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%.
Of course since its the only European country to shut down its airline before covid.
ReplyDeleteIts not everything to the national airline there are other factors as well.
DeleteSuch as? There are entry and travel restrictions everywhere.
DeleteSize of market, reliance on tourism, situation on its biggest travel markets etc it's not the same in all countries.
DeleteThose with the highest proportion of diaspora and VFR Traffic in the total numbers are less affected.
DeleteVFR traffic is a big factor too
Deletefor 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
+1
DeleteWait, weren't some people on here saying how it's corona's fault and that the situation is the same everywhere?! Surely they weren't wrong.
ReplyDeleteGovernment, set up that dam*n national carrier ASAP!
Oh and one more thing. I sure hope that the current government won't be as stupid as the previous one who didn't find time to bother with Adria. They better not offer any tax payers money to foreign companies flying to Slovenia! Either set up a national carrier or forget about air connectivity.
DeleteWell, right, it isn't corona's fault. Let's wait and see figures for February, e.g. how Portugal will perform with "national" carrier TAP down to 93 % of flights compare to February 2020.
Deletedon't forget that other countries paid a lot for having smaller drop. You think lufthansa would be flying without those 9 billion €?
DeleteHmmm, did you guys bother to read the headline?
Delete@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?
@9.58 slovenia had also given money to foreign airlines.
DeleteI live in Ljubljana. Airport is less than 30 minutes drive, but it is in other municipality. Penalty to go to another municipality is 400€. If you travel for buissines reason that is exception, turism travel is not.
ReplyDeleteReason 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.
+1000
DeleteWow, you must be the only one following the rules so strictly. Rules in other countries are way more restrictive (Belgium, Netherlands,...). Yet they aren't as hard hit as Slovenia in terms of drop in pax number.
DeleteI'll give you a hint as to why Slovenia is doing so poorly. It ain't corona, but lack of something :).
And you can travel for business purposes without any problems. The only issue is that most passengers have to take flights out of ZAG.
DeleteHope Aeroflot does come back.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a nice addition after so many months.
DeleteNational carriers mean something afterall. If Adria was still around, the rate of decline would not be this big.
ReplyDeleteBut at what cost... Travel is very restricted at the moment, how could national carrier magically drastically improve figures?
DeletePeople are still travelling, there are many destinations around the world where you can go with negative covid test
DeleteSo sad to see these numbers
ReplyDeleteNo surprise
ReplyDeletewell this is a first! Podgorica in front of Ljubljana!
ReplyDeleteIt has been the case since corona hit.
DeleteALL airports ALL over the world have been hit by steep passenger decline. And things won't be getting back to 2019 levels anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteSome more than others...
DeleteThe more problematic thing is that revenue and profits have declined heavily.
ReplyDeleteThings will get better.
ReplyDeleteNot anytime soon.
Deleteand not without national carrier
DeleteLong and difficult years ahead.
ReplyDeleteWell done Ljubljana. I wonder what the proponents of the "no national carrier" would say now, when it is official that LJU is the most affected airport in Europe.
ReplyDeleteLJU airport is one of those that does not want national carrier.
DeleteI belive that 99% percent of Fraport's employees would be happy to see national carrier again. What we can not say about their managers..
Delete@10:54:
DeleteUnfortunately, 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.
Actual decrease in LJU is even higher because they have compared 21/20 while LJU already had very low figures at the start of 2020 due to JP bankruptcy. If you compared to February 2019 then drop would be even higher and we can't blame 100% Covid for that.
ReplyDeleteAirlines are not flying due to low demand. Is this so difficult to understand?
DeleteDemand is low everywhere and they do not have such decrease as we do.
DeleteAnd how many millions or billions are they putting into their national carriers for those couple of percentage points?
DeleteAt this time it is probably the best that we don't put those millions to our carrier, but what will happen when this all will be over? While other will have huge increase in terms of passengers/flights we will be happy with 2-3 routes. Same we saw after JP demise and before Covid situation.
DeleteIt seems that having a national airline is a kind of national interest today. Now it is clear that major crisis would leave you more or less relying on your own sources, regardless of being a member of major alliances, EU etc.
ReplyDeleteIt is also funny that Germany can pay 9 billion EUR to Lufthansa, while Montenegro cannot finance their small, 5 plane operations.
It's because Lufthansa was a money-making machine before Covid-19, and will likely return to same profits in couple of years.
DeleteExyu airlines, on the other hand, have always been political projects and generating profit was never really important.
I wonder how Lufthansa was not a political project at the time it kept receiving billions of DM / EUR (until 1994) from its Government until they got so reach they did not need it anymore and they could establish new European flying rules?
