Slovenia will see the greatest decline in commercial flights and capacity in Europe this month despite government attempts to alleviate the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic through aid and subsidies. In February, both traffic and capacity at Ljubljana Airport will decline over 90% compared to the same month last year. Three carriers - Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and Air Serbia - have confirmed flights to Ljubljana. Despite initially deferring its planned service resumption to late April, Aeroflot has now rescheduled its Ljubljana service for February 12, with one weekly flight from Moscow each Friday operated by the Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft. However, these are subject to government approval, with Russian authorities yet to issue the go-ahead for the service to be restored. Even with Aeroflot’s potential return, traffic volumes at Ljubljana Airport will plummet over 90%.
The Slovenian government has introduced a range of measures in an effort to mitigate the negative impacts of the global health crisis on the country’s aviation sector. It has put into effect the first of three airline subsidy schemes for the upkeep of existing routes and has provided five million euros in aid to Ljubljana Airport’s operator Fraport Slovenija, however, more funds will likely be needed. Recently, the government also reduced taxes for the use of aviation-related infrastructure at airports in the country. The state is also still considering whether to invest funds into a new national carrier.
In response to the latest waves of Covid and risks associated with new variants, many states across Europe are imposing stricter travel restrictions, which strongly discourage air travel unless it is for essential reasons only. As a result, demand for air travel is greatly suppressed and airlines are having to dramatically reduce their capacity accordingly. “It is clear that the months of February and March will be exceptionally low across Europe, except for cargo, some business traffic and skeleton schedule services. Even April is expected to perform very poorly with only a limited pick-up for the Easter period. Flights in Europe will probably only be around 25% - 30% of normal. It is a complete disaster for European aviation - an industry that’s already on its knees”, the Director General of Eurocontrol, Eamonn Brennan, said. Individually, Slovenia will be the most affected market this month. In comparison, Montenegro, which has lost its national carrier, will see its traffic decline 75%.
Comments
Government, set up that dam*n national carrier ASAP!
@09:47: Apparently, only Slovenia is affected by corona. Go figure.
@9:58: Yes, we're not giving away subsidies to FOREIGNERS. And those crazy Germans are subsidising their own carrier. Crazy, aren't they. Why don't they just pay Ryanair instead?
Reason for so extreme drop are very strict restrictions for trevel. At this time we are lucky to not have national carier, and so we don't pay for flying empty planes.
It is also funny that Germany can pay 9 billion EUR to Lufthansa, while Montenegro cannot finance their small, 5 plane operations.
Exyu airlines, on the other hand, have always been political projects and generating profit was never really important.
for example half of ex-yu countries have no national companies yet they managed to have a smaller decline. If Adria was around these countries would have had even lower decline
I'll give you a hint as to why Slovenia is doing so poorly. It ain't corona, but lack of something :).
If we have Adria, they will fly empty planes to Brussles, Amsterdam, Munchen ... and who will pay? Sorry, 10:37, 10:54 and others, at the moment Slovenia have luck that we get rid of our amazing national carier at the right time, just before Corona.
Are you suggesting that Lufthansa paid in Germany less per pax or per landing/departure than other carriers? The tariffs at airports are public info in the EU, so it it crystal clear that you are making things up.
Contrary to what you say, you see this particular type of hidden subsidies not in Germany, but in the ex-Yu. In the EU the airports are forbidden to provide a discount based on the total volume of pax by a given airline (it remains legal to provide discounts for new routes or for the INCREASE in the number of pax).
The most funny thing is that at this portal you often read in the comments section how great it is that that there are national carriers that may transport things like medical equipement or vacccins during covid. Many people actually think this is done by these national carriers for free or just at the cost of fuel.
Boy, this is the easiest way of shuffling state money to these national carriers! These flights are crazy expensive for the tax payers! Only tax payers not having a national airline are free to negotiate down the cost of such flights. Others are robbed.
And yes, you are right in saying that also Germany provides a lot of these hidden subsidies.
Unfortunately, you can check the comments above and see for yourself. Apparently, it's only corona's fault and we'll be seeing flights all over the world as soon as the virus disappears. For 4.99 eur.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/10/windrose-to-launch-ljubljana-service.html
Are they planning a return?
