Low cost carrier easyJet will be ending a handful of routes to the former Yugoslavia, mostly to the Croatian coast, as a result of its planned closure of three UK bases - Stansted, Southend and Newcastle. Flights which are to be discontinued include those from Stansted to Ljubljana, Dubrovnik and Split, from Southend to Dubrovnik and Pula, as well as from Newcastle to Split, since all are operated by aircraft based at the three UK airports. The closure, which puts 670 jobs at risk, will come into effect from September 1. easyJet will offer alternative flights for anyone affected or offer credit notes or refunds.
Passengers due to fly from London Stansted will still find routes from London Luton and London Gatwick, while easyJet passengers travelling from Newcastle will have to head to Manchester or Liverpool. easyJet CEO, Johan Lundgren, said, “We had to take the very difficult decision to close three UK bases as a result of the unprecedented impact of the pandemic and related travel restrictions, compounded by quarantine measures in the UK which is impacting demand for travel. We would like to reassure customers due to fly from these airports that we are now contacting anyone whose flight is affected with clear advice on their options which include rerouting via alternative airports or receiving a full refund”.
Prior to the pandemic and following the demise of Adria Airways late last year, easyJet was Slovenia’s largest carrier, while Stansted - Ljubljana was the busiest out of its three routes to the country. In 2019, it offered 130.932 two-way seats between Stansted and the Slovenian capital. Overall, Stansted has been Ljubljana’s fourth busiest route in terms of passenger numbers. The carrier plans to introduce a new service from London Luton to Ljubljana on May 6, 2021. The route was originally to commence this year. In the pre-pandemic era, the budget airline was also Croatia’s largest during the peak summer month of August, eclipsing Croatia Airlines. Overall, in 2019, it was the second largest airline in the country in terms of offered seat capacity, behind only the national carrier.
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Gatwick, Stansted, Luton. That's three.
Why would they set a base in Split, when they can cover the routes from their other bases? What would be the benefit to easyJet?
Big blow for Croatia.
Try to check what are you talking before you enter a comment.
All legacies are scheduled except UIA. LCC charters are only from Ryanair Sun from Poland while leisure carriers are mostly charters like Novair, some TUI flights, Air Explore and Widerøe.
What are you talking about?
Can you give us an example? And just so you are aware. Charter flights are not those that are scheduled on a regular basis with tickets on free sale to any individual.
Very poor planning by UK government.
Please, give it up already. Nobody cares about LJU. You do need a national carrier. But a better one than Adria.
Sure I am, because of people like you and Nejc. I just love it when I'm right :).
@Nejc:
No, I haven't heard. But I saw the pre-covid numbers and they were disappointing (the frequencies and destinations were not even close to Adria's and even those were a disappointment).
For those of you travelling one or twice a year, a few charters per year is all you need. Unfortunately, some of us need more frequent flights.
All I see in media are plans for new national carrier with same aircraft (CRJ), same employees (ex-Adria creme de la creme), same destinations (SJJ, SKP, etc.).
How would this be any better?
Really? You must be reading some fictions news than. According to my info, Q400 is being considered and any pilot meeting the criteria will be (if it materialises) able to apply. Including "creme de la creme" ex- Adria pilots. Btw, what is your problem with ex-Adria pilots?
How will it be better? Hopefully, competent management will be able to come up with a long term profitable plan.
You really don't travel very often, do you? Cut the crap. If you want to fly out of LJU today, tomorrow or a few months from now, be prepared to pay a couple of hundred euros more to the same destination as from VCE or ZAG. To those handful destinations LJU has. And you don't have multiple departures to the same destination.
But be my guest, subsidise Wizz. They would be more than happy to take money from naive people like yourself.
Hope doesn't float. There's no way the new carrier would survive without government support, and if they'd get government support.... political job appointments, here we go.
Believe me, if there is anything to learn from the corona crisis, we need a national carrier. That doesn't mean the resurrection of the old Adria. Far from it. What we need is a profitable, well managed airline (which Adria never was). Slovenia will never be a popular tourist destination (such as Croatia) - just look at our infrastructure. We have just a handful of hotels that weren't built in the 70's. Nor do Slovenes commute abroad on a daily basis.