Ljubljana Airport aims to handle close to half a million passengers this year but remains weary of potential disruptions due to new variants of the coronavirus Covid-19. At this point, the airport is welcoming between 2.000 and 2.500 travellers per day on eleven scheduled destinations and a handful of summer charter services. The current daily number of passengers is a significant improvement compared to the peak of the pandemic earlier this year, but still represents only a third of the normal daily number of travellers processed prior to Covid-19. Ljubljana Airport was one of the most affected capital city airports in Europe as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Fraport Slovenija’s Head of Airline Management, Janez Krašnja, said a further six destinations would be added to the airport’s network in the coming months. "Barring any fundamental changes in the epidemiological situation, we will have seventeen scheduled services this summer, which is a good achievement for the first year of recovery. Tourism and air traffic are practically the biggest victims of the pandemic. We sincerely hope there will be no fourth wave to sweep away the returning traffic”, Mr Krašnja said. This July, Lufthansa remains Ljubljana’s largest carrier in terms of the number of offered flights. It is followed by Air Serbia, Air France and LOT Polish Airlines.
The airport experienced a recent setback when a new government regulation determined that passengers from all countries on Slovenia’s red list, including Egypt, Tunisia, the United Kingdom and Ireland, had to quarantine upon arrival. Mr Krašnja said such decisions reduced the speed of recovery of the country’s aviation sector and are a big blow for the airport. As a result, British Airways and easyJet have pushed back the resumption of their flights to the Slovenian capital. "We are hoping there are no more obstacles like this and that passengers can enter our country just like any other in the region. The fewer the obstacles, the more demand there will be", Mr Krašnja noted.
Anyone know what the six destinations are?
ReplyDeleteI guess Luton, Stansted, Heathrow, Madrid, Podgorica and Dubai.
DeleteLuton is moved to next year and easyjet will not operate STN-LJU anymore.
DeleteSo easyjet won't come to LJU this year? :/
DeleteFor now it looks like they will fly from LGW.
DeleteYes but even that has been moved by several months.
DeleteSo what are these six destinations in the end?
DeleteI'm interested to see weather Ljubljana will overtake Tuzla this year.
ReplyDeleteI think TZL could have more passengers this year, which is disaster for LJU
DeleteI'm pretty sure TZL will have more pax than Ljubljana.
DeleteNot only Tuzla. Even Sarajevo, Tivat and Podgorica will have more passengers :/
DeleteI will not be surprised if even Rijeka, Pula, Banja Luka, Niš and Ohrid will have more passengers in next few years
DeleteHow many passengers did LJU have in first half of 2021?
ReplyDeleteJanuary - May was a disastrous 42.058 passengers. We are waiting for June results.
DeleteWith the corrupted and incapable politicians in the western world, this pandemic will continue and destroy so much wealth, it is unbelievable. Why the heck do they still test people with no symptoms and with PCR test CT values of over 35? Of course we will see lockdowns/shutdowns again this Winter, even if it has proven, that they were worthless.
ReplyDeleteI doubt LJU will make 0.5 Mio in 2021, I also doubt that BA will come to LJU this year. Also IB is in question.
I also think BA is highly questionable for this year.
DeleteI find it interesting JU will be the second busiest airline and LOT fourth. Did not expect thee two to be up there.
ReplyDeleteIt is about number of flights and not about capacity: LH has 17 flights during the next 7 days, AF has 7 flights, JU has 7 flights, LO has 6 flights and TK has 3 flights.
DeleteWishing them good luck with the recovery.
ReplyDeleteKnowing the strict measures Slovenia has had, I foresee another lockdown in autumn and everything goes back the way it was in spring.
ReplyDeleteHighly possible but hoping for the best.
DeleteCould be worse, this year LJU will be at 50% of ZAG numbers which is their best result in years.
ReplyDeleteI'm highly sceptical LJU will actually reach 500,000.
Delete250,000 is more likely.
DeleteThat's pretty much the same as last year
DeleteLast year it was closer to 300,000 than 250,000
DeleteYou think it will be worse than 2020?
DeleteHow is the new terminal functioning? Anyone here used it?
ReplyDeleteI used it last week and it's a big improvement compared to before and I like how it looks and how its's laid out, but it's clearly still a work in progress - the old terminal is still a construction site, park is not finished yet, duty free is not opened entirely, they are still doing some painting, adding some details.... I guess they really rushed to open in time for EU presidency, but I think it has a huge potential once it's completely done.
DeleteGreat, thanks for the info.
Delete@ Anonymous 1105h
DeleteThanks for yr insights. What about the Lolita Restaurant, is it already open?
Yes, Lolita is open and the offering is actually quite good. But as with other things, it's still work in progress - the outside sitting area is not fully finished yet and currently the closest toilets are 150m away in the old check-in hall. The new toilets should be built by the end of the year, once the old terminal renovation is complete.
DeleteHvala lepa za informacije :-)
DeleteJanez Krašnja is an absolute disgrace. This is a guy who has probably never seen an inside of an airplane in his life. His demeanour and manner of communicating (or lack thereof!) are probably the reason why most talks with airlines fail. The airline reps come, see and hear him - and they go.
ReplyDeleteZmago Skobir is also more than ready to be replaced. The airport never flourished under his leadership but achieved mediocre results at best and he should be let go. So he can go and sail as he obviously doesn't fly much.
+1 about Zmago Skobir. He is definitely no "zmaga" for this airport.
DeleteDoes anybody have any statistics on passenger flow?
ReplyDeleteHow many Pax did Lju serve this year? Or other exYU Airports?
Yu Airports have become like their politicians. Talk about recovery but no revealing of true performance.
January-May was reported here for LJU. 42.058 passengers.
Deletethanks. That is really discouraging for LJU :-/
DeleteThis is good number, but for BNX not LJU...
ReplyDeleteTrue unfortunately
DeleteLooking forward so much to FZ.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it will be a successful route.
DeleteWhat about Southeast Airlines?
ReplyDeleteIt's seems the project has not succeeded in the planning phase.
DeleteLJU is doing almost nothing to attract new airlines..
ReplyDeleteThe problem is the market. If 50% of SLO population departs fm ZAG, GRZ, TRS, VCE, TSF, BGY and from there larger aircraft depart and therefore ticket prices lower are, than in LJU, it is not that easy to attract new airlines.
DeleteAt least BA, IB, FZ were won. In addition to that LH, LX, SN took over some of the JP routes. If u compare the size of the airport, the potential with the numbers of airlines, it is not that bad. We have LH LX SN AF SU BA IB FZ LY JU LO W6 EZY HV XQ TK AY 6H C3 MNE plus some other charters.
I personally hope that in future KL SK OS and AZ would still join. Maybe even OU from SPU or DBV
The Condor has pasa ...
ReplyDelete?
DeleteThe birds (airlines) have passed .
DeleteLjubljana is abandoned ..
I hope we will see more new airlines and routes.
ReplyDelete