Flydubai is set to commence operations between its hub and Ljubljana in just under a month, with the airline already seeing strong advanced bookings on the route. The long-awaited service will operate three times per week, each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, complementing its service to nearby Zagreb which will run on the alternative days of the week. “We are excited to connect Ljubljana to the United Arab Emirates with direct airlinks for the first time which will offer passengers a more comfortable and convenient travel option. We continue to grow our operations in Europe and are seeing steady growth in passenger traffic as more countries ease travel restrictions. We will continue to grow our network in the months ahead”, the airline said.
Dubai is Ljubljana Airport’s busiest unserved market, both in the Middle East and the Gulf region. Based on OAG data, in 2019, 3.762 passengers flew indirectly between the two cities. This does not count Slovenian travellers who reached the UAE’s largest city via alternative nearby airports, particularly Zagreb, and those that began or ended their journey in Ljubljana by transferring through Dubai. Emirates will codeshare on Flydubai’s service, enabling passengers to easily connect onto its vast network out of the Gulf hub, which will generate a significant portion of traffic on the route. In 2019, Istanbul was overwhelmingly used as the transfer airport to reach the Emirate with 74% of travellers opting to fly via the Turkish city. Accordingly, Turkish Airlines was the busiest feeder airline. It was followed by Adria Airways with a 9% share and Aeroflot which transferred 8% of all passengers.
During the pre-pandemic 2019, some 19.483 travellers flew between Ljubljana and the Middle East as origin and destination passengers. Turkish Airlines was the dominant carrier on the Ljubljana - Middle East market, responsible for carrying a whopping 71% of all passengers between the two. It was followed by Air Serbia, which in 2019 had a limited presence in the Middle East region with flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut, while offering codeshare services to a number of points through Etihad Airways, which, at the time, also maintained operations to Belgrade. Despite their overall dominance in Ljubljana in terms of handling connecting passengers, Lufthansa group carriers fell short of transporting any significant number of travellers between Slovenia and the Middle East.
Busiest Middle East markets to/from Ljubljana in 2019
Busiest Gulf markets to/from Ljubljana in 2019
Top transfer airlines on Ljubljana - Middle East - Ljubljana routes in 2019
I can't believe it's finally happening.
ReplyDeleteIt will not. It will be delayed. Wait and see.
DeleteIt is launching as planned. Stop talking nonsense.
DeleteThere is no reason for flights not to start.
Deletecovid
DeleteWhat about it? Fights from Europe have been operating normally to Dubai since June 2020.
DeleteWho would have thought Beirut would be number 2. Mid East route pre-covid.
ReplyDeleteFinancial crisis in Lebanon and people are seeking to leave the country choosing wealther and Christian countries.
DeleteThis was in 2019 before the pandemic and complete collapse of the Lebanese economy.
DeleteIs Flydubai operating the Ljubljana flights with the MAX?
ReplyDeleteLooks like, at least on their website.
DeleteAll their European flights are now operating with MAX I believe.
Delete"We are writing to you to let you know that your flydubai operated flight FZ1790 from Ljubljana Airport (LJU) to Dubai International Airport (DXB) is currently scheduled to be operated by one of our Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft."
DeleteFinally :)
ReplyDeleteNice article. Interesting about Turkish having such a huge share of passengers. Not that I'm surprised.
ReplyDeleteI'm baffled by Aeroflot doing so well with transfers from Ljubljana to Dubai and Middle East.
DeleteI remember there was even a trip report from someone here that flew Ljubljana-Moscow-Dubai.
Delete^
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/03/trip-report-aeroflot-dubai-ljubljana.html
They obviously have good prices.
DeleteWithout trying to sound too pessemistic, while Easyjet cannot sustain flights to Berlin, I am just wonderng how long these flights will last.
ReplyDeleteBookings seems to be performing well.
DeleteWhat do you mean easyjet can not susatain flights to BER? They added winter flights. You don't do that when you have poor sales.
Delete^^ easyjet suspended Berlin-Ljubljana last year. They are not flying this route anymore.
DeleteI know. But you can't say they didn't have success.
DeleteI'm not saying if was successful or not but one would they would resume it if it was.
Delete3 weekly service Dubai-Ljubljana nonstop will work without a problem.
DeleteThey will not resume STN, on which they would have 10 fights per week and have 130k passengers a year. Why will they not resume it? Because they closed STN base with like 100 routes they had. Why would they close base that had 100 routes? Because they were almost bankrupt. They would already close it if they wouldn't have success before corona.
DeleteEasy only operated 27 routes out of STN before the base closure.
DeleteSlovenia was the only one in ex-Yu without flights to the Gulf. This is good news
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how accessible ex-Yu has become to the Gulf over the past few years.
DeleteWell when there is demand, it is no wonder.
DeleteThere are still no flights from Pristina to the Gulf, or the Middle East for that matter.
DeleteGood luck Ljubljana and FZ
ReplyDeleteSmart thing they did with the scheduling there. Basically they will offer that region daily with 3 weekly LJU and 4 weekly ZAG.
ReplyDeleteNot to cannibalise each other.
