Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is in "intense talks" and "constant contact" with foreign carriers over their potential introduction of flights to the Slovenian capital, Janez Krašnja, the Head of Airline Management at Fraport Slovenia said. He noted that the arrival of new airlines would boost tourism in the country but added that it is demand, not the airport, that convinces a particular carrier to establish flights. "We do not expect that Slovenia will become so popular overnight as some other European capitals, but eventually more passengers could be brought in". Although Mr Krašnja did not specify which companies the airport has engaged in talks with, it is believed to currently be in discussions with Flydubai, All Nippon Airways and Eurowings.
Foreign carriers have been increasing their operations to the Slovenian capital this year, which has contributed to its strong passenger growth. This week, the no frills easyJet, which maintains flights from London's Gatwick and Stansted airports to Ljubljana, upgraded its upcoming new three weekly service from Berlin from the initially planned seasonal operations to year-round flights. Furthermore, Transavia will increase its number of services from Amsterdam to five weekly during the height of the summer season, up from three last year, while LOT Polish Airlines is now running daily services from Warsaw to Ljubljana, an increase from six per week last summer. In addition, Air France's regional subsidiary HOP! has upgraded capacity on its daily service between Paris and Ljubljana, adding some 24 seats each way on flights to the Slovenian capital.
The General Manager of Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, Zmago Skobir, recently noted, "New connections translate into greater stability for the airport, while they also bring new tourists and investors to Slovenia. The airport is keeping in step with the traffic growth through infrastructure development and we hope to get a construction permit for the new terminal this year and have it completed by 2020. If I'm being optimistic, Flydubai could launch flights to Ljubljana this year". Ljubljana Airport welcomed 487.152 travellers through its doors during the January - April period, an increase of 15.8%. Aircraft movements were up 6.1% to 10.458, while the amount of processed cargo stood at 4.003 tons, up 11.1%. "According to forecasts, by the time the new terminal opens the airport should be handling around 1.8 million passengers. Over the next thirty years, we expect for average annual passenger growth to amount to 3.1%. In order for this to happen, Slovenia must continue growing, the Slovenian economy must continue developing, and foreign investment must keep rising. As a result, foreign travellers will continue coming to Slovenia. Our job is to maintain our competitiveness", Mr Skobir said.
I really hope Wizz Air will expand its network to Ljubljana. I think there is a lot of potential. Why have they not done more?
ReplyDeleteToo expensive?
Delete*** the airport I mean
DeleteSooner or later I am sure that Wizz Air will be expanding there is the future.
DeleteHope so. I see potential for them to start some routes in Scandinavia and Iberia.
DeleteYay fantastic to read that Easy Jet has extended Berlin-Ljubljana into winter!
ReplyDeleteAnd for some reason Adria, which can get transfers on this route, couldn't make it work.
DeleteLJU is an EU capital...O&D traffic would work better.
DeleteOne very nice plus of LJU is being connected to 3 London airports, which is really not bad.
ReplyDeleteFraport have realised they'd better start acting as the other airports are also acting fast. The 2 direct competitors are SKP & ZAG.
SKP? How?
DeleteFigures. Thanks to W6 and addition of new routes, SKP has outperformed LJU.
DeleteI am impressed with SKP. They put LJU to shame.
DeleteAnon @ 09:37 Before talking about shame, have you ever considered how much competition from nearby airports SKP has compared to LJU?
DeleteAnon @ 09:37 Before talking about shame, have you ever considered how much competition from nearby airports SKP has compared to LJU?
DeleteI'm still disappointed Athens didn't work out with Aegean. They were a nice addition.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised it didn't. What plane did they use to LJU? Q400 or Airbus?
DeleteA320 and if they would try with Q400
DeleteIf they operated it with Q400 I'm sure the numbers would be there. I hope they or Adria try again.
DeleteIt could be that the route performed just ok but that they needed the aircraft elsewhere. They have been expanding quite aggressively from the Greek islands.
DeleteFurthermore, maybe they think it's more cost effective to serve both markets from Zagreb. A friend of mine is a pilot at Aegean and he told me that loads to ZAG are not that great, between 50% and 60%.
No wonder why ZAG-ATH is seasonal. I find this really strange. A3 is a great airline. I think Croatians and Slovenes prefer the Adriatic. Who knows?
DeleteWell, for example in Belgrade, Air Serbia dominates on the O&D market but Aegean fills its A320s with connections from the Greek islands and other regional, that is Middle Eastern, connections.
DeleteMy guess is that the O&D market is limited while connections to the Middle East are primarily taken care of Turkish Airlines from both LJU and ZAG.
