Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is on course to register its busiest year on record despite a decline in the number of passengers handled by its main customer Adria Airways. In July, Slovenia's main airport saw its seventh month of consecutive growth by handling just over 207.000 travellers through its doors, an improvement of 4%. It welcomed its millionth passenger of the year on July 21, for a total of 1.070.000 by month's end. On the other hand, Adria Airways saw its figures decrease 7.6% during the January - May period. This year, foreign carriers are expected to account for half of Ljubljana Airport's total traffic, up from 44% in 2018.
The General Manager of Ljubljana Airport, Zmago Skobir, previously said, "We are investing a lot of efforts in attracting new airlines to destinations already covered by one of the carriers". Recently, British Airways introduced seasonal flights from London Heathrow to Ljubljana, Air Serbia inaugurated two weekly year-long services from Niš, while Air France's regional subsidiary HOP! plans to more than double its operations to the Slovenian capital this coming winter to thirteen weekly flights, up from six. Furthermore, budget carrier Wizz Air will increase capacity to Ljubljana this winter on services from Luton Airport by utilising its 230-seat Airbus A321 jet instead of the 180-seat A320 used last year. Flights to Ljubljana will initially be maintained three times per week during the 2019/2020 winter season before increasing to four from December.
Despite the growing role foreign carriers are playing at Ljubljana Airport, Mr Skobir believes Adria Airways will stabilise in the coming period. "I'm not concerned over the future of Adria Airways since I'm sure it will adapt to the growing passenger traffic, which is increasing in line with the Slovenian economy and tourism". He added, "We are pleased that, despite numerous issues the national carrier has faced over the past ten years, things have started to improve. We will see the future outcome but, for the time being, our cooperation with Adria is exemplary and we expect its future plans to have a further positive effect".
There will still be people around who claim that having a national carrier is a must.
ReplyDeletePassenger numbers can increase with or without a national carrier. But your connectivity without a national carrier will be significantly affected.
DeleteEven with Adria, Slovenia is ranked 40th out of 43 countries in Europe for connectivity.
Delete@9.05 doesn't seem to have hurt Budapest.
DeleteYes, check how much money BUD has given to airlines to launch flights.
Delete@Anonymous 7 August 2019 at 11:26: do you have some figures? I'm just curious. BUD is 100% privately owned and they don't get government money. Last year they have made 76 million Euros in profit (yep, that is not a typo). Not sure why would a private company spend it's own money to pay for extra flights. W6 gets money to operate 5 routes to the Balkans, but that money comes from the government, not the airport.
DeleteI tried to find a source with the 76 million profit but I couldn't. I did find one where it says that they will have a profit for the first time in 10 years. It's crazy that they need 15 million passengers a year in order to be profitable. That should be an indication of either dumping charges or paying airlines to fly there.
Deletehttps://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-hungary-airport/budapest-airport-expects-first-significant-profit-in-10-years-idUKKBN1F024N
I am not too worried about LJU. As JP's ops. decrease foreign airlines will come in.
ReplyDeleteI still think LJU needs a greater LCC presence, primarily to destinations that are not London.
ReplyDeleteI really hope Wizz Air will expand its network to Ljubljana. I think there is a lot of potential.
DeleteNorwegian should consider either Oslo or Stockholm.
DeleteYes please! Their network is good and would allow us to visit the northern destinations as well as connect to a lcc transatlantic route.
DeleteLCCs should try other UK destinations. They would work as well.
DeleteLiverpool please.
DeleteDoes Adria still operate Manchester seasonally?
DeleteNow only on a Sunday, predominantly taken up by Inghams and TUI Lakes & Mountains customers.
DeleteYes, once per week, 26.05. - 22.09. each Sunday.
DeleteSorry didn't didn't see that someone already answered.
DeleteThis is good. More foreign airlines are flying which is something Ljubljana needs.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Ljubljana. I'm impressed how well the airport is holding up considering Adria.
ReplyDeleteMe too. To be honest, last year I thought 2019 would be a disaster for LJU because of Adria. But it has turned out well. Imagine if Adria didn't discontinue so many routes, this year would have been amazing.
DeleteJU's INI-LJU initially had disastrous loads but they have since improved and I think most flights in summer have over 100 passengers. That should also help the airport overcome their issues with JP. I think it's good JP stayed away from INI as they would have made a mess with their extremely high fares.
DeleteGood to see that foreign airlines are adding flights.
ReplyDeleteGreat work Ljubljana!
