Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is anticipating increased demand for charter flights to drive its recovery. It follows the first winter leisure service from the Slovenian capital this past Saturday on which 160 passengers flew to Teneriffe on the Canary Islands with Trade Air. Ljubljana Airport’s General Manager, Zmago Skobir, said there are plans for additional charter flights to be operated, noting there is strong interest for destinations such as Dubai, the Seychelles, Maldives, Zanzibar, the Caribbean but also Sarajevo due to nearby ski resorts. Ljubljana Airport is looking to offer more charter destinations that were historically popular with travellers in the 1980s.
Several Slovenian tour operators joined forces and managed to organise the charter to the Canary Islands in a short period of time, presenting a model for future cooperation. The Kompas travel agency said tickets to Tenerife were sold out within days, noting that demand was “enormous”. “There is currently a great deal of interest, especially to warmer destinations like the Canary Islands, Zanzibar and the Maldives, with passengers choosing to book their holidays at the last minute”, Kompas said. It comes despite Slovenians being warned against non-essential travel. During the coming summer, Tunisair will launch regular charter flights from Ljubljana to Djerba and Monastir, while SunExpress will commence services from the Slovenian capital to Antalya in Turkey.
Demand for scheduled flights is expected to take much longer to recover. Yesterday, Transavia delayed its service resumption between Amsterdam and Ljubljana by a month until late April, while easyJet has deferred the reestablishment of its flights from London Gatwick from late March until May 1. Furthermore, its planned new service from Luton to the Slovenian capital has also been postponed until May. Wizz Air has also pushed back the resumption of its Charleroi - Ljubljana service for April 30, while Brussels Airlines has delayed its return onto the Slovenian market until May 1. On the other hand, the Slovenian Minister for Infrastructure, Jernej Vrtovec, met with representatives from LOT Polish Airlines in Warsaw on Monday to discussed the carrier’s return to Ljubljana, which has been slated for March 28.
This just goes to show that there is a lot of pent up demand.
ReplyDeleteYes, but for charter flights and for destinations that do not require any special conditions for entry
DeleteStill, one shpuld capiatlize on that. i.e Ljubljana Airport.
DeleteDidn't Adria fly to the Seychelles in the 90s? :D would be exotic to have some charters to there.
ReplyDeleteThey did. One of the most odd flights
DeleteIn 1990, an Adria Airways A320 flew non-stop from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean to Athens in Greece setting a new record for the longest flight ever made by the A320 at that time.
DeleteHad no idea. Really interesting
DeleteDoes anyone know the routing of these Adria Seychelles flights. It was via Athens?
DeleteI think @Pozdrav iz Rijeke might know. I remember him talking about these flights a while ago.
DeleteSorry, don't have detailed information. I know flights were operating for several years, it was charter flight, not scheduled, but operated regularly, once weekly. Also I remember Djibouti was technical stop, however it seems stretched to fly nonstop on the route between LJU and Djibouti, especially way back. Maybe tech stops were both Athens and Djibouti, but then why 2 stops if you can make it with just one? Maybe Djibouti eastwards and ATH westwards. Maybe someone who knows better will explain
DeleteSuch an odd route. Especially for 1990 Yugoslavia.
DeleteWhy would it be strange for Yugoslavia, country with open borders and living standards better than half of the Europe (Eastern and Southern)?Do you know anything about Yugoslavia 1970-1990?
DeleteUnfortunately it fell apart
DeleteSo in the end, Trade Air may be the airline that finally links Ljubljana to the Gulf ;)
ReplyDeleteThe route can't survive on P2P demand alone. So for these flights to work it will have to be a Gulf airline. The only destination in the Gulf I would imagine there is some P2P demand is Dubai.
DeleteKind of odd that the minister is meeting with LOT representatives.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they want to establish a base in LJU or its about the future national airline.
DeleteThat would be nice
DeleteI highly doubt it. The minister was in Poland and met with managers from several companies. I think it was just some quick talks, nothing else.
Delete09:15 That must surely be the explanation
DeleteWell I just find it odd that a minister would meet with airline executives about the resumption of flights (which are planned anyway). So that can be my only explanation.
DeleteIt would be nice if they are considering a base in LJU but somehow I doubt it.
DeleteVery sad about all the delays. Chartres alone won't allow for any meaningful recovery.
ReplyDeleteBetter to have some flights then none all.
DeleteGood news for Trade Air
ReplyDeleteWhat does the plane that is permanently based in Ljubljana do? This flight to Canary Islands must have been the first charter in ages.
DeleteIf we had a national airline, all of these flights could have been operated by it.
ReplyDeleteAt least the money would stay in Slovenia.
DeleteAdria flew a lot of charters.
DeleteNational carrier for charters... What's next, national carrier doing ACMI?
DeleteOh, wait...
Yes national carriers fly charters. I don't see anything odd about that.
DeleteThey should have done more to attract Fly Dubai which has launched several new routes in the last few months, meaning they are looking at any opportunity they can get.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI don't think there is anything that can be done. FZ has looked at Ljubljana and probably realized the route won't be commercially viable, based on their cost structure.
Delete160 pax is pretty good
ReplyDeleteHow long is this tour group on the Cabary islands?
Delete*canary
Delete7 days
DeleteLucky them :D
DeleteSo maybe there will be Ljubljana-Sarajevo charters?
ReplyDeleteWell Jahorina is one of the few ski centres open in Europe.
DeleteThat would be cool. Once upon a time not so long ago there were double daily flights from Ljubljana to Sarajevo.
DeleteWill these people have to be quarantined when they come back?
ReplyDeleteI think all do a test on arrival in LJU.