ZAG service just started. Couple of weeks in May are not the indicator.
DeleteGreek islands are well covered with charters for SLO market, there is no demand to travel to islands via ATH or to ATH alone (with relativly costly tickets), rest of middle east and beyond covers Turkish with double daily...
DeleteRegarding Aegean, wait for next week ;)
DeleteWow!! Pls Aegean🙏🏼
DeleteI think TK will boost its ops. If not this winter, next summer for sure. There will be 3 rotations at least 3x/week, specially if FZ launches DXB-LJU.
Unfortunately I think they are too late with ANA which will probably start flying to Zagreb instead. They should have started talks with them earlier.
ReplyDeleteAny concrete info? ANA has hade charter flights for two summers to LJU now...
DeleteThey have been flying to Dubrovnik too (seasonal charters) but there are rumors that ANA will announce flights to ZAG soon.
Delete23.06
DeleteNH 1951 FUK/LJU 13:00/17:35
30.06
NH 1953 CTS/DBV 12:00/16:15
NH 1952 DBV/FUK 18:45/13:05
ANA and Zagreb are done deal, we're waiting for announcement this or following month.
DeleteANA had few charters to Zagreb as well, and Dubrovnik.
Problem for Ljubljana is, that is rather small city, in rather small country, right next to 3 very touristy countries, Austria, Italy and Croatia.
Only way I can see Ljubljana as an destination can thrive is if they attract LCC to open an base, EasyJey and WizzAir would suit Ljubljana perfectly I think.
Build demand this way, and perhaps other carriers will come too, Ljubljana this way would steal pax from Zagreb, Graz and Trieste as many travelers would opt out to use Ljubljana instead of travelling to Vienna, Venice or Zagreb.
However, with LCCs you are likely to lose hat little legacy carriers you still have.
legacy carriers pay up, LCCs really don't pay, but bring in numbers. Stark choice for Ljubljana. Ideally Ljubljana should do what it does now, look for new legacy carriers and allow EasyJet to build demand.
@Anon at 3:15
DeleteYour comment is suggesting Easy and Ryan are better fit for LJU. I think Wizz and Ryan are better fit for ZAG.
@AnonymousJune 1, 2018 at 6:46 PM
DeleteNo, i am not suggesting this. What I am saying ,perhaps if they want to push numbers up they might want to consider LCCs as alternative to current not spectacular growth numbers experienced by say Skopje or Tuzla.
I personally think Ljubljana should do some talking with Iberia, perhaps even TAP and try to get these two to come.
Sure, Iberia flies to Zagreb year round and soon TAP will also return, but I see no problem in Iberia or TAP also flying to Ljubljana.
Norwegian shuttle might also be a good option, SAS ti cover Scandinavia.
Alitalia perhaps as well.
Eurowings had LJU on that 'you vote we fly' thing. I hope they eventually launch it.
ReplyDeleteThey announced flights to LJU last year but then cancelled their plans. Same for Skopje.
DeleteDUS or CGN?
DeleteThey planned DUS. After they cancelled, Adria seized the opportunity and launched it itself.
DeleteWell, Sloavio should be happy about easyJet extending Berlin flights into winter.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it's interesting how easyJet just keeps on expanding at BEG and LJU with year-round operations.
I doubt LJU would become a base but BEG could at some point.
It comes with no surprise. After all, Berlin is a huge city.
DeleteEven INI is linked to it year round.
What BEG and LJU need, are flights to the second Berlin airport: SXF.
Do they? I mean TXL is conveniently located and it takes roughly 35 to 40 minutes to reach downtown Berlin.
DeleteAs far as Belgrade goes, what matters is that there is competition on the route which will keep JU's prices at decent levels.
I hope easyJet announces a new destination next year, Orly would be nice.
Hey nemjee!! I am happy and surprised!!!
DeleteOrly would be perfect from LJU!
I see that LJU-CDG is 17 weekly. If easyJet was to launch ORY then it would be a brutal bloodbath and I fear JP would be the one to lose the most.
DeleteJP has a better timing on LJU-CDG-LJU route than AirFrance, so not necessarely JP will lose the most. Besides this, cheaper tickets boost new demand, market between the two us quite large, so there is a way that everyone survives - maybe with a lower LF and some rotation less, but still enough for everyone.
DeleteI think AF is safe as they have their connections and their faithful group of passengers.
DeleteJP on the other hand is not as financially strong to take on both Air France and easyJet.
Then again, it all depends what easyJet's strategy would be. Would they go in there in a more relaxed manner or will their aim be to push competition out of the way.
I think on BEG-TXL and BSL-BEG they are after their competitors.
