More carriers suspend Ljubljana operations


Airlines have continued to reduce their flights to Ljubljana as a result of the coronavirus pandemic with the Slovenian capital to be served by just six carriers as of next week, which will maintain six scheduled routes. As a result, Ljubljana will offer the fewest scheduled destinations among capital cities in the former Yugoslavia, behind Sarajevo. Currently, only Air France, Air Serbia, easyJet, Lufthansa, Montenegro Airlines and Turkish Airlines fly to the Slovenian capital. Out of the six countries served, only travellers from two are listed on Slovenia’s green list, deemed epidemiologically safe for entry - Germany and the United Kingdom - two are from the yellow list - France and Serbia - and the remainder are on the red list- Montenegro and Turkey. Each list carries with it a different set of entry requirements. Prior to the pandemic, seventeen carriers had planned to run flights to 22 scheduled destinations from Ljubljana this summer.

Wizz Air, which turned its Charleroi - Ljubljana route into a seasonal summer service and was to run the flights until late October, has terminated its operations over a month earlier than planned. Wizz Air now intends on returning to the Slovenian capital on March 30, 2021. Furthermore, after just a few weeks of operations, easyJet is suspending its flights between Berlin and Ljubljana, with the last flight of the year planned for this Sunday. As a result, easyJet will only fly from London to Ljubljana, while its Berlin service will be restored on March 26, 2021. Finally, low cost carrier Transavia, which temporarily suspended operations between Amsterdam and the Slovenian capital on September 13 with plans to resume the service on October 29, has now completely shelved flights between the two cities for the rest of the year. The Air France - KLM subsidiary now intends on restoring operations to the Slovenian capital on January 14, 2021. On the other hand, following a temporary suspension, LOT Polish Airlines and Brussels Airlines are expected to resume flights to Ljubljana from late October, although both carriers are yet to finalise their schedules and changes remain possible.

Commenting on its existing operations, Ljubljana Airport said, "There will be no significant improvement in the situation in the near future due to the Covid-19 pandemic - neither in our country nor elsewhere in Europe. Today, it is already evident that operations will increase more significantly only when the epidemiological situation calms down everywhere and when there are no more daily changes in entry conditions imposed by individual countries (for example quarantine). When this will happen remains unpredictable. We all hope that things will start to normalise in the spring and that new (additional) flights will follow”.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Winter is coming!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      Yes we know, you keep on writing that each time.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:28

      Is there anyone left?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:46

      The white walkers will be coming soon! ;D

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:44

      that's planned for december haha

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    I never would have thought that LJU would have the least destinations on offer.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    How many frequencies do those airlines offer?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Other than AF and LH which have 10 and 12 flights, the rest have 2-3.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:11

      Air Serbia has 4 weekly flights to LJU

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:13

      I don't think AF is 10 times per week anymore. For example they don't have a flight today.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:15

      AF currently has just 5 weekly flights to Ljubljana, not 10.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:23

      Montenegro Airlines is flying a symbolic once per week.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:25

      TK - 2 per week
      JU - 4 per week
      AF - 5 per week
      LH - 12 per week
      U2 - 2 per week (from next week)
      YM - 1 per week

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:35

      Looks like Lufthansa is keeping Fraport alive at LJU. But how long will that continue?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:42

      Gosh. Thats not even 3.5 flights in average per day! Sad!!

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:28

      keeping alive? LJU is dead for quite some time...

      Delete
    10. Jup! Just sad...

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:07

    Things are bad and are getting worse all over Europe, never mind our region.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:45

      true, but are things getting this bad all over Europe or are some airports handling it better?

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:08

    Today there are just 3 flights at Ljubljana - 2 Lufthansa flights and 1 Air Serbia. Last flight of the day at 13.30.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      That really is bad :(

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:29

      Looks like some Bojno Polje.

      Delete
    3. Jatovac17:37

      as Alen said, they made a village airport of LJU

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:09

    I understand it's a difficult situation everywhere, but more should have been done to keep at least some of these airlines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      Like what?
      Pay them to fly? And how much?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:20

      Yes, perhaps pay them to fly if it is coming to the point that no one wants to fly.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:20

      LJU suggested 10 euros per passenger.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:29

      Anonymous 09:20 what would be the benefit of having empty aircraft coming and going?
      Perhaps if we forced people to fly would be better! You know, every citizen making over 600€ a month has to fly 3 times a year.
      People making more money would have to fly more often.
      I mean if we are having the state dictate to us what is best we might as well go drastic.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:10

    Terrible

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:22

    Like it or not, connectivity would have been better now if Adria was around.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:27

      Connectivity yes, but they would be flying with mostly empty planes.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:27

      +1

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:30

      No thanks. Imagine the losses that the state would have to cover if JP was still around during this pandemic....

