Ljubljana Airport to see mild recovery in December


Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is expected to see a mild recovery in the number of operated flights and offered capacity during December compared to November. The airport has seen both metrics decrease month after month since peak summer and is currently served by just three airlines. If current schedules remain in place, Ljubljana will see the return of three carriers in December – Air France, LOT Polish Airlines and Montenegro Airlines, which will offer nine, ten and thirteen flights from their bases to the Slovenian capital respectively. While Montenegro Airlines is expected to restore operations on November 29, LOT will do so on December 16 and Air France on December 19, if current schedules are kept intact. 

During December, Ljubljana Airport is expected to handle 100 incoming commercial flights and offer 9.830 one-way seats. This is compared to 56 incoming flights this month and 5.596 one-way seats. During December, Lufthansa will be the largest carrier, offering 36 flights, followed by Air Serbia with nineteen and Turkish Airlines with a planned thirteen flights. However, capacity-wise, Lufthansa will offer the most seats, followed by Turkish Airlines, Montenegro Airlines and Air Serbia. The German carrier plans to maintain operations from Frankfurt with its Embraer E190 jet, Turkish Airlines with an Airbus A321 twice per week and an A320 once per week, while Montenegro Airlines will deploy its Fokker 100 jet from Podgorica. 

Airline market share in Ljubljana based on frequency, December 2020


Seat capacity by airline at Ljubljana Airport, December 2020

The figures for next month are still notably behind the kind of frequencies and capacity offered from Ljubljana in the prepandemic December of 2019 when it was served by eleven airlines. Back then it handled 501 incoming commercial flights, offering 55.952 seats for sale. At the time, easyJet offered the most capacity out of the Slovenian capital, followed by Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and Air Serbia, while most flights were operated by Lufthansa, Air Serbia and easyJet. The British low cost carrier has now completely pulled out of the Slovenian market until the new year. It has further delayed the launch of its new service from London Gatwick to Ljubljana until February 5, 2021, while a single flight from Gatwick will operate on January 1 before being suspended again until February 1. 

The data above is correct as of November 11. Changes are possible to take place in the coming weeks as airlines continue to slash capacity.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    At least something

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    So in December 80% decline in flights on 2019 and 90% in capacity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:53

      and then theres a third category: LF

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:57

      Well that we cannot predict at this point :D

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:22

      It will be low

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    Interesting how differently the airlines are positioned in terms of frequencies and in terms of capacity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:27

      The biggest surprise to me is YM having more capacity than JU.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:07

    I just don't see things getting any better at LJU without either a national airline or a carrier basing a plane there. The new subsidies for foreign airlines does very little in attracting new ones. It's mostly to keep the ones flying.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      But people on here said that getting rid of JP was the best thing to happen to the airport.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:38

      I think offering the subsidies is smart. After this is over airlines will be more determined to quickly axe underperforming routes. So the extra cash will definitely help and keep them flying until demand returns.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:39

      Considering everyone was about to increase frequencies to LJU before covid, I don't think any routes were nonperforming.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:41

      @9.07 they attracted Sky Express for next year

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:41

      and Tunisiar

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:42

      Expiry date for first step ended on Monday (09.11.2020), is there anyone who know who applied to that tender for subsidies?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:43

      People were cheering for the demise of Adria under the pretense of saving taxpayers money yet now everyone is happy the government is subsidizing foreign airlines.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:44

      @9.42 I assume every single airline that meets the conditions. I don't see why they wouldn't.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:44

      Plus I'm sure all of them were informed about the subsidies by Fraport.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:07

      I think they should do everything they can to get Wizz Air to open a base in LJU.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous10:08

      @Anon 09:15: Luckily nothing major has happened in aviation or the world since 2019, so we can easily compare LJU's performance before and after JP's bankruptcy.

      Delete
    12. @09.47
      Sun Express, not Sky Express

      Delete
    13. Anonymous10:21

      Yes, SunExpress sorry. Sky Express is long gone :D

      Delete
    14. Anonymous10:48

      @10.07
      I agree, especially since they are willing to open bases at such short notice

      Delete
    15. Anonymous11:06

      @anon 10:07

      lol, LCC fanboys talking again. You just don't get tired..

      Delete
    16. Anonymous11:12

      I'm not a fan boy. I just don't see any other solution for our airport to increase passenger numbers quickly while offering more destinations at affordable prices.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous11:21

      For 101 times.

      2 most important KPIs for LCC to open a base are:

      1) country with mass tourism
      2) country with huge number of ethnic living across the world

      Slovenia does not have any of it, so forget about any LCC opening a base in LJU.
      Only solution for Slovenia is to establish national carrier or to give subsidies to foreign legacy carriers to place aircraft in LJU.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous11:25

      If it cannot sustain LCC base, it can sustain higher precentage of LCCs on the market.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous11:46

      That's true, but for that reasons government has prepared subsidies so they are more than welcome to operate to LJU. I'm just saying that this will not significantly improve Slovenian connectivity

      Delete
    20. Anonymous12:41

      @11:21 Could you please explain to me why TLL has a good number of LCCs and it's not either a massive touristic destination nor are there many Estonians living abroad?
      Estonia and Slovenia are very similar in size, population and economy.

      Delete
    21. Anonymous12:52

      Are you really comparing TLL and LJU? They had more than 3 mio pax last year, that's more than 100% more than LJU. So that they are much bigger than LJU we already know but still neither one LCC has based aircraft in TLL. Why?
      Also most flights they have to LON airports, like LJU had in past. I believe that LON could be defined as mass tourist destination, right?

      Delete
    22. Anonymous01:31

      No, because they have flights to 2 London airports but still many other Scandinavian ones. Again, lets stick to economics and population this time for the sake of aviation. Both countries are quite the same, but TLL is apparently doing better. Time to find out why.

