Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is actively seeking out airlines for flights from the Scandinavian market. Although former flag carrier Adria Airways, which declared bankruptcy last September, served Copenhagen, Ljubljana has had poor connectivity to Northern Europe in recent years. Airport operator Fraport Slovenija says Scandinavia is a priority market for them. "Flights to Helsinki with Finnair resume this summer season and will be strengthened with an additional two weekly rotations, resulting in daily services. We are looking to connect Slovenia to Scandinavia with another airline", Fraport told the “Siol” portal. Ljubljana has been seeking better connectivity with Scandinavian countries for several years, with low cost airlines considered as potential operators.
Norwegian Air Shuttle previously said it was planning services to Ljubljana. Several years ago it noted, “Slovenia is definitely of interest to us in the future. We always explore the possibility to add new destinations to our network. This is a very important market for Norwegian. We’ve had scheduled flights to the Balkans since 2004 and our presence and network has grown every year". The two sides are believed to have held talks over potential services in 2017, however, no flights have materialised since. The airport is also believed to have proposed for Ryanair to introduce operations from Oslo to Ljubljana over a decade ago but ultimately no deal was reached either.
For its part, Fraport Slovenija noted, “Attracting new carriers is a continuous and never-ending process for us. We are constantly in discussions with at least fifteen airlines. We stick to the principle that we hold discussions with carriers and possible new routes are not publicly disclosed until they are officially scheduled in the timetable". This summer, passengers will be able to travel from Ljubljana to 22 destinations in fifteen countries with more than 160 flights scheduled per week. New routes include Madrid operated by Iberia, Tel Aviv by Israir, Kiev run by Windrose Airlines and London Luton operated by easyJet.
Norwegian has made a loss of eur. 160 million in 2019. They are nowhere near to getting their Boeing 737 max and have just revised their corporate goals for 2020 due to Corona.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they will be expanding anywhere in foreseeable future.
Better connectivity to Scandinavia would be welcome.
ReplyDeleteWould be good for SAS to launch flights.
ReplyDeleteDid SAS used to fly to LJU?
DeleteSAS regularly flies to LJU, although only for maintenance.
DeleteDon't let the Finns see that Fraport Slovenia considers them part of Scandinavia. They wouldn't be happy :D
ReplyDeleteOr the Slovenians that Norwegian put them in the Balkans :D
DeleteA good part of Slovenia does belong to the Balkans, geographically speaking.
DeleteWhich part?
DeletePlease, be precise in your answer.
Because the Balkan border begins from Trieste and ends in Sinemorets. Slovenia is a Southern Slavic nation.
DeleteWe need flights to Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen!
ReplyDeleteis this assumption based on real numbers? Or is this just your wish?
DeleteI suppose the latter, same as the person who asks for flights to Birmingham
DeleteAdria couldn't make Stockholm work year round. So I'm not sure about the demand.
DeleteAdria couldn't make anything work. That's why they went bankrupt.
DeleteWill Finnair be flying to Ljubljana? Their main customers to Ljubljana are Japanese, Chinese and Koreans and considering the situation, I'm not sure there will be many. At least not until June.
ReplyDeleteFor now, flights are going ahead as scheduled.
Deleteand then we continue to dream and MBX will get low cost to Bergen, Göteborg and Malmö
ReplyDeleteLJU should do much more to attract low cost airlines. The choice from Ljubljana is bad.
ReplyDeleteLjubljana needs all the airlines it can get.
ReplyDeleteIt does need better connections, however one would wish for legacies, not shabby LCCs.
Deleteuff another prestige airport ....
Delete"Shabby" LCC are good for Milan, Rome, Wien, Belgrade, Paris, London, Berlin...but not for Ljubljana. Interesting.
DeleteAww, I finally get it- that explains why so many Slovenians drive and take buses to Trieste Airport.. it'c because they want to avoid shabby LCCs.
DeleteThis could be a good opportunity for Wizz Air.
ReplyDeleteAgree. It is FINALLY time for Wizz Air to increase it presence in Ljubljana.