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:31

      Now it will have to cover the airport's losses.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:34

      The subsidies that Fraport will receive are just a very small fraction compared to what JP would be getting. For reference look at JU and YM.
      So if JP was around apart from the airport we would also have to pay for JP.
      Thanks but no thanks.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:41

      Biggest mistake was not offering an LCC to open a base - Wizz or Easy.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:44

      Every European LCC is perfectly free to open a base on any EU airport.
      They just have to pay the same fees as the other airlines.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:46

      You do not get how small is Ljubljana?

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:57

      If that was the case, they wouldn't be building them a new terminal.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous10:04

      Fraport is contractually obligated to build a new terminal and make all the other improvements at LJU.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous10:24

      @Anon 09:44: Will they get the same subsidies as national carriers as well, to make the competition fair?

      Delete
    13. Anonymous11:02

      Of course not. Workers in full service national carriers are far more important human beings than workers of LCCs.
      THAT is what we are seeing all over Europe.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous13:08

      Anonymous 11:02
      Sad but true.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:36

    The question is whether all these airlines will return next year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      That question goes for every airport of the world.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:54

      Another question: will LJU be smart enough to find a way to adapt to the new situation by doing their best (= find a solution together with slo government and STO) or will they keep crying how life is unfair? If the management can't handle it, they should accept defeat and admit it and give an opportunity to those who can handle crisis management.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:03

      Also, in current covid situation, we are not expecting for all scheduled flights to go as planned, but we do expect more than 3,5 flights on average per day. that's just sad. next level of hitting low is not having any flights at all

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:03

      What is this magical solution?
      And why no other airport in the planet has find it yet?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:06

      eurocontrol &co. are having bunch of webinars on this topic. here is one https://www.eurocontrol.int/hardtalk/willie-walsh-recording?j=69115771&jb=2&l=1926764_HTML&mid=152878&sfmc_sub=1329431456&u=719326941
      those who care, are having a debate about it
      the others cry how life is unfair

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:34

      So you have no answer, no solution, just discussion...
      Discussion that has yet to produce a solytion anywhere in Europe or in fact the world.
      Exactly what I was expecting!

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:40

      you get answers and solutions after discussion has been done ;) 10eur/pax is one of those solutions that was proposed without serious discussion between frapy and government and those who keep warning on how no connectivity will affect Slovenian economy. frapy can promote it all they want but it's still a solution based on a lack of understanding of how and why pax book flights.
      things will stay like this until all parties will sit down with a goal of figuring out a solution that will bring Slovenia more (relieable) connectivity.
      I'd be happy to provide answers and solutions but I don't make conclusions when I don't have all the necessary data to do so.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous13:13

      The only data you need is the fact that Corona has deepresed demand everywhere.
      And untill the pandemic ends people are not willing to fly unless it is necessery.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13:33

      actually it's more complex than that and "let's wait it out" approach is too risky

      Delete
    10. Anonymous13:41

      You should tell that to the rest of the planet that still hasn't figured how to increase demand for travel and tourism during a pandemic...

      Delete
    11. Anonymous14:02

      well, majority hasn't figured out, I agree with that, some did get creative though
      you might find this https://antarcticaflights.com.au/ ridiculous, but they are keeping a 787 filled up without needing to deal with entry restrictions
      Japanese are doing something similar

      and something is better than nothing

      Delete
    12. Anonymous14:07

      Yes, Antarctica flights is the brilliant solution!

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:38

    Adria flew to Brussels, Berlin and Amsterdam so at least we would have had these destinations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:45

      Not if demand had collapsed.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:45

      I will remind you that Adria was cancelling flights left and right, as if there was corona.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:26

      Who, apart from the EU paper-pushers flies on the LJU-BRU route?

      Very few tourists were happy to pay Adria's BRU prices.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:33

      @anon 09:45

      That happened when Slovenia sold JP to 4k. Before that situation was much better.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:32

      Only because the government was pumping millions per year into JP.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:36

      yup, horribly high amounts of money, especially in comparison to other means of transportation
      https://proracun.gov.si/Public/BudgetVisualization (> promet in prometna infrastruktura)

      Delete
    7. Anonymous13:39

      LOL at the airline employees who are trying to compare the millions of people using public transport every week with their airline!

      Delete
    8. Anonymous13:50

      I was comparing it to expensive projects and I was never an airline employee

      on people using public transport: the point of free/discounted/subsidized train/bus public transport is so people with low-paying jobs, pupils, students and seniors can afford to get around, the point of good and reliable air connectivity is so people who create jobs and tourists who bring money into the country can get around. if you limit those who bring most money into tax budget, there is less money to make bus and train transport more affordable.
      not that this is the only cash flow, but for visualization purposes of the importance of having air connectivity ...