ReplyDeleteGreat news for Ljubljana Airport. I'm glad things are finally picking up with new airlines and routes, terminal expansion and passenger numbers growing.
ReplyDeleteHope the construction of the new terminal goes to schedule and that it results in some new airlines like in Zagreb.
DeleteLJU is really moving forward. Good luck, Slovenia!
DeleteMoving forward way too slowly in my opinion. Too few airlines have added flights since Fraport took over and construction of the new terminal is just beginning now.
DeleteGood that they have finally realized not to put all their eggs in one baskets. A lesson to some other airports in the region.
ReplyDeleteStill no scheduled flights to Spain, the Middle East, Italy, Greece...
ReplyDeleteYes, still missing many major European cities.
DeleteOh thats great to hear, I got a bit fed up with that mantra about Sarajevo. :)
DeleteI would say the biggest European cities are covered. What's missing is MAD, FCO and ATH bur otherwise Ljubljana has flights to Europe's major hubs.
Delete@9.21 while the biggest question in Sarajevo is when there will be more flights to European cities, in Ljubljana the question is when there will finally be flights to Middle Eastern Cities :)
DeleteI think they should really work to bring Fly Dubai
DeleteWe do not need long-haul flights just good connections within Europe, we have big hubs near by.
DeleteIs Adria still cancelling flights?
ReplyDeleteMostly no. They are still merging some flights. For example yesterday there was Ljubljana - Brussels-Munich-Ljubljana.
DeleteMust have been a joy for passengers to fly to Munich via Brussels.
DeleteThat only means that loads on both flights were poor if they managed to put all the passengers on one plane.
Delete+1. The fact that they can join two flights into a single CRJ900 during the top summer season shows that passengers are starting to vote with their feet.
DeleteI'm hoping Vueling or Iberia start flights from Spain if Adria doesn't want to.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think Spain is underserved from Ljubljana and I also think there is potential for more flights to the Scandinavian market.
DeleteAdria and Vueling already flew to Spain and it didn't work out.
DeleteMadrid and Barcelona could probably work 2 or 3 p/w.
DeleteValencia too.
DeleteBarcelona, Madrid and Rome would definitely work. Let´s hope U2, W6 or even FR is thinking this way.
DeleteFR already flies to Valencia from Trieste. It is too close to LJU.
DeleteLJU has a bright future.
ReplyDeleteHow many pax will Ljubljana handle this year?
ReplyDeleteIs 2 million realistic?
Delete1.9 million
DeleteIn my opinion it will be realistic to expect around 1.9 million passengers, since last year it had 1.81 million.
DeleteLJU will reach 2 million passengers this year, future looks good.
DeleteAnyone know how come AF is increasing LJU by so much. Any particular reason?
ReplyDeleteSubsidies are being offered to airline which increase frequencies.
DeleteAnd also AF realized Adria is struggling and saw an opportunity to take over some passengers.
Deletesubsidies are are only in the form of marketing activities.
DeleteMore good news to come soon
ReplyDeleteHow soon?
DeleteThey are not concerned about JP but they are still working on brining new carriers, smart move. Maybe it's time to negotiate with Pegasus, there is obviously demand and they have a growing network out of SAW.
ReplyDeleteCDG and AMS have the biggest growth while I think IST became number the busiest destination out of LJU last year.
Nice. Do you maybe have info what are the 5 busiest routes from Ljubljana?
DeleteSure, this is the list for last year:
Delete1. IST - 155.631 (144.282)
2. FRA - 145.782 (141.989)
3. STN - 118.213 (113.032)
4. ZRH - 103.142 (108.711)
5. CDG - 102.441 (85.633)
CDG replaced MUC which was 5th last year.
Thank you. My guess is that CDG will probably replace ZRH this year due to all the new flights. Also probably when we would add all of London airports as one, it would be the number one destination from LJU.
DeleteWho knows, with all these frequencies CDG might replace STN as well. All depends how well that route performs this year. From what I've seen JP doesn't plan on suspending CDG so numbers should skyrocket. I think VIE saw a decrease so I wonder if we might see cuts there especially as Adria's economic performance worsens.
DeleteI think Star hubs are safe for now. My guess is VIE decreased because fewer people are transferring with Austrian/Adria to Ljubljana and more and more are using LOT, Aeroflot, in addition to Turkish.
DeleteOr Transavia and AMS?
DeleteThem too
DeleteDoes anyone know how good the SXF route from easyJet is performing?