DeleteThey have decreased their Ljubljana operations. They no longer fly from London.
DeleteYes, shame Wizz Air isn't more active.
DeleteI don't understand how Wizz does not see potential to launch new routes from LJU. There are many potential destinations they could launch.
DeleteWizz is rubbish airline i never fly it, cheaper to add 5-10eur and get another airline. Ryanair is also in my black list
Delete"is A rubbish airline", "Ryanair is also ON my black list"....
DeleteI wonder how big the market between Slovenia and Scandinavia actually is.
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge demand for Scandinavia in summer
DeleteNorwegian please considers some of those Scandinavia routes.
ReplyDeleteI see potential for SAS launching flights from either Copenhagen or Oslo. Especially since they are Star Alliance, which most frequent flyers from Slovenia prefer.
ReplyDeleteSAS doesn't even fly to VIE - despite it being a Star Alliance hub.
DeleteWow that's surprising. They can't make a single route work from Vienna?? Crazy.
DeleteYes, but with competition being the way it is in VIE, it's good for SAS that they're not there. LJU makes more sense for SAS than Norwegian since they have aircraft of smaller sizes, whereas Norwegian's aircraft are too big.
DeleteI don't think alliances play as much of a role as they used to 10 or 15 years ago. Most FF programmes have had their benefits culled to near-nothingness, and LH's Miles and More leads the way as one of the most worthless. I certainly don't know anyone who would buy a more expensive ticket or pick a longer routing just for the sake of a few miles.
Delete@Anon12:33 SAS codeshares on Austrian's flights between Vienna and CPH/ARN/OSL. Yields at Vienna are in the tank, and Austrian is in a better position to battle it out there. At least a 3pw CPH-LJU should work, but the Covid-19-influenced decrease in travel might have set back any planning. CPH is the most likely of their three hubs, as it's the closest, largest, and with the greatest number of connections, including most long-haul.
Delete@Anon12:44 FF programs have become more of a large-spender than a frequent-flyer. That was easy to implement while much of the world's economies were growing in recent years, but the next downturn will be the real test of this approach. Due to the size of Star Alliance and the many disparate interests within it, the various FF programs differ massively, but also feature more exceptions. Oneworld is much smaller and better integrated, with fewer exceptions in the FF programs, but in most of their programs inflexible economy tickets are pretty much worthless as well.
LJU, keep looking. You are facing the harsh truth about capitalism....
ReplyDeleteWhy? You don't think flights from Scandinavia could work?
DeleteNorway is one of the most promising markets for the development of direct services from Ljubljana. Lots of tourists and growing business travel.
ReplyDeleteI'm following now for some time all those comments and need to ask if there is anyone who really have any knowledge on aviation business which is beyond the the beer bar. Adria is bankrupt since October and LH Group stepped in immediately. To get a new airline, it takes several month or even years, specially not during the current season. All wishes or opinions on which airline will fly and how is just bla bla.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm seeking is that LJU is doing a good job under all current circumstances. I believe they will recover in number of destinations and passengers. Taken in consideration the construction of the new terminal as well.
I agree with you 100%! "knowledge on aviation business which is beyond the the beer bar" ;-) Thanks
DeleteI'm sorry but Ljubljana Airport has been saying that Scandinavia is their top priority market for almost 10 years now. Even during Adria's existence it barely served the Scandinavian region. So if after 10 years after LJU set the goal to have more flights to Scandinavia it still has none, the problem isn't in the commentators.
DeleteStockholm and Oslo could both work from LJU.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know that because...
DeleteNot sure about Sweden. There is a newly born Swedish phenomenon called "Passenger or Flight shaming", which restricts travel due to enviornmental issues - we all know where Greta is from.
ReplyDeleteLast year, almost all Swedish airports saw a decline in travel.
https://www.flightglobal.com/strategy/flight-shame-a-factor-in-swedish-traffic-decline/136087.article
Perhaps Denmark can work out. CPH is a generally more visited city compared to OSL or HEL for example.
It's not yet Scandinavia, but at least LJU got Air Serbia A320 from Belgrade tonight.
ReplyDelete