DeleteWhat do you mean Montenegro cannot finance? And what does it have to do with Lufthansa getting aid? Do you really think EU cares about Montenegro spending its money on its airline? In no way any of these Balkan airlines is going to be a serious competitor to Lufthansa, so Germans don't care and just ask for some pretext to show that providing subsidies here complies with regulations that Montenegro and other Balkan countries agreed to adhere when joining European Common Aviation Area.
DeleteEven before Covid LH was receiving money from Government but that was not done directly via financial injections but they have much lower costs on DE airports (which are owned by state). So you have many way to help your airline, it does not necessarily mean to give money.
Deleteanon 12:52
DeleteAre 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).
If you think that hidden subsidies are not given in Germany then you live in fairy tale.
DeleteYou suggested that hidden subsidies are given in Germany via a fee structure at the state owned airports and we already established that this is not true. Now you try to water down your point as to pretend you were right.
DeleteThe 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.
Situation at all airports is dire this month.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's bad everywhere but not many airports are seeing -90% traffic. Especially considering LJU wasn't exactly busy in February last year either.
DeleteExpect request from Fraport mama soon: give us money or we shut down the airport
ReplyDeleteHighly likely. They did it once alredy.
DeleteAirport should NEVER had been fully privatized like this.
DeleteFraport Slovenija just received 5 mil.€ state aid from the government
DeleteFingers crossed those Aerflot flights materialize.
ReplyDeleteIt's just 1 per week. Even if they happen (which I doubt) it will make no difference.
DeleteI hope traffic picks up by the time the new terminal is opened.
ReplyDeleteAre these 3 airlines even making money on the LJU route?
ReplyDeleteNo, they fly there just for fun.
DeleteNot sure that too many are making money on any routes at the moment but the loss is probably not that big otherwise they would not be flying this route.
DeleteThe only good thing is Turkish seems to have scheduled A321 on some days.
ReplyDeleteThere will be just 40 incoming flights to LJU this month!
ReplyDeleteLufthansa fly from LJU to Frankfurt at the moment 4 times every week. And from there you can fly all over the world. If there will be more demand, they will for sure fly more often. But there is no demand for more!
ReplyDeleteIf 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.
No you don't have that possibility because LH is departing in the middle of the day and if you need to catch some destinations you have to take flights from ZAG. That's the spirit of market will take of itself..
Delete@11:46
DeleteHehe,you're not flying much, are you?
Flying from LJU has been pointless since Adria's demise.
Clearly I see most of people commenting here don't fly at all. I got rebooked or canceled 5 flight this year already! Croatian airlines, Wizzair, Lufthansa, Ryanair, Eurowings. Situation is not even close to OK, so checking numbers and discussing how one country is doing better than the other because decline is 10-20% smaller one is stupid. Airlines are cutting network across Europe big time at the moment and they mostly plan normal schedules from June afterward. And once again, imagine what would it look like, if all airlines would depend only on their own sources. Its easy to brag how many (empty) flights someone has and forgetting at the same time someone is paying for them.
ReplyDeleteAnd I suppose you don't live in Slovenia because you would have to be half day on the road to fly with all those airlines. In Slovenia we simply don't have possibility to fly at all...
DeleteI do live in Slovenia. But i work around Europe (usually i take 50-70 flights a year). Lufthansa - flight from ljubljana cancelled 2 times, Croatian from Zagreb cancelled two times, Eurowings from Vienna (i have a meeting with one partner in vienna and then i fly to dusseldorf) - cancelled both wizz and Ryanair etc. and i am not saying situation in SLO is OK, its terrible, but people need to understand that aviation is in big big troubles. and its childish to compare number of flights - if you need to compare something than compare annual reports (both, from airlines and airports). cuz at the end of the day this is business and financial results are the only thing that matter.
DeleteNot necessarily because from my perspective having national carrier is also investment in country development. So annual reports for airlines does not tell us anything if country has air connectivity on level of small village in Africa.
Deletei meant comparing in the time of pandemic ... when you compare only number of flights without costs.
DeleteThis is unfortunate but I hope LJU's comeback in around 6 months will be above average and it can make up for the current losses.
ReplyDeleteLooking at pure financial analysis of the Airline sector from, airline industry has been hit like never before, this will have long term ramifications and some would be permanent. I think recovery will not be in 2022 but much longer, probably 2023/2024, by that time sadly some of the airline-related workers will not come back so you will have permanent losses in terms of employment across the segments of the sector, from pilots to food catering. Some airlines will not survive and you will see that not now, but probably first year of some recovery i.e. late 2021 or 2022 when industry start seeing the rate of recovery and then determines the orders etc. Without any spin, 2020 has been a 'death arrow' for the global airline sector. They will recover but some casualties will be permanent.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what happened with Windrose in LJU?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/10/windrose-to-launch-ljubljana-service.html
Are they planning a return?