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/12/windrose-satisfied-with-ex-yu.html
No, Slovenia is the ONLY country in Europe where you only have 2 daily flights from an international airport. Period! Stop posting bull*hit about corona being the reason. Lack of a national carrier and an uninteresting market is the only reason for the appalling results.
Once again, if you want connectivity by air, pay for it (as you do for everything else in your life). Either you pay a foreigner who won't give you anything in return (apart from a great on-board service) set up a new carrier. I don't understand why Slovenes think they know it better than the rest of the Europe?
Hehe,you're not flying much, are you?
Flying from LJU has been pointless since Adria's demise.
Have a look at BTS.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/01/luxiar-considering-ljubljana-service.html
It anyone had their brain washed, it's the anti-national carrier brigade (by Serpentinsek and co.).
So what about BTS? They have no flights? Oh, that's strange? Does Slovakia have a national carrier? No? What a coincidence. Does Ryanair have a base in BTS, yet they don't care about country's connectivity (despite getting incentives from the airport)? Why would they? They don't pay taxes there, either.
So, you basically just made my point. No national carrier, no traffic. Simple. If you want it, pay for it. And don't expect respect from people when talking nonsense.
Let's make it tens of billions of EUR. It sounds better and more dramatic. And I also pulled my number out of youknowwhere.
Aviation pays its taxes where HQ and AOC is.
like a phoenix we will rise again
It's Swiss tax and Polish social contributions.
It used to be liked that. With corona, things are changing again (for the worse, of course).
As you rightly pointed out, tax is payed in Switzerland AND in the country of your residence (the difference according to the double taxation agreement).
So to answer to annons 10:53 question: I am sure about that, since I was in that situation a couple of years ago ;). Believe me, it is in the best interest of the country to have a national carrier, abiding national laws instead of an LCC parasite trying to circumvent every possible rule in order to increase the profit for its shareholders.
Michael O'Leary and Jozsef Varadi are no saints and they take care of their own and shareholders pockets first. Everyone else is pretty far down the list.
That pretty much depends on what the government will do. If they continue subsidising foreign airlines, I wouldn't be so sure about it.
As far as circumventing rules goes, national carriers are no better. Just have a look home much creativity goes into creating vehicles for state aid (particularly our part of the world), which ultimately - when you look at the big picture - is contrary to the ethos of free aviation market in Europe.
You can think all you want, but in Europe, an LCC is a money sucking parasite willing to kill its host in order to survive (i.e. make profit for its shareholders).
Why do you think Ryanair closes a base as soon as a deal with an airport cannot be reached?
Be careful what you wish for. Those 4.99 tickets come at a price. You sure would not want to lose your job to a much cheaper worker, now would you? That is what LCCs (Ryanair, Wizz) are doing. It's much cheaper to base a Bulgarian in London and pay him/her 1000 eur more than the minimal wage in Bulgaria than to fork out a proper British salary (comparable to British Airways). I'm sure you're aware how expensive Western Europe is.
Aaa, yes. The good old contracts when Ryanair was short of pilots. Forget about those conditions. Things are heading in the same direction as they were 7 years ago.
Ask how many pilots jumped ship from BA to Ryan. None. The other way around, quite a number.
Research on how many BA pilots were made redundant last year and how many in Ryanair or Easyjet, then compare it with fleet size. It might surprise you.
Don't worry, I know what BA did. Did you see what Wizz did? You don't think Ryanair fired anyone? You do know, the only reason they (FR) haven't fired more people is because they are preparing for post covid expansion. If there will be no such thing in the next few months, make no mistake, a lot of people will have to go.
Don't bother coming here every day trying to convince me how good an employer Ryan or Easy is and how bad national carriers are (for taxpayers). LCC don't give a crap about employees and national laws, national carriers don't have that "luxury". I suggest you go to pprune and start expressing your love to LCCs.
Worked great with JP all those years. It was always on time, right up to the bankruptcy as well.
Don't forget, with the old Ryanair contract (and soon to be the new one), you didn't even get sick pay. I rather have my money in the bank account a few days later while I'm sick, than not having it at all.