Slovenia expects to establish flights with China next year after an airline expressed interest to launch services between Xi'an and Ljubljana. The Slovenian Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, said, "We are especially interested in improving land, sea and air connectivity with China. We expect that direct flights between China's north-western city of Xi'an and our capital city Ljubljana will be established soon". He added, "Connectivity with China will enhance bilateral tourism and people-to-people exchange, which is another very important aspect of our cooperation. Slovenia wishes to establish itself as one of the major logistic hubs of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in this part of the world". The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road is an initiative proposed by the Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road and maritime trading routes.
Last month, Slovenia's Minister for Infrastructure, Peter Gašperšič, visited China where he held talks with China's Minister for Transport, Li Xiaopeng, and the head of the Chinese Civil Aviation Agency, Feng Zhenglin. They discussed improving airline connectivity between the two countries, as well as cooperation in the production of small aircraft. Ljubljana has been attempting to secure flights to China for several years. In 2013 the airport's General Manager, Zmago Skobir, sent an invitation to China Southern Airlines to introduce services to the Slovenian capital. Last year, the Chinese Embassy in Ljubljana launched an initiative for flights between the two countries to be established, with a proposal for Hainan Airlines to operate its service from Beijing to Prague via the Slovenian capital. Ultimately, Hainan will now use Prague as a stopover on its new service to Belgrade starting September 15.
Maribor Edvard Rusjan Airport also expects to link Slovenia with China after SHS Aviation took over and established an airline with the aim of launching services to the Far East. Andrej Fištravec, the Mayor of Maribor, said, "The international investment group SHS Aviation purchased operator Aerodrom Maribor and with that obtained a fifteen year concession to manage the airport. They also announced plans to commence flights this year. The initial plan was made with knowledge of Slovenian legislation, although, unfortunately, in Slovenia it takes more time to be granted all the necessary licenses to create conditions for them to fulfil their investment plan". He added, "VLM Airlines, a subsidiary of SHS Aviation, received their air operator's certificate (AOC) in May instead of April as initially planned. I believe that, during the second half of the year, SHS will start with flights inside Europe and once the infrastructure at Maribor Airport is developed, I think they will start continental flights to China". SHS has previously announced plans to commence services from Slovenia's second largest city to Xi'an, Chongqing and Nanchang in China.
Comments
1. Zadar - naveliko se pričalo o letovima prije 3-4 godine, odrađeni sastanci u Kini, izjave da je sve dotovoreno, iznjeta konkretna linija, frekvencije
2. Ljubljana - prezentirano kao visoko odmakli pregovori
3. Zagreb - znao se prijevoznik, frekvencije, avion, početka letova u 6. mjesecu, zatražene dozvole
4. Beograd - zna se linija (Peking preko Praga), početak letova, prijevoznik, red letenja, avion, postoji datum početka letova
5. Evo sad ponovo Ljubljana.
Za sada beogradska priča izgleda kao jedina koja će se realizirati, posebno radi involviranosti politike. No, sa Hainanom nikad ne znaš.
Puno previše otkazanih planova u zadnji čas, i puno previše otkazanih linija po otvaranju (do sada su zatvorili linije na 35 od 110 postojećih destinacija, što je 1/4 svih dosadašnjih destinacija)
But please note that a lot of fun and critics are on the way. At the end, these flights are originally PRG flights, and most of the pax will disembark in PRG. And everyone (except fanatics) will mock on the project once it is noticed that there aren't more than 10-20 pax arriving to BEG.
It's becoming hilarious!
Beogradska priča će se vrlo vjerojatno realizirati jer:
1. Involvirana je najviša politika, oni su potvrdili da to ide, a to znači da će napraviti sve da se ne izblamiraju, posebno Vučić.
2. Zatražene su i dobivene dozvile (OK, to je bilo i u Zagrebu)
3. Objavljen je datum početka letova (OK, i to je bilo i u Zagrebu)
3. Objavljen je precizan red letenja (čak i to da će biti 5. slobode na legu PRG-BEG), isto je već objavljeno i u Pragu
4. Peking-Beograd preko Praga sa 5. slobodom na PRG-BEG je daleko niži rizik nego Peking-Zagreb nonstop.
Sve to ukazuje da će se ova linija destiti i da se rješavaju detalji.
A to što još nema prodaje karata uobičajna je praksa Kineza. Nažalost. Jer da nije, ja i mojih 25 putnika u 10. mjesecu bi išlo tom linijom, ali mi je već prekasno čekati, pa sam se odlučio za drugačiju opciju.
- Transavia (Amsterdam)
- Wizz (Cherleroi)
- easyJet (2nd London)
That is so far away from "lot". That is so disappointed. In same time just this year:
- 12 new routes Split
- 12 Dubrovnik
- 12 Pula
- 10 Belgrade
- 9 Zagreb
- 8 Zadar
- 6 Skopje
- 5 Tuzla
- 5 Tivat
- 4 Podgorica
- 4 Priština
- 3 Sarajevo
У сваком случају, сви желе летове за Кину. Није их лако обезбедити и можда је Загреб морао погурати државну управу да она свој део одради... иза затворених врата.