      Delete
    9. Anonymous15:41

      @Anonymous13:39:

      Actually, I would LOL at people (such as yourself) who think that air transport is somehow inferior to other means of transportation. Be my guest, cross the Atlantic by a train or a bus. Or take a train ride to Australia or South America.

      Just in case you were referring to Slovenia, I have a news flash. Nobody would even notice if they close Slovenske zeleznice tomorrow. Just because you travel by train, doesn't mean that everyone is.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:38

    We will be lucky if we have 400,000 pax this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:00

      No way, even 300.000 is questionable...

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:38

    Fraport is right. The constant changes to quarantine lists and entry rules are killing off any chance of the airport recovering.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:41

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:45

      True dat. Every country has a different set of rules and conditions and even those can change from one day to the next.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:00

      The level of uncoordination is staggering.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:05

      +1

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:34

      Some countries have even more strict entry rules but their airports keep having flights. So this is not excuse, it's their incapacity!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:38

      +1000

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:41

    Expected

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:44

    I assume Lufthansa is currently performing best at LJU.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:44

    Germany is on the green list so why is easyjet cancelling Berlin-Ljubljana?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:52

      Because demand is low. Just because there are no restrictions between two particular places at the moment does not mean flights will be full. That's why it is being predicted that it will take the industry to recover until 2024 under the basis that this virus situation is over next year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:05

      Anon 09:52
      +1000

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:45

      LCC does not have appropriate aircrafts to maintain flights. Airlines with smaller aircrafts (CRJ9, DASH-8, ATR70) could have many more flights that we see it nowadays. Slovenia could benefit a lot with new national carrier up to 5 aircrafts for now.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:01

      The only thing that a national carrier would do during a pandemic would be to cause tens of millions of losses for the state to cover.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:06

      Wait one additional week.

      Part of Slovenia is already risky for Germans.

      The small region of Slovenia called Primorsko-Notranjska is already a high risk region for Germany (it was declared yesterday by The Robert Koch Institute).

      Travellers from high-risk regions into Germany are required to self-quarantine and notify the authorities, and submit to a coronavirus test within 72 hours after arrival. The public health authority may lift the quarantine if the test result is negative.

      After six days the following regions of Slovenia have a high chance to be on the list too:
      - Koroška,
      - Savinjska,
      - Zasavska and
      - Osrednjeslovenska (including the capita lLjubljana).
      and maybe
      - Podravska (Maribor is i nthis area) too.

      That's are not good news.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:07

      Not an airline with few small aircrafts...

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:48

    Well Slovenia banned whole europe from entering. What did they expect?? People to come to lock up in hotel for 14 days? Now they will swim in their own soup.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:51

      Exactly

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:36

      Some countries have even more strict entry rules so this is not excuse for incompetent managers in Fraport. Thanks Skobir and Krasnja!

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:20

    The latest Eurostat official document has actually confirmed that Lithuania, Portugal and Slovenia are the nations that most use a car as a mean of transport - a whopping 86-90%!

    https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/-/EDN-20200916-1?inheritRedirect=true&redirect=/eurostat/en/news/whats-new

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:34

      For INLAND transport.

      Did you expect Slovenians to fly from Maribor to Ljubljana or from Ljubljana to Portoroz?

      The furthest point in Slovenia can be reached by car in 2.5 hours.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:24

      I would take a guess and say that we are in the top 5 when it comes to border crossings, as well. An average Slovenian does not travel by air. Period.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:31

    3 to 4 flights a day was last seen in 1950's or early 1960's?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous11:09

    Slovenia had the lowest demand for air travel in Europe in August. Just 13% of original traffic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:37

      Demand is tightly connected to connectivity. If there is no connectivity there can't be any demand.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:41

      No 11:37, you have it backwards. Flights exist to serve markets. If there is no market there will be no flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:11

      @anon 11:41

      it's simply not true, you can create market with proper product. For example I'm not a potential buyer for new Rolls Royce, but if you give it to me for 10k € I will buy it. It's same in aviation, before LCC came into some routes we would never think that there is any demands but with good product (especially low price) demand is increasing.

      Delete
    4. Petar13:17

      SMFH....

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:43

      If only Rolls Royce managers had thought of that. Pricing their cars like Zastavas!
      They would sell millions of them. You should really send them a letter explaining your genial idea...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:52

      It's an example how demand could be increased or in other hand decreased. You simply can not say that there is no demand because demands is driven by many factors.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:22

      @Anonymous13:11:

      You must have a PhD in economics, don't you? Hell, if someone gives me a Ferrari for free, I will take it. But I will definitely sell it the first time I have to take it for maintenance.

