NEWS FLASH
SHS Aviation, the parent company of VLM Airlines, has announced it will be ending a number of routes, including all flights out of Maribor Airport. The company said that the measure is "temporary" and will allow it to focus on private, charter and ACMI flights. VLM will only maintain scheduled services from Antwerp and Zurich to London City Airport. “The current aviation sector is so dynamic that it is common for destinations and flight frequencies to be constantly evaluated and adapted according to the season, the performance of existing routes and new opportunities that arise on the market. The performance of the routes is also continuously monitored at VLM. The available aircraft capacity is then deployed on routes and activities that are more in demand and that are profitable", Johan Maertens, the CEO of VLM said. The carrier maintains flights from Maribor to Munich and Antwerp. They are set to be discontinued by the end of the summer season. “At the same time, a fleet reduction will also be implemented. It is no secret that we have been busy preparing the replacement of the Fokker 50 aircraft for some time now. The expected commissioning of the new aircraft is planned for the second half of 2019”, Mr Maertens said.
VLM Airlines previously announced plans that it would launch flights from Maribor to a number of European destinations, as well as to China.
Oh no :( MBX was never lucky.
ReplyDeleteFirst FR then JP and now VLM :( :( :( :(
I was really ambitious that it had plans to become a mini long-haul airport and attract all the neighbouring countries.
CRL already proved to be a LCC or small airport doing long-haul.
Currently, there is a route from CRL-HKG.
Yeasterday someone insisted, that VLM is a serious airline, having regular route from MBX to MUC. Now we see, that Maribor era is coming to an end.
DeleteThe "problem" with MBX is:
Delete- Only 60km away from Flughafen Graz
- Only 130km away from Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport
- Only 130km away from Međunarodna zračna luka Franjo Tuđman Zagreb
This adds to the extreme competition and challenges it faces.
It's a pity about VLM though, their MBX plan was really grand.
What a shocker
ReplyDeletehow do money laundering schemes like this function?
ReplyDeleteIt is big pity that Maribor did not manage to keep FR. It would have been great low cost alternative to GRZ, LJU and ZAG and for sure it would help tourism developing in that part of Slovenia.
ReplyDeleteI guess some people have different perspective on development. Slovena does not need contraproductive mass tourism neither instant airlines. It does not pay off long term.
Deletebullshit! the sales of tickets was first through a local tourist agency where you send request and after they manually issued ticket they confirmed it. nobody had interes. then a lot of flights were cancelled and non of the agencies wont sell them! none! demand for muc is present! but please not with such pioneer mistakes... MBX should be for 1 EUR rented to one of bigger LCs!
ReplyDeleteOnaj Nelson iz Simpsona na ovo bi rekao: ha-ha. Dobro. Ako Maribor uđe u grupe UEFA kupa barem će 6 letova biti ove zime
ReplyDelete