Carriers are continuing to either suspend or reduce their operations to Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport as key markets in Europe reintroduce nationwide lockdowns while Slovenia itself endures a nighttime curfew. Air France will become the latest airline to temporarily suspend their operations to the Slovenian capital. The Slovenian Embassy in France has announced that the carrier will run its last flight between Paris and Ljubljana on November 5, with no services to be maintained between November 7 and December 16. Although Air France is still selling tickets to Ljubljana throughout November, the carrier said, “Due to the closure of European borders and ongoing travel restrictions, our flight schedule for next week is being updated. At this stage, it is too early to assess the impact of these new measures on our flight schedule beyond this period. Further adjustments will be made over the next week”.
Air France planned to maintain three weekly flights to the Slovenian capital this winter season. The temporary suspension of its operations to Ljubljana will result in just three airlines serving the city for most of November - Air Serbia, Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines. However, Lufthansa is also reducing its flights as Germany imposes a nation-wide lockdown. This week, the German carrier will run just three rotations from Frankfurt to Ljubljana. It initially planned to operate daily flights, increasing to double daily from November 16. That has now been pushed back until mid-December. Montenegro Airlines, which plans to resume operations between Podgorica and Ljubljana on November 29 has reduced its frequencies from the planned four weekly flights to two weekly, although further changes remain likely.
Other carriers that plan to return to Ljubljana in the coming months have also delayed their comeback onto the Slovenian market. LOT Polish Airlines now intends to resume flights from Warsaw on December 16 instead of December 1. easyJet, which was to launch its new flights from London Luton and restore operations from London Gatwick in December, has delayed its services until January 2021. Transavia, which initially scheduled to restore flights to the Slovenian capital in mid-December has now postponed its service resumption until mid-February of next year. As previously reported, Brussels Airlines' planned return to Ljubljana has been postponed from October until February of next year.
The situation is really dire, but you have to wonder is there something LJU could have done differently. Everyone is in the same boat but others have more flights.
ReplyDeleteOf course they could have.
DeleteFor starters they could have suspended airport charges and kept only the airport tax.
DeleteBut the airport has to make some money too. How are you going to pay the workers if you suspend all charges?
DeleteLJU should find some sort of solution together with slo government
DeleteThey would be making some money from the passenger tax and from shops at the airport having customers. I doubt they are making money with three airlines flying there and together offering 10 weekly flights.
DeleteThey are not going to make anything with that. When you have low loads on board, couple of euros per passanger less is not going to make airlines stay in LJU.
DeleteThey would still have more passengers with that than they do now.
DeleteBy what logic?
DeleteIt looks like only JU is staying loyal to LJU through the current storm. I wonder if this will be remembered in the future by the Slovenian government?
DeleteDon't think LOT will come back until summer 2021.
ReplyDeleteSame with Montenegro Airlines returning in late November. Don't think we will see them before mid to late December.
DeleteI think YM was mostly carrying locals and they can offer connections via BEG on JU.
DeleteSo is JU the busiest with four weekly now? Does this mean there are going to be days with no flights from LJU?
ReplyDeleteYes, JU will have the most frequencies next week, but LH will have more overall. They will be shifting frequencies from week to week but overall should be more than 4 per week.
Delete"Does this mean there are going to be days with no flights from LJU?"
DeleteYes, tomorrow not a single flight.
Tomorrow just two flights to LJU - FRA by LH and IST by TK.
ReplyDeleteAt least today isn't that bad for our new standards - 4 flights (AF, LH, TK and JU)
DeleteThat's basically all the airlines still flying to Ljubljana.
DeleteMeanwhile, the likes of Podgorica has 6 flights today, SJJ five...
DeleteThis is actually on Wednesday. There is no flights on Tuesday.
DeleteZagreb has 20, Belgrade 53.
DeleteAlmost like in normal times.
DeleteExpected. I wouldn't be surprised if more suspensions are coming our way.
ReplyDeleteThere is not much left to suspends from LJU.
DeleteCarnage continues
ReplyDeleteI suppose that they won't apply to subsidy tender?
ReplyDeleteThey can. They flew to LJU during summer.
DeleteThey can. The first subsidy category is for airline flying from March till September at LJU.
DeleteMeanwhile new terminal under construction full speed ahead...
ReplyDeleteBravo to Fraport.
DeleteI never would have thought that LJU would have the least destinations on offer in ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteHow many frequencies does TK offer?
ReplyDelete3 weekly.
DeleteThings are bad and are getting worse all over Europe
ReplyDeleteSome airports are handling it much better.