Not sure about LJU but really hope that BEG will become Easy jet base.
Deletewell done Ljubljana. I think it will be the big surprise this year.
ReplyDeleteThe growth will be big but I don't think it will come as a surprise. I mean Adria did launch 7 new routes.
DeleteGood to see that foreign airlines are adding flights.
ReplyDeleteSkobir is being way too conservative. LJU wil handle over 1.8 million this year!
ReplyDelete1.9 million passengers is very realistic for this year.
DeleteCould be more, depends on summer.
DeleteWould be nice if they reached 2 million!
DeleteNow imagine how the growth would look like if they would attract more LCC traffic
DeleteThe airport has really woken up lately. A lot of new flights from Adria, new flights from easy, Trasavia and LOT too. It would also be nice for Finnair to go year-long.
ReplyDeleteAround 6 or 7 months ago there was an interesting article about Finnair here and why they are not flying year round to Ljubljana. It has a lot to do with Asian transfers. I don't have the time to find it now but look it up. It was some sort of interview with one of their representatives.
DeleteIt's still problematic in my opinion that Adria holds over 75% of the market. They need more competition. Now it is great for the airport because Adria is growing but remember what happened 3 years ago when Adria was cutting flights and LJU fell behind Pristina and Skopje.
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteAgree completely. That's why they still need to bring in new airlines. Their entire growth (and demise) over the years has been completely dependent on Adria.
DeleteWe need HOP! at SKP.
ReplyDeleteMr. Krašnja helped in many ways (generally via extreme incompetence) bringing Adria Airways to the verge of collapse. Namely, he was was commercial director and personally responsible for bad decisions AA has made in the past. I wonder what the Fraport was thinking welcoming him on board...
ReplyDeleteGreat news for Ljubljana Airport. I'm glad things are finally picking up with new airlines and routes, plans for a terminal expansion and passenger numbers growing.
ReplyDeleteLJU is really moving forward this year! Good luck.
ReplyDeleteFuture is looking good at the moment.
DeleteLot is on a roll. I really don't understand how successful they became in the region. I guess they blew off the LH Group cartel.
ReplyDeleteGood fares and relatively good service with excellent connections via WAW.
DeleteLOT is connected with LH
DeleteIt's good to see some positive news coming from Slovenia again with both Adria and Ljubljana Airport recovering.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see an LCC takeover some monopoly routes by Adria.
ReplyDeleteLike VIE-LJU for example.
DeleteLaudamotion?
DeleteLCC on LJU-VIE? You must be kidding. JP flights are 90 % transfer passengers to Austrian /Star alliance in VIE. LCCs are P2P, and it's 3-4 hours by car. There would never be LCC LJU-VIE. It's to close and the market is to small
DeleteBut despite solid growth still no word about Spain, Baltics, Scandinavia (beside Copenhagen), St. Petersburg... Is there really no interest on these destinations?
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAdria is in talks to open another route to Russia
DeleteLED it should be!
DeleteDoubt it as OU flies it from ZAG and the market is not that big.
DeleteIs there any other big city within the range of JP’s AC?
DeleteAeroflot is also flying to ZAG but adria has full planes to SVO so i think that LED for right price should work
DeleteStill no flights to Spain, the Middle East, Italy, Greece...
ReplyDeleteMiddle East will be covered soon by FZ.
DeleteNo flights to Rome?! That is strange! Wonder why AZ does not try to attract some transfer passangers.
DeleteReally easy to get Trieste aiport for huge chunk of Slovenes + free parking when flying with FZ. Not to mention in coming months, you’ll be able to jump on train in Ljubljana and get of at the TRS while still being on the same train (train schedule pending)
DeleteThis is good news for Ljubljana Airport which needs more destinations and airlines.
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for Ryanair
ReplyDeleteI think you will be waiting for quite a while.
DeleteCongratulations to LJU, Fraport and Slovenia for turning around the situation at the airport.
ReplyDeleteI see potential for eiher SAS or Norweigan launching flights, possibly Brussels Airlines and maybe even British Airways from Heathrow.
ReplyDeleteBrussels Airlines has struggled on its ZAG route and now flies seasonally. I doubt they could do any better in Ljubljana.
DeleteA lot of passengers to/from are from government who will use JP, for the rest there is wizz...
DeleteMore good news to come soon
ReplyDeleteWhy is adria sending 2 planes to SVO? A319 and a crj900 for a week now
ReplyDeleteYou mean two different aircraft models? Increased demand ahead of World Cup?