It has been cancelled because of travel restrictions. But they plan to start it when things improve:
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/12/windrose-satisfied-with-ex-yu.html
It's pretty obvious that the proponents of "it's bad everywhere since Slovenia is the only country with restrictions" are either blind and deaf or missing part of their brain. Or perhaps it's Skobir posting stupid comments again.
ReplyDeleteNo, 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?
+1
DeleteThe entire post from Anon 17:46 is really offensive (I'm apparently missing part of my brain). The people that don't respect the difference of opinions should really avoid forum discussions.
DeleteWell... it might be offensive but it's true.
Delete"No, Slovenia is the ONLY country in Europe where you only have 2 daily flights from an international airport."
DeleteHave a look at BTS.
Anon 23:03 As for the truth of the statement, it is as true as e.g. a statement that the defenders of the national carrier have been brainwashed. Both are opinions and therefore equally true or false. Both are equally at least rude, if not offensive. On the other hand, the statement "No, Slovenia is the ONLY country in Europe where you only have 2 daily flights from an international airport." is false: https://airportdatabase.net/europe-airports.html
DeleteAre you seriously taking BTS for comparison?
Delete@00:11:
DeleteIt 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.
Ryanair don't pay social contributions for their employees in Slovakia? Their employees aren't Slovakian tax residents (those who live there)? Sure about that?
DeleteThey are emplyed by Rynair so Irland get's that part ;)
DeleteAviation pays its taxes where HQ and AOC is.
Employment contracts have nothing to do where HQ and AOC is. Do you think Wizz Air employees in Poland pay Hungarian tax and Hungarian social contributions?
DeleteIt's Swiss tax and Polish social contributions.
@14:35:
DeleteIt 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.
I think most national carriers are greater parasites on the taxpayers than LCCs.
DeleteAs 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.
@16:37:
DeleteYou 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.
You'll be surprised to hear that both Easyjet and Ryanair in the UK pay about the same as British Airways, which is - surprise, surprise - another "parasite" who is there to make profit, as it's 100% privately owned, and I don't think its shareholders would be very happy if it made loss year after year after year.
Delete@12:10:
DeleteAaa, 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.
They definitely are, but that's just market forces.
DeleteResearch 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.
@21:36
DeleteDon'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.
Doesn't a national law say you have to pay your employees on time?
DeleteWorked great with JP all those years. It was always on time, right up to the bankruptcy as well.
You'll have to come up with a better reason than that to persuade me how much better the LCCs are :D.
DeleteDon'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.
So the maximum number of passengers LJU can have in February is a couple of thousand?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the current state of Covid travel restrictions in Slovenia? Have they been eased?
ReplyDeleteAll these travel restrictions are getting truly ridiculous. Give us our lives back!
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteTravel restrictions are not the only reason for situation which we have at LJU...
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteBut people on here said that getting rid of JP was the best thing to happen to the airport.
DeleteI 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.
DeleteConsidering everyone was about to increase frequencies to LJU before covid, I don't think any routes were nonperforming.
Delete@21.40 they attracted Sky Express for next year
Deleteand Tunisiar
DeleteOh and possibly Luxair
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/01/luxiar-considering-ljubljana-service.html
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.
DeleteStill tens of millions of EUR cheaper than sending money into national carrier blackhole.
DeleteOf course it is, we will spend 5 mio € to subsidize foreign airlines and will get nothing in return. This is waste of money. For those 10 mio loss which JP produced we really had good connections from/to LJU.
Delete@00:51:
DeleteLet's make it tens of billions of EUR. It sounds better and more dramatic. And I also pulled my number out of youknowwhere.
Hopefully things get better.
ReplyDeleteNot in a few years.
DeleteGood luck
ReplyDeleteThese numbers are tragic
ReplyDeleteI hope LJU will be able to find some sort of solution of the upcoming months.
ReplyDeleteNo worries
Deletelike a phoenix we will rise again
@13:53:
DeleteThat pretty much depends on what the government will do. If they continue subsidising foreign airlines, I wouldn't be so sure about it.
Slovenia is a peasant country like most of eastern europe and everyone bends the knee over there. Even if ruler that is prime minister is a condemned criminal (twice). So I guess they will be isolated for a very long time.
ReplyDelete