DeleteBy much better you mean pax numbers are "just" 70% down?
DeleteYes, that's better than 90% down and other airports still offer a decent number of flights.
DeleteLJU should be lucky to be at around 90% drop, to me it seems like November will be around 95%
DeleteAre they still talking to a Middle Eastern airline to start flights? lol
ReplyDeletetotally redundant comment
DeleteLJU management was talking about just 2 months ago.
DeleteHaha good one @anon 09:19
DeleteThink the biggest regional airline will now base aircraft in LJU.
DeleteNo, it is too early for that ...
DeleteThis scenario could have been avoided had more been done to attract an LCC to station a plane in LJU.
ReplyDeleteNot a single LCC carrier decided to open a base in LJU before the virus, so it is obvious there is no market for this segment of aviation.
DeleteLCC talking head strikes again
DeleteWow, too bad nobody came up with that idea.
DeleteBut, wait a second. Didn't Easy, Wizz and Transavia already fly to LJU while Adria was still around (actually, Adria was already decreasing presenece in LJU at that time)?
:(
ReplyDeleteIt's logical that the (coordinated closure) of France and Germany will impact LJU. I believe these two are their biggest markets.
ReplyDeleteSlovenia had the lowest demand for air travel in Europe during the summer. Just 13% of original traffic.
DeleteThe UK will be going for an even harder lockdown. Things are going from bad to worse.
DeleteAnd to think this summer AF was flying more than daily to LJU.
ReplyDeleteThe question is whether all these airlines will return.
ReplyDeleteSince they are just suspending flights and not terminating them, I think it is safe to say they will be back.
DeleteBecause the slot roule use it or louse it is suspended. They may only be sitting on the slots
DeleteWell now we see one of the issues of completely privatizing airports and national airlines.
ReplyDeleteYes, Slovenia today would need a national carrier with 50 flights a day, when nobody is flying anyway and they would carry 5 passengers on each flight.
Deletewe would be happy with with up to 10 flights as what we are seeing now is disaster.
Delete10 flights to where? And who would travel there? And what would the LF be? 10%?
DeleteLet me check my crystal ball and I'll get back to you. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be as bad as it is.
DeleteSlovenia closed its borders to the most of EU coutries long time ago. There is no tourism so anyone who really needs to come in Slovenia can do it via MUC or FRA.
DeleteThere is next to zero demand for any travel at the moment and likely to stay like this until next summer.
DeleteHaving a national carrier at the moment would just mean throwing away couple of million EUR a month to have empty aircraft flying around, wasting fuel and polluting the environment.
We will be lucky if we reach 300.000 pax this year.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know how October performed?
DeleteWe will know in 2 weeks.
DeleteAround 11.000 pax...
DeleteAll this will lead to is more airline collapses, bailouts and monopolies.
ReplyDeleteThis is sad :(
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the situation is really getting nasty in many places. Wizz has just postponed all its TLV flights to December. November- February will be very harsh. LJU will hopefully recover.
ReplyDeleteFrom 9 airlines in August to 3 in November...
ReplyDeleteOf course some on here just love to blame the pandemic for it completely disregarding that LJU has done next to nothing to keep the airlines flying.
DeleteAnd what could LJU have done it to stimulate demand (which is a problem) here in the middle of pandemic with all the travel restrictions?
DeleteTK is the last fortress in LJU.
ReplyDeleteWhat about JU?
DeleteIST has been the busiest route from LJU in terms of passenger numbers for several years now. I believe TK has a greater presence compared to JU.
DeleteIST has not been the busiest route in terms of pax numbers, it's been London. TK currently has 3 flights per week to LJU, JU has 4.
DeleteJU flies ATR, TK flies A321 during pandemic.
DeleteIST has been the busiest the busiest route before the pandemic. If you combine 5 airports of London to compare the numbers of IST itself, that's a different story.
I'm curious to know what is currently the TK load factor on flights to LJU. Anyone knows?
DeleteTrue dat. They get huge subsidies from Turkey so they can afford to fly half empty planes for cheap ticket prices.
ReplyDeleteWho? TK?
DeleteProve it.
TK is heavily subsidized by the government. Anyone who denies that is completely ignorant about aviation.
Deletethere's not a single source that you can prove it takes subsidies from the government. TK flies to 206 destinations all over the world in November. It's an airline that carries lots of transfer passengers all around the world also has a huge domestic coverage. So three weekly flights to Slovenia wouldn't hurt TK.
DeleteSad, however situation all over Europe is truly dramatic. LH even considered grounding of all its fleet, yet calculated that the costs would be even bigger that flying with 20 % capacity.