DeleteMaybe
DeleteBut the world cup starts in 2weeks
So here is my 2 cents on what LJU needs to get as something that is the upmost importance. Firstly, a one weekly flight with Norwegian to Oslo would deffinitely work. For starters, the airline has incredibly good connections to the whole of scandinavia so with that one stop alone, you're in reach to almost every destination up there. With the right timing, they could capture some pax flying to USA destinations as well, but that would only work if the flights would be on par with usa departures from Oslo. Another thing this airport needs is a connection to both Spain and Portugal. Lisbon and Barcelona are the obvious cities to establish flights with, maybe even Madrid. They are very touristy which would capture P2P market, but there would also be possibilities for connecting flights from those two airports. Portugese islands, USA, Lating America, Spanish Islands. It should however not be operated by Adria. Neither of these two routes. It's too risky and would give Adria an even bigger share of flights at LJU. About Rome or Sicily or Naples, I don't think this is something that can work. For starters Trieste is close and has both LCC and Alitalia flights to those cities, but from there you can also get a fast train to get to Milan or Rome. The competition is already strong and I believe it wouldn't really work out well. Then there's Dublin. A one weekly LCC might work for that destination. Other than that, I don't have much thoughts on Dublin.
ReplyDelete+1 Amen
DeleteTrieste - Rome is like 6h with fast train on part of the route. Plus one needs to get to Trieste. Plane would make lots of sense
DeleteDo you think LJU-VAR or BOJ can work out after JU failed a couple of years ago? After all, both airports are managed by Fraport.
ReplyDeleteMy thought too and JP could actually get connecting traffic which is in line with their business model.
DeleteWith normal scheduling (unlike JUs on this route) it could work.
Delete+1 Anon 2:07pm
DeleteThey might face tough competition with OS and TK in VAR though. But 2-3 weekly flights should not be a problem to be filled.
Fraport is doing a great job.
ReplyDeleteFor the small size of the city and the airport, LJU offers a nice range of destinations. A pitty that regular Spain and Italy flights are missing. But for the rest, its definitely an achievement. Keep going and get us 4 extra jetbridge gates by 2020!
ReplyDeleteWhen do u guys expect the winter schedule of JP will be published?
ReplyDeleteit's already out. http://lju-airport.si/sl/potniki-in-obiskovalci/info-o-letih/vozni-red/
DeleteThat's the summer schedule. Slovavio was asking about winter
DeleteSummer and winter are mixed
DeleteVie is going from 2daily to 12 flights
look at the dates in table:
ReplyDeleteLJU DUS 1 2 - - - - - 06:45 08:50 JP 168 29.10. - 26.03.
LJU DUS - - - 4 5 - - 17:15 19:20 JP 164 01.11. - 29.03.
They will keep the route and number of rotations?
ReplyDeletePocakaj do oktobra pa bos videl, zanimivo pa je da v objavljenem voznem redu ni vecerne Podgorice, drugace pa DUS,GVA,HAM,DBV se polnijo precej dobro medtem ko BWK,OTP,SOF na zalost ne, ni bilo dolgo nazaj ko so bili na Braču zgolj 3 potniki medtem ko no OTP,SOF Povprecje okoli 25-35pax(podatki za outbound lete)
DeleteDrugace pa po mojih informacijah flydubai zacne leteti, pogovori z Norwegian so kar intenzivni za skandinavijo, tud easy al pa wizz znata kaksno novo destinacijo probat
Zanimivo, glede na to, da naj bi bila po izjavah JP najbolj uspesna ravno SOF. No sej, ce obdrzijo 4-5 od 7 novih linij, je to kr ok.
ReplyDeleteA kej ves, ce bo JP z zimskim voznim redom poskusila kej novega?
FZ naj bi bil ze dejstvo. Prihod jeseni ali pomladi.
Glede ostalih pa upajmo na najboljs!����
Tezko ti rečem kaj bo z adrio na žalost ne delam tam lahko ti edino recem pusti se presenetit
DeleteeasyJet would be the best fit for expansion:
ReplyDelete- Basel: LJU is not a gastarbeiter route but LJU is often used by people in Klagenfurt and Southern Austria (German speaking countries). Going from Western Switzerland to Southern Austria is tortuous by car or train.
- Naples: it is a booming holiday market, a fast-growing easyJet base and they could capture Croatian and Austrian holidaymakers.
- Paris: already mentioned; a first low-cost route would stimulate the market in both directions.
- Bristol or Edinburgh: it gives something interesting outside London in the UK.
For Lisbon TAP would be a good fit. TAP is not scared to serve nearby airports (they serve CGN and DUS, LGW, LHR and LCY), so TP at LJU and ZAG make sense. They would be a good addition for connections to America, Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.