DeleteI heard quite bad, it also lost some flights they were cancelled.
DeleteI was on SXF flights 6 times this year and all of them were full on an A320 and NO FLIGHTS WERE CANCELLED TO BERLIN THIS YEAR SO COULD YOU TELL ME WHERE YOU GOT THAT INFO OR ARE YOU JUST HATING/LYING !
DeleteFlights to Berlin lost a frequency compared to what they were supposed to be initially.
DeleteSXF is 3 weekly.as it was from beginning
DeleteAny new airline coming?
ReplyDeleteWhich new airline could Ljubljana realistically get?
DeletePegasus and maybe Volotea from some secondary European destination.
DeletePegasus would be great. I'm surprised by their low coverage of ex-Yu. If I'm not mistaken they only fly to BEG, SKP and PRN.
DeleteI think Pegasus still needs to reinforce their western European presence. If I am not mistaken they only launched Manchester a while ago. I am sure more ex-YU expansion will happen but not right away. That said, I am sure LJU would work very well for them.
DeletePegasus flies only 4x a week to Belgrade.
DeleteHardly worth a mention.
That's because of the bilateral, by now they would at least have 10 weekly if they could operate freely.Even TK would have had double daily A330 if they could.
DeleteThe airport needs to be careful,. If they attract too much competition to JP it might become even more difficult for Adria and push them into bankruptcy.
ReplyDeleteLike when Aeroflot came and Adria dropped the route 2 months later.
DeleteSame with BEG, they dropped it the moment JU entered the market.
DeleteThey will go bankrupt regardless of what LJU does.
DeleteNo way they can pay the outstanding debt.
I'm noticing that this year there are significantly more charter flights from LJU then before.
ReplyDeleteand mostly with Adria.
DeleteLjubljana airport is working very hard to reach Skopje's passenger numbers.
ReplyDeleteIt will have to work harder. There's no chance LJU will overtake SKP this year.
DeleteAny chance BA will extend their flights to Ljubljana to year round?
ReplyDeleteIf they were to extend it, I think they would have done it by now. Their flights end in 3 weeks.
DeleteBut they are using A321 on these flights and at first they planned A319.
DeleteAnd people said that traffic would go down but its still rising! This year LJU will reach 2 million pax.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see constantly full platform! :)
DeleteAdria's passenger numbers are down quite lot but it's great to see that LJU has been mostly unaffected.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see LJU has finally ended its dependence on JP. The results prove it.
DeleteAdria share at LJU
ReplyDelete2010 - 77.4%
2011 - 72.9%
2012 - 69.5%
2013 - 66.9%
2014 - 67.8%
2015 - 65.0%
2016 - 60.5%
2017 - 58.4%
2018 - 56.0%
2019 - 50.0%
2020 - 0.0%
DeleteThere are many flights from Ljubljana to TLV this year operated by Adria, Arkia, Bluebird and Sun D'or. Wizz Air really could have capitalized on this and launched LJU-TLV.
ReplyDeleteThey would neee crew base in LJU to launch TLV as it is too much flying to do a W rotation from any other base.
DeleteSeems like Israeli tourists have discovered Slovenia.
DeleteI wish LJU all the best this year, I do hope for some new destinations in the near future.
ReplyDeleteNice and steady growth we have going on here. Good job LJU. I hope they attract more carriers like Transavia.
DeleteVery good growth considering all those Adria cancellations
ReplyDeleteAeroflot should consider LED from Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteBecause it will work for RUS people.
DeleteBravo Slovenija!
ReplyDeleteCRL isn't bookable for winter season anymore. OCT 26 is the last flight. Any info why? Load should be good(?)
ReplyDeleteYes It looks like Wizz stoped flying to Brussels Crl. I wonder why, because planes were always full. They just upgraded rotation to 3x weekly. And Slovenia will preside the Eu in 2021, so is unclear why to stop a route wich worked for years.
ReplyDeleteMaybe passengers prefer to fly to a central airport so they went for JP?
DeleteI hope they don't cut it as it would mean there would be no LCC flights to Brussels in the area between Venice and Banja Luka!
Wizz move my flight CRL - Ljubljana to CRL - Budapest. They must be joking. Yes, they stop flying to Brussels. There has to be something going on there... They know something that we dont...
ReplyDeleteAnyone knows how is YU performing on the new route LJU - INI and viceversa? LF?
ReplyDeleteI hope it will work for them.