ReplyDeleteAt least we will have a new terminal...
ReplyDeleteHopefully by the time it opens in June next year things calm down.
DeleteFrom what time is the curfew in LJU? And until when is it envisaged to last for?
ReplyDeletebetween 9 p.m. and 6 a.m
DeleteAre you actually allowed to travel outside of Slovenia?
DeleteNo. Not even outside our municipality. It's possible only for work and some extraordinary circumstances.
DeleteI see, so who travels from Slovenia by plane now?
DeletePeople who travel for work purposes or those who need to get back home somewhere
DeleteAlthough talking at extremely low levels, seems that INI is having more weekly flights and wider network than LJU.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone supplement
ReplyDeleteLJU traffic:
2012 1,198,911
2013 1,321,153
2014 1,338,619
2015 1,464,579
2016 1,411,476
2017 1,688,558
2018 1,818,229
2019 1,727,136
with JP share?
If I remember correctly LJU lowered its dependence of JP year to year.
Sad that we were not able to see a recovery that was set with a summer timetable 2020 (this would make stat. comparisons comparable), but who could predict something like covid19 and its consequances...
Adria share at LJU
Delete2010 - 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%
Bankrupt Adria + covid. Fatal combination.
ReplyDeleteGood news is that LJU will be connected to AYT next year with SunExpress, still something positive for LJU.
ReplyDeleteAF should really remove the flights from their system if they don't plan on operating them.
ReplyDeleteIf Fraport was honest. They predicted reserves to last to this month. From now on they will need to rise cash to finance their fixed costs
Delete@11.59, they have removed them now.
DeleteJU should do the same as the moment when Adria went bancrupt-offer the fastest and the most reliable connections via BEG.
ReplyDeleteThat means-JU, dear friends, you have so many planes idling right now...connect 2x, or even 3x per day LJU with BEG. Establish yourself as reliable and stable airline in Slovenia. Give Slovenes options to fly when they need, build a brand of airline that "was here when it was the hardest for us".
People know to appreciate that.
Once when all this is over, and a Slovene can book a flight to, lets say, Tel Aviv, and he/she gets offer via BEG for 250 EUR and via VIE for 250 EUR people will choose BEG because "Air Serbia? Oh yeah, they were here all the time, I appreciate that!"
They wont fly empty planes
DeleteThis too shall pass
ReplyDeleteIt will. The question is how airports will respond in the aftermath of the crisis which will be just as difficult. Airlines will be much more cautious with opening new routes, especially under performed during the crisis.
DeleteLjubljana is only the first one .
ReplyDeleteZagreb and Belgrade in the next months will also loose fifty percent of their connections .
Not to speak of all the smaller airports .
Highly unlikely due to the simple fact that both airports are home to national airlines which also generate transfer passengers. Something Ljubljana no longer has.
DeleteCrystal ball
DeleteSome people here have no idea what they are talking - counting flights like they are for free. If you check Zagreb, most of the flights tomorrow are Croatian Airlines flights - and don't forget those flights won't come cheap in the end. Someone - tax payers - will pay for those empty seats. Ljubljana is the only main airport in the region, driven only by the organic market demand. And the result is here. And don't forget, Slovenia is way closer to all "important" hot spots of EU than other EX-YU countries. Going to Milan, Vienna, Munich, Prague - even Zurich - by car is way easier in these times and totally doable. And that's why demand is so low. I was at Frankfurt airport today - many flights cancelled, most of shops closed (especially in non-schengen part of the terminal), no crowds, no queues anywhere... on my flight between two EU hubs (Frankfurt and Zurich) only 34 people...
DeleteAnd lets be honest, it doesn't matter how many flights you have at the moment - it will mater more how fast airports will be able to attract airlines back when this situation is over and how to convince people to start traveling by planes again - and here all airports with national flag airlines (supported by the government) will have big advantage. So LJU airport and SLO government have a lot of work to do in the future...
Good. Lock everything down and turn off the lights.
ReplyDeleteafter they finish the construction work and canalize founds from airport account to different accounts throe higher construction costs etc..
DeleteLJU is approaching to the level of MBX. Funny, the POW will become the airport with most operations in the country. Somehow logical considering the population of Slovenia. It is really strange to have three airports for a handful of citizens about as a local community of a larger capital.
ReplyDeletehttps://simpleflying.com/slovenia-zero-passenger-flights/?fbclid=IwAR21w5UDV0LDdcNS6s7oLNo3fv7gRwlOKfB-7rRrmHSnQUelTxCsAujPX8M
ReplyDelete