Travelling amid a pandemic from Paris to Ljubljana

TRIP REPORT | INDEX


This Air France Hop flight from Paris to Ljubljana was taken in August 2020. The equipment used was an Embraer E190. As I had no luggage to check in for this short city break, I was quickly through to the departures area of Charles de Gaulle Airport. It was relatively quiet and many of the shops were closed. Although there are various measures being observed, social distancing wasn’t one of them. 





We arrived at our bus gate where our temperature was checked. We were then all crammed into a bus, which took us to our Embraer. 






We were welcomed on board by courteous crew and I took my seat. The seat pocket featured just the safety card and the air sickness bag. 



Our flight was delayed by about half an hour due to a lack of available busses to transport some more passengers from the gate to the plane. The load on the flight was very decent. The pilot apologised for the delay, informed us of our route details and warned there would be turbulence upon landing into Ljubljana. We had a fairly long taxi to the runway and finally took off. 


Upon departure, the cabin crew performed meal service which was more or less the same as in the pre-Covid era. A small snack and drinks were offered. 



The remainder of the flight was uneventful and passed by quickly. The approach and landing were very bumpy because there was a storm in Ljubljana. However, we managed to land with just a seven minute delay. 



Disembarkation was well organised, and we quickly passed through the terminal where there were no special health checks. 

Overall, it was a pleasant flight with Air France Hop. It was comfortable, the seat was good with efficient and friendly crew. A normal snack was offered, and our arrival was almost on time despite the delay in Paris. 


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Comments

  1. Anonymous09:59

    Nice report. Even though LJU suffered because of Covid, it still maintained primary airports and destinations such as CDG. This shows the importance of these carriers. Well done LJU!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:03

      Are you aware LJU has 2, yes TWO, flights yesterday and today?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:24

      Yes, and? This report was made in August.
      Are you aware that London is no longer the busiest airport in Europe?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:26

      And are you aware that LHR still has a decent amount of connections and flights while LJU has experienced total collapse? Where is our link with AMS?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:35

      Every airport in the world is affected terribly. I don't get your point about LJU.
      BUD was entirely closed because borders were closed. Why are you always bashing LJU?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:00

      Because LJU is mismanaged. Operations have come crashing down so It's not just about Corona

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:10

      What is mismanaged? LJU is struggling because of JP and not because of the airport.
      Fraport has attracted various airlines and is now building a new terminal. I'm sorry I don't agree with you.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous11:38

    Perfectly agree with Anon 09:59. It's extremely important for LJU to maintain primary airports and destinations. Constant LJU mismanaging comments are boring and unproductive. Two flights per day in the situation of extreme travel restrictions is a new reality. With the lockdown, when you have to proof specific need for travel abroad which is the same as for travel between municipalities in Slovenia and more and more European countries introducing new lockdowns, two flights per day seem more than enough for the demand. Unfortunately. Nice report. Thanx.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:21

      +1000

      People suddenly forgot that LJU was constantly growing since 2011 before the demise of JP in 2019:

      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

      > LJU is the only ex-Yu city to be connected to 3 London airports year-round and the only one connecting two Serbian towns at once.
      > The airport has a very healthy mix of primary & secondary destinations
      > The airport has a very healthy mix of legacy and LCC as well as charter
      > Even though the airport relied on JP's traffic it now no longer has a monopoly which will be quite beneficial when the terminal is opened in the next couple of months
      > The airport has potential having flights to Japan

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:25

      recommend that you get your facts right.

      LJU 2 flight
      ZAG 20 flights
      TRS 10 flights
      PRN 25 flights

      So yeah you are right from a nation of 2 mil people there is demand for 2 flights par day.

      Role of National airline is market creator and maintainer.
      LCC and non domestic airlines are only market multipliers, when market is already existing.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:32

      You are stubborn with those 2 daily flights. Dude, it's a pandemic! Slovenia chose to protect its people and open the border to very few countries.
      So you are actually denying that LJU has been growing during the last decade?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:30

      Aha yeah right, let's go with that and not with the fact they didn't know how to stimulate and restart demand

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:46

      Well, Anon 13:30, please, enlighten us, how to stimulate demand. And, please, with regards to all restrictions imposed.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:54

      No capital city today in Europe has two flights! There are markets that can enter Slovenia, starting with Serbia. Why didn't Slovenia promote itself more in Belgrade to attract more Serbian tourists like Israel, Cyprus or Turkey did?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous14:56

      And promotion motto would be; "before your perfect holiday in Slovenia, first go in 14 days quarantine"

      Delete
    8. Anonymous14:59

      You don't seem to understand. LJU has CHOSE to close its borders:

      https://reopen.europa.eu/en/map/SVN

      Serbia is not an EU member and it can chose to close its borders or not. As for "promoting" Israel, this is all because of the current restrictions. Go to YouTube and you will see so many Westerners arriving to the Balkans simply because they do not have another choice because of the closed borders and restrictions. Americans do not have restrictions to enter Serbia at the moment but they do in Slovenia. Cyprus is a gasto destination, so it's normal to have a bit more ease on travel.
      To get a clearer idea, BUD had only 5 early morning flights. And you know BUD, it has a traffic of possibly all ex-Yu capitals combined. So, relax and accept the fact we are facing a pandemic!

      Delete
    9. Nemjee15:11

      Cyprus is a gasto destination? Really? Since when. Just to clarify a few things for you, boom that Cyprus saw was almost exclusively because of exploding tourist demand. On Friday JU returned to BEG packed from LCA and only 21 transfers were onboard.

      Also since you are using early morning departures from BUD then it only makes sense for you to use the same metric for LJU and to see how many early morning departures they had. You are comparing apples to oranges here.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous16:08

      "No capital city today in Europe has two flights!"

      BTS, today and tomorrow has 2 flights: FR to DUB and W6 to LTN.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous20:06

      And poor LJU has been affected by border closures/entry requirements? What should BEG say - Serbian citizens haven't been allowed to most of the EU ever since March. Lousy excuse for LJU's meltdown.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous20:39

      In ex-Yu, Cyprus and Malta remain gasto Destinations, no issues here. Lets leave Slovenia decide to whom to open its borders or not. Obviously, the government has more priorities allowing certain countries and banning others. Even if we are talking about 2 daily flights. 2020 is definitely not the year of aviation statistics. Let others enjoy their new "discovery destinations".

      Delete
    13. Nemjee06:47

      How can Cyprus be a gasto destination when there are no more than 500 Serbs down there? Air Serbia mostly carries transfers, little O&D there is and then transfers. There is a reason why Wizz Air did well in summer but poorly in winter. They even cancelled LCA from mid November to mid December.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous15:19

    Let's face it. It will get even worse before very slow recovery in early spring. I can imagine also days without a flight in Ljubljana. From Nov. 15 LH will temporarily reduce FRA to 5 per week. Even UK airports will be more or less empty since you can now only travel for work and some very urgent reasons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:35

      Agree. Due to new measures to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, AF has suspended many flights across Europe, including to LJU between 7 November and 16 December. Next week, they will fly according to plans so that passengers can return. So, more or less no flights until mid December.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous21:35

    Nice last picture.

    ReplyDelete

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