      Delete
    23. Anonymous08:23

      I'm not expert on TLL business model but one of the reason is that their closest competition is RIX (4,5 h away) and LED (5h away). So in comparison with Slovenia where you have much stronger competition in radium of 5h (ZAG, TRS, VCE, BEG, MUC, VIE, MIL, BUD). Some of those airports already have base LCCs.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:08

    Hopefully things get better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:27

      Not in a few years.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:09

    It's good to see some improvement.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:28

      Doubt this capacity will be in place come December. Hope so though.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:10

    I'm not so certain all these airlines will come back as they plan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      They probably will because lockdowns will end in December and there will be a bit more demand because of Christmas travel.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:16

    Today and tomorrow just one flight to LJU. It can not get worse.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:32

      I can only imagine the airport's financial results. Having one or no flights per day is a financial disaster.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:32

      What level of activity (aircraft arrivals/departures) does LJU need to brake even?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:35

      How on earth could anyone know that.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:35

      And your profitability does not simply depend on the number of aircraft arrivals.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:18

    Still waiting for LH resume Munich

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      You will be waiting till summer 2021

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:28

      At best...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:36

      Considering LH's strong position in LJU, I'm certain the route will be resumed.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:20

    This is a good example of how unsuitable YM's fleet is especially in winter. They will send an F100 to Ljubljana (their smallest aircraft) and will be third by capacity there but probably LF will be terrible. A gas guzzling plane with low LF, great combo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      Agree. Good luck with filling 1,400 seats between LJU and TGD in December.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:23

    Which airlines still have to return that haven't? (not including the ones in December)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      easyjet, transavia, Brussels Airlines, Swiss, Aeroflot

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:39

      Let's see if all return.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:40

      There is also BA and Finnair with seasonal flights.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:56

      And what happened with Iberia?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:02

      They were supposed to launch flights this summer but covid happened.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:03

      I know but have they rescheduled for 2021?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:06

      No. It's cancelled.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous22:36

      Pity

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:28

    Will there be winter charters in December?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:29

    Well there we go, just a year after launching flights, LH is first in market share in LJU. Great success :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      It would be no.1 even without covid.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:02

      Not necessarily. Easyjet would probably have more capacity.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:31

    Great to see that some airlines will start operating to LJU again.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:34

    Good. At least something is starting up

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous09:34

    Is there any indication when SU will come back to Ljubljana?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:36

      When the Russian government allows it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:55

      Yes, there is not much the airport can do about Aeroflot's return. The Russian government is deciding when markets can open, and it has little to do with epidemiological situations in each country.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:45

    Airport should NEVER had been fully privatized like this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:53

      What you think it would be different if Fraport was not running the show?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:54

      The management is more or less the same as it was before Fraport took over,

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:58

      I think Fraport is busy with the updates. They recently announced that TK will resume flights to VAR this weekend. We may see an announcement for LJU too.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:01

      Fingers crossed.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:05

      Normally after they announce who is planning to return, then a day after we get announcement that those airlines will postpone their flights to LJU. Same story is repeating for few months now.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:46

    These numbers are tragic

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:48

      LJU might end the year with similar pax numbers as Tuzla.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:16

      Everyone will have poor results this year. Not just Ljubljana.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:04

      But LJU had biggest drop compared to PY figures. And not everything is connected to Covid-19.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:30

      Exactly poor preparation once the pandemic hit.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:48

    LJU airport PR is repeating same story every month. Last month was disaster but airlines will come back this month. Then next day we are reading article about how airlines will postpone their return to LJU. I expect this will be published in next few days...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:31

      I don't think LJU PR wrote this article. The article even says 3 times that it is possible capacity/frequnecies will be adjusted.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous08:10

      Probably they didn't wrote it but I'm quite sure that they are the source for that article.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous09:52

    Interesting info. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous10:08

    Whatever happened to the Banana King and his plans to relaunch Adria?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:10

      The coronavirus happened which decimated the global aviation industry, making new start ups even more risky and unprofitable then they were before.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous10:11

    I hope LJU will be able to find some sort of solution of the upcoming months.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:30

      What kind of solution can it find?

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:14

    Hopefully more airlines will come soon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:29

      easyjet already delayed till February, Brussels will probably delay LJU from February until late March, Swiss is nowhere on the horizon.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous12:49

    According to the Route Shop, there were 6 airports that were interested having a route to LJU namely:
    DBV, LCA, MMX, PFO, SOF & VNO

    http://www.therouteshop.com/profiles/ljubljana-airport/

    The biggest surprise is definitely VNO and PFO. I guess SOF expressed this after the demise of JP and perhaps Trade Air for DBV. PFO is usually a Ryan airport while MMX and LCA might go to Wizz.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:01

      I'm not sure that route shop has been updated in years.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:05

      Even though it is not updated like this year, the fact that 6 airports are interested in LJU is still something. Don't you think? Compare ZAG and you will see that the interested airports list does make sense.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:32

      DBV flights were launched this year but didn't work at all.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:55

      What is the passenger load factory of the airlines currently flying to Ljubljana?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous18:55

      I would assume very low.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous19:52

      Well but essential travel is banned from Slovenia.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous22:29

      *all but

      Delete
  25. Anonymous18:04

    Ljubljana, the most obnoxious airport in Ex Yu .
    The curse that haunts the Ex Yu Aviation reader !

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous22:23

    Good luck filling those 56.000 seats next month.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous08:03

    I suggest to all you guys to buy a flight ticket from LJU (or other ex-yu airport) and support the industry, if you are so keen to improve the current situation and full of advices. When you are in quaranteen or infront of a choice of only a handful destinations without, you can say to yourself - it's one for the team!

    ReplyDelete

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