      Sarcasm aside, LCCs need to have a pretty darn good load factor (more than 90%) in order to sell cheap tickets. They also need good ancillary revenue from buy on board products (which in Slovenia would be impossible, since Slovenes are cheapskates), otherwise they move to other markets were more money can be made.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous16:20

      @Anon 15:22

      I would do the same but my point is not with Ferrari or RR, it just show's how demand could be stimulated when certain factors are changed.




      Delete
    9. Anonymous16:57

      @Anonymous16:20:

      It is very difficult to stimulate such a small market in aviation. Market is there or there isn't. Average fare price of an LCC is already ridiculously low (cheaper than bus or train), so how would free ticket prices stimulate air travel in Slovenia (and who in their right mind would do it at moment - airlines are already struggling to survive as it is)? Slovenes do not travel and even if an airline offers free or discounted hotel prices (why would they for such a handful of passengers), not many Slovenes would be tempted to change their habbits.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous17:11

      @Anon 15:22: Typical LCC break-even LF is about 75%, the rest is profit.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous17:55

      Well, that depends on the market. I agree that 90% is a bit over the top, but as we have seen with the covid crisis, if you don't have a healthy financial balance, you won't make it. And there have always been tough times in aviation, it goes up an down.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous21:59

      Plenty of airlines with paper house of cards balance sheets seem to be doing OK though :)

      Delete
    13. Anonymous22:19

      Are you sure about that? How many of them will make it through the winter?

      Delete
  20. Anonymous11:22

    I suppose having turbo-props in the fleet at this moment is a big advantage as all routes are thin.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous12:04

    Statements from LJU management started to sound like the statements from the failed Chinese investor at MBX, don't you agree?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous12:29

    So nice that everything is done due to Corona, be honest there were connection to LJubljana even before corona, but most of them much more expensive than flying out of Zagreb or Italy.
    So that corona and all the connected bulshit is the reason you can probably blame everything to the owner of airport and former owner of adria, aho took here to the ground ... and of course do not forget our dear gov.as they know so nice have to make all this RIGHT business decisions in the name of country best.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous14:30

    How come Slovenia with only 1 international airport LJU (I simly can't include Maribor) can not sustain at least a few destinatons across Europe while Bosnia has Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Tuzla, Mostar and there is even talk of Bihać? I just don't get it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:15

      Well, because the majority of Slovenes never leave their country (Croatia doesn't count). They have no need for air travel (as pointed out many, many times by some users on this forum).

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:22

      2 mio pax per year is nothing? For such small country this number is quite high..

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:01

      Actually, it is. If I am not mistaken, those numbers include transfer passengers, which are counted twice (once as incoming and second time as outgoing). With no Adria, there are no transfer passengers and the number is even smaller.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous15:13

    Well, those of us with actual experience in aviation predicted this well before the virus (LJU having the smallest number of destinations in ex-YU). Corona just made things worse, but the harsh reality is this: not a single LCC carrier decided to open a base in LJU well before the virus, so it was pretty obvious there is no market for this segment of aviation. On the other hand, Ryanair just announced opening of BVA base during the corona crisis (similar to Wizz).

    Solinair setting up a new carrier would be LJU (and Slovenia's) only hope. Airlines will be forced to rationalise their networks and I am pretty sure there is no space for LJU on their map. Let's face it, the market is small and the majority of Slovenes tend to stay at home their whole lives (apart from going on vacation here and there). Our only hope are foreigners coming to Slovenia, not Slovenes going on vacations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:24

      Agree. Airline is a part of the transportation infrastructure, what Slovenians didint get yet. Solinair has no know-how for pax cat ops, either financial backbone for doing it.
      If there would be any reasionable market for pax ops, Ryan would be first to raser the market is 10yrs ago. What that little potential was at LJU, was neglected by incompetent management. btw: none by any experience could not predict such a historical fall of the traffic.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:34

      @anon 11:24

      there are plenty of people in Slovenia who has know-how to handle an airline, at same time state should provide some financial assistance so both problems are solved. There is more than enough potential in Slovenia for small airline (up to 5 aircrafts) and actually this is only solution if we want to get better connectivity.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:58

      Who in Slovenia has management experience with running a profitable passenger airline?

      Delete
  25. Anonymous16:18

    As far as I know, the overall tourism strategy in Slovenia has a big aspiration of “boutique tourism”. In other words, no mass tourism, brought in by LCC, we are rather looking at those who can by their own/or hired private jets fly in. In this respect, low connectivity by scheduled airlines to and from anywhere is not really a problem, in fact, it will help us to achieve this goal of “boutique” destination. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:04

      Yeah, boutique destination :D. Apart from two or three hotels that weren't built in the former Yugoslavia, we also have glamping resorts. And that's about it :D.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:38

      I agree. Hochstapler sindrom I would say. If someone believes airline transportation starts with the tourism its all wrong.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:56

      We should close down also Lju airport. We dont need lju airport and neither Fraport.

      Delete

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