DeleteNo
DeleteIn my opinion this is quite sad :(
ReplyDeleteBetter something than nothing
DeleteLast night there was a flight to Tallinn, today to Barcelona. Are these charters?
ReplyDeleteWhich airlines?
DeleteTallinn - Trade Air
DeleteBatlrceloma - Enter Air
These are not tourist charters
DeleteThere is also a flight from Stansted.
DeleteThe Barcelona flight is not Enter is, it is Air Nostrum.
DeleteThe Stansted flight is Enter Air.
DeleteVaccines?
DeleteIt is sports PAX. Going to competitions.
DeleteExtremely strong demand to the warm destinations. QR will be sending their Dreamliner to OTP & SOF by the end of the month because of demand to Asia in countries with less restrictions.
ReplyDeleteNo surprise that Slovenes want the same.
But LJU could net QR even at the best of times. I doubt it will be any better now.
DeleteYes, there seems to be demand. BEG is also getting upgraded to A321 at the start of March for a few flights.
DeleteIf they are relying on charters things won't get better any time soon.
ReplyDeleteI seem to see easyJet having flights listed for March 30 for both routes to LJU.
ReplyDeleteYes but click on those flights and you will see it says "No flights" until May.
DeleteAh true :( that's unfortunate.
DeleteConsidering easy jet was one of the few airlines that got no incentives from the Slovenian government for flying to Slovenia, I don't blame them.
DeleteWhat are the most popular holiday destinations for Slovenians in general?
ReplyDeleteCroatia
DeleteInterestingly charters (or scheduled flights) to Croatia seem to have failed from Ljubljana. Last year Trade Air had to cancel Dubrovnik and in 2019 I remember Adria cancelling Dubrovnik and Brac.
DeleteBecause most go by car to Croatia.
DeleteWith charters for sure Greece. But with cars Croatia as guys said before me.
DeleteFor sure we love Greek islands - perfection!
DeleteThey should be eyeing LCCs. The recovery would be much faster.
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteDon't count it.
DeleteTransavia, Wizz and easy are constantly delaying their return to LJU. They have no inventive to fly here.
Nah, LCC's carry holidaymakers mostly. And Slovenia just isn't in the picture enough as a holiday destination for the rest of Europe. And most LCC's fly B738 or A320, which are just too big to operate a base in LJU. I think as an airline, you do need business passengers and/or connecting passengers in order to be able to operate lucrative flights to LJU. So I think the only viable LCC's to create a base at LJU are EasyJet for their focus on business passengers and Volotea for their plane size and their Mediterranean network. The only other viable carriers are network carriers and the subsidiaries that participate in their network.
DeleteWould be nice for them to open the new terminal this summer with a departure to Seychelles :D
ReplyDeleteLet's just hope we have some scheduled flight by then.
DeleteSo many airlines have launched flights to Dubai in the past few months, Belavia being the latest because entry restrictions are relaxed and the cirus situation is under control. I'm surprised tour operators have not worked with Trade Air to get some regular charters to there. I'm not going to even mention LJU/Fraport not trying to attract Flydubai. They even started flights to Grozny!
ReplyDeleteWell there is a plan for Slovenia to establish a charter airline
ReplyDeletehttps://www.delo.si/gospodarstvo/novice/slovenija-je-dobila-novo-letalsko-druzbo/
Personally, I'm very skeptical it will happen at all but you never know.
Me too, not holding my breath. Sounds nice but I don't think it will become a reality.
DeleteI see no difference between them and Trade Air.
DeleteIt's the same, that "new" airlines clearly stated that they will focus on charter and ACMI. So that's not solving Slovenia's issue with connectivity..
DeleteDoes Trade Air have a plane based in LJU?
ReplyDeleteYes, 9A-BTH, sometimes also BTI.
DeleteI've flown with Luka in November. His is not generous with leg space :)
DeleteI'm really wondering what the cabin is like on these planes. You didn't happen to make a photo? :)
DeleteI'm curious too
DeleteI love their livery :)
DeletePretty bland :) I'm 186cm fyi.
Delete- https://i.imgur.com/AWiTXJA.jpg
- https://i.imgur.com/MlQe0SZ.jpg
- https://i.imgur.com/9Nya98v.jpg
- https://i.imgur.com/E7KNDIo.jpg
The pilots were Slovenians.
Thanks for the photos! You should do a trip report :)
DeleteSlovenia needs Aviogenex :D
ReplyDeleteUsed to be very busy at LJU.
DeleteIt needs Inex Adria ;)
DeleteI think best to say we all need JAT :) :) :)
DeleteNo charters to Egypt?
ReplyDeleteSurprising since they don't have many entry restrictions and it's cheap
DeleteThe problem is to come back from Egypt since it is 3rd country for Slovenia and it complicate things.
DeleteFlyEgypt starting april 28.
DeleteLJU - BUD FEG3104; 17:30 - 18:45
BUD - HRG FEG3104; 19:30 - 23:15
HRG - LJU FEG3103; 12:45 - 16:45
So it seems people are allowed to travel, despite what people wrote on here.
ReplyDeleteYes, to select destination and by complaining with a lot of rules. We won't see any kind of mass travel until the restrictions are lifted.
DeleteBut the places listed in the article mostly have no other restrictions other than PCR test which seems compulsory everywhere nowadays and is easy to get at Ljubljana Airport.
DeleteI'm not surprised about the interest for charters. There is a lot of pent up demand. easyJet has seen UK bookings surge within hours of the UK PM setting out his roadmap for travel. Flight bookings for the summer season increased by 337% & holidays bookings rose 630%. It will be the same everywhere else as soon as people are let out of prison.
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope that the economic impact of this crisis won't be as big as predicted so people will have enough money to travel.
Delete