Swiss to Zagreb, year round. They pulled out of Zagreb as they were retiring Avros, and didn't have enough planes for Zagreb. CS100 Service now, year round.
Can you book the flights ???
It is almost July, flights should be bookable by now. Normally 3 months ahead of the first flight, should be bookable through skyscanner and google flights.
Any links to that ambassador's comment ?
And you have Emirates, Qatar, Iberia, Austrian, Lufthansa, Swiss, BA, Air France, KLM.... Why would Croatia need to attract Chinese carriers to start with. If Chinese carriers see Croatia as a potential for their passengers they'll come soon enough.
Lets not force flights cause politicians want it, let the market dictate the terms. Korean air is only flying seasonal charters to Zagreb, 400 000 South Korean visitors in Croatia, 80 000 in Zagreb. 175 000 Japanese visitors to Croatia, not a single direct flight to Croatia with a Japanese carrier.
When you have plethora of global carriers landing in Zagreb, yo really don't need direct links to Zagreb as long as there are good connecting flights. Yes direct flights are better, but if they're not commercially viable, why force it.
Anyway the ambassador said. "It is important to establish direct flights, as well as simplify and speed up the issuance of visas. Last year, 100.000 Chinese tourists visited Croatia, which is almost nothing considering the Chinese travel market, however, it was an improvement of 20% compared to 2015. I would really like for Croatia to approach China in a different way and view it from a different angle".
What I don't get about some Croatian participants here is that they deny that anything can be done better, that anything can be improved. The line of argument is that everything is the best, everything is world class, everything is amazing. In actual fact it is not. But instead of discussing about it and suggesting ways to fix things you present as if everything is top notch. Unless you are being paid for PR services, I don't see much point in being here. At the same time some of you here seem to be competing who will be more condescending and arrogant towards others creating a toxic environment for any sort of discussion. But when people unfortunately start responding to you in the same malicious way you do to others, you are the first to cry foul.
A link to the website would be nice.
As to lay back attitude in Croatian mentality, why rush things?
We know things aren't great and we know things can improve, however when you rush things, it never ends good. So if Chinese want to come to Croatia they'll come when they're good and ready.
I'd rather have good links via Frankfurt, London or Paris at first, than be subject of whiff and whims of some airline. Good steady year round links are vital.
Emirates, Qatar, Turkish are doing brilliant job in Linking Zagreb with Asia.
London, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich. Amsterdam and Madrid offer great connecting flights worldwide.
Da, političari u Hrvatskoj ne odrađuju dovoljno dobro posao u lobiranju kompanija za letove prema Hrvatskoj. Ima dobrih primjera gdje su bili involvirani političari (Emirates, Monarch, Air Transat, PSO posebno za Trade Air), ali u slučaju Kine, SAD-a ali i još nekih drugih realnih destinacija gdje je Hrvatska superiorna (turisti, dijaspora) potpuno su zakazali.
- 8 Belgrade
- 7 Zagreb
- 6 Skopje
- 5 Tuzla
- 4 Podgorica
- 3 Priština
- 3 Split
- 3 Sarajevo
- 3 Pula
- 2 Niš
And Ljubljana just 1. Is this something to compare, and to show how Ljubljana is doing lousy job.
Well Budapest had a massive head start and also four times more traffic than Zagreb.
There are only 4000 Chinese living in Zagreb, 6000 in Croatia, 140 000 Chinese, 100 000 Taiwanese, 30 000 HK visitors are expected in Croatia this year. Still not enough to warrant direct link just yet.
When we have 250-300 000 Chinese visitors from Mainland, yes then it would be nice to start a direct seasonal flights, and with 500-550 000 visitors, that would require year round service.
Linking Shanghai and Beijing with Zagreb by 2025 would probably be desirable and warranted.
If Croatia can attract 300 000+ Taiwanese visitors, then yes a nice service linking Taipei and Zagreb would be nice.
As is Emirates and Qatar provide great connections to Asia.
I am sure you are talking like that now because there is no indication of these flights happening. If there were then you would be singing a different song.
Anyway, I think HR like MKD, HU and MNE should have worked with Serbia for these Chinese people to go to eastern Croatia and Zagreb as well. It's a missed opportunity.
But here we are talking about Fraport and are they doing good job or not. And they are not! They don't have much influence on Adria more frequencies, but they are not bringing more companies to Ljubljana. Comparing to region they are making lousy job!
Yesterday, Croatia joined Schengen Information System, has about 90% technicalities done, and is expected to become full Schengen member next year. And having their "own" China flights, I don't believe Hungarians "work" that lot with Serbia about potential Belgrade Beijing flights.
Also, when looking at the situation at an airport, you look at the overall connectivity and BEG has little to complain about.