Btw Turkish sent an A330 to Ljubljana yesterday.
ReplyDeleteFootball team only
DeleteFlyDubai and/or Air Arabia maybe,EK and EY definitely no.
ReplyDeleteEK is not really interested in Balkans,for now.Even BEG or ZAG are too small fishes that are operated by LCC that feeds EK without investment.
EY is in partnership with Air Serbia which act as a feeder for EY,i think it works for both companies really well.
We are too small for big ones,LCC are perfectly fine
EK is interested in both BEG and ZAG. They have been looking at BEG for many years, studying and evaluating it. BEG was several years back close to getting daily EK service, as a stop enroute to VCE. DXB-VCE initially was not doing well, on the A345, hence a planned BEG stop, however VCE loads picked up and the need for the BEG stop was no longer there. EK last year were in contact withh both ZAG and BEG, with ZAG talks going well.
DeleteActually, ex VCE fly many Slovenians on EK flights, and some Croats.
With QR doing well in ZAG, and the looks of them sending the B788 to ZAG, I wouldnt be surprised to see EK try and jump in before that happens. EK could easily distroy all Gulf bound competition in BEG if the launched the route.
" EK could easily destroy all Gulf bound competition in BEG if the launched the route."
DeleteDont get ahead of yourself now. I am sure EY/JU alliance would come up with a response such as A330 by EY and A320 by JU. QR could also do daily flights once aircraft issue is solved. I completely understand why you would think that EK would dominate then, which is most likely event, but you never know.
"They have been looking at BEG for many years, studying and evaluating it"
True, but it has been forever... I honestly remember 10 years ago Blic said EK is coming to BEG soon.
JU is at a disadvantage with their product and I doubt much would change even with the A320neo. Lack of IFE is a big minus and the leather seats. While EY fills their A320's to BEG, JU can not say the same. They have improved, but still many seats go empty.
DeleteQR has greatly improved firstly opening Hamad Intl and their advantage is being able to offer smaller capacity compared to EK.
EY is a mess, ac and crew shortage, internall problems and AUH is absolutely horrendous and is struggling with its currently operations. Pax are missing flights due to the inability to process them timely. This wont improve until the Mid Field terminal finally opens.
EK's biggest problem is capacity constraints at DXB which is forcing them to use larger aircraft for the time being. DWC wont be ready for EK before 2023 and no A330/A340 replacement has been made (however I think theyll end up ordering a large amount of B787-1). EK intends to remove the A330's by March 2017 (however GDS shows June 2017) leaving the smallest ac the B77L which is already in shortage. The B77W might be too much capacity, however EK has a significantly larger operation and a better product.
JU was flying to DXB up until october 2011 which was doing great. They had an SPA with EK with most transfers going to Australia.
JATBEGMEL,
DeleteNice analysis. The only thing you forgot to put into the equation is that the market is in general very price sensitive. I am aware that EK would target Australian diaspora which are better off financially wise, but still they would pick QR or EY if the ticket is cheaper.
The other issue is the aircraft type since A330 is relativly soon gone, and the only other option is B777-300 which is just too big of a plane.
I see FZ doing the job in the region for the next 3-4 years.
FZ has been doing really poorly in BEG compared to the other carriers. I fly several times a year between Belgrade and the UAE and only once have I flown FZ. Last september while JU, EY and QR was overbooked, FZ had half loads. FZ overall I didnt like, however their interior is nice and they have IFE with limited content for free. FZ for ZAG and BEG is simply not the answer for EK.
DeleteOT - Vueling A321 today in Belgrade!
ReplyDeleteWhen we mention that several companies fly to ZAG every day with bigger planes and some of them with A321 there was public linch saying we should not publish unimportant and stupid things? So is there any difference with this information?
DeleteThe difference is Vueling has only 6 A321 in its fleet of more than 100 aircraft, seating 220 pax. Therefore, it's certainly worth noticing since that's an almost wide-body payload of pax and a rare occurence given the carriers fleet structure.
DeleteWell mine is bigger than yours.
DeleteI came here to write that :P
DeleteAnon 4:18,
DeleteWhat you say is simply not true. People have been reporting a bunch of large birds in ZAG recently (TK, El Al, charters...) and there was nothing such as lynch mob unleashed on them. If you have a problem with BEG try at least not to hide behind ZAG.
+1 anon 6:30. People did indeed post about ZAG getting bigger planes in the last 2 weeks on more then 3 occasions. By the way I completely support that and have like most users here no issue with that.
DeleteFlydubai would be stupid if they start Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteIt would harm their loadfactor in Zagreb.
They are too much everywhere and the ones that are everywhere in the end up with nothing.
Not true ... they would certainly end up with something - which is better than nothing which they would get if they didnt keep on growing and deploying the many aircraft they have on order and receive
DeleteI agree with Anon 5:27. FZ would harm itself with LJU flights. In my opinion they should consider GRZ instead in order to cover area from South of Vienna till LJU, MBX and KLU.
DeleteOther than (the expensive) Air Arabia there is no other airline from Gulf realistic in LJU.
Yeah, and then maybe they should consider MBX as well ...
DeleteHow come the richest and most developed country in former Yugoslavia not receiving enough flights?? It's just a pity.
ReplyDeleteIt's a small country, what are you talking about? Not strange at all.
DeleteBut has a greate catchman area...about 5-6 mio people. Well situated as well
DeleteAnd in that catchment area there are many airports such as ZAG, GRZ, TRS, PUY, etc.
DeleteOT: Air Serbia SVO-BEG routing does not avoid overflying western part of Ukraine any more resulting in shorter flight time.
ReplyDeleteWhy were they avoiding western Ukraine?
DeleteIt's really interesting to compare fr24 JU SVO-BEG and BEG-SVO routes on different days over the last week.
DeleteSo they don't get shot down by a SU-25
DeleteOnly Russian carriers are avoiding Ukraine. I don't see any reason why JU have/had to do it.
DeleteThey started avoiding Ukraine as a reaction to MH 17.
DeleteOn Monday again Turkish Airlines A330 in LJU 11.30-13.00
ReplyDelete