DeleteI think it is bound that LJU will not feed their ZAG route anymore. But I guess that is the reason ZAG will only be 4x per week instead of daily like it used to be.
Delete31OCT OUT/05NOV IN
ReplyDeleteTHY 472,28EUR /20KG BAG, SEAT INCL 1HR20 LAYOVER/2HRS LAYOVER (FULL SERVICE)
FDB 484,00EUR/20KG BAG, SEAT/DIRECT (LOWCOST AIRLINE)
It's logical that nonstop will be more expensive. Although the difference in 12 euros.
Delete*is
Delete^^Not to mention flying in B737 for 5-6 hours is a nightmare..
DeleteWhat planes is Turkish using Istanbul-Dubai sector?
DeleteLast time I flew (late 2019) it was a330.
Delete"Not to mention flying in B737 for 5-6 hours is a nightmare.."
DeleteThe FZ MAX cabin is actually more comfortable than most long-haul cabins I've been in. Plenty of legroom, brand new seats with IFE.
Agree with Vlad. Having recently tried their MAX, it's a great product and the on board service is also improved on the new plane.
DeleteBoth in economy and business?
DeleteI dont remember which AC (it was a narrowbody, with 2-2 configuration in the C Class) I was flying on, but a few years ago I flew with them in C Class (If I remember well I flew DXB-RUH or it was RUH-BAH) and I can say their product was much much better than most of other regional C Class options on narrowbody AC.
DeleteI'm just if and what impact this will have on the ZAG flights.
ReplyDeleteThe impact is that instead of daily Zagreb is 4 weekly.
DeleteThe big question is will Emirates ever return to Zagreb.
DeleteGood luck Ljubljana. I am happy they managed to find someone to operate these flights having in mind that there are so many larger nearby markets.
ReplyDeleteThe moment that FZ plane lands in LJU will mark the end of the decade long Ljubljana - Gulf flight saga.
ReplyDeleteBased on the pax traffic data above, this route doesn't seem to be long-lasting. 3700 two-way pax means 10 pax per day combined in both directions. That means 5 persons (five) for a flight to be operated with 160 seater plane. And that was in 2019, the best performing year of aviation.
ReplyDeleteI bet the company wont' even wait for the end of summer season to cease the flights.
The article says it does not count passengers flying from alternative airports (Zagreb) which was really big.
DeleteFlydubai isn't scared to pull out of a route if it is not bringing in the numbers. So we will see.
DeleteLol what?
DeleteIf a route is not performing well for them, they cancel it. They are no like some other GCC airlines that keep throwing money at it for years in hope it will work.
DeleteDo you know the demand grows when airline starts a route?
Delete@ Anon 9:33
DeleteData for LJU-DXB is useless because a huge chunk of targeted passengers flew from ZAG, plus FZ enables connections with EK for onward travel, whereas previously Slovenian pax would've connected through other airports such as FRA, IST etc.
Anon 9:33 Ryanair would cancel 80% of routes from ZAG if they would follow what you said.
DeleteExactly! I doubt there were any passengers between Zagreb and Paphos.
DeleteI think these flights will be a major success.
ReplyDeleteFlydubai are the best fit for Ljubljana for Middle East flights for the time being.
ReplyDeleteWho knows, maybe one day Emirates comes along :D
DeleteLjubljana's obsession with Dubai... I wish the airport was as persistent with low cost airlines - Wizz, easy and Ryanair as it was with this Dubai line.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Dubai is starting but I agree that at the same time LJU should be developing the European network, preferably with an LCC. We can only dream.
DeleteAgree, Ljubljana needs LCC to base one aircraft there (for start). And I think Wizz would be perfect because Ryanair has bases too close (ZAG, TSF, also some flights from Trieste.)
DeleteI was expecting in the end it would be Wizz Air Abu Dhabi.
ReplyDeleteBetween the two, Flydubai is much better.
DeleteWould have preferred Qatar but anything will do at this point.
DeleteQatar could only provide transfer options as Doha really isn't a holiday hotspot, especially since there are barely any beaches in Doha and the sea isn't nice. Dubai is a destination on its own in addition to being a transfer hub.
DeleteTravel agents are already selling packages to Dubai using this route.
ReplyDeleteI recommend anyone flying FZ to buy economy and then bid for business at lowest price. Works every time :)
ReplyDeleteThere are rumors they will go daily next summer.
ReplyDeleteIf it performs well than it will definitely happen next summer. Great to hear.
Delete* then
DeleteFlights are year-round?
ReplyDeleteat first it was not planned as year round but now i see they are selling tickets until september 2022.
DeleteThere was no doubt it would be year round, especially since high season in Dubai begins in November :)
DeleteAre the fares between Dubai-Ljubljana and Dubai-Zagreb the same?
ReplyDeleteon Flydubai I mean
DeleteI looked at similar dates in October (lowest fare without luggage) and Ljubljana is 450 euros return, while Zagreb is 516 euros.
Deleteprice is the same for both ... 380€ return ticket (starting price)
DeleteDecent
DeleteIf any route can succeed then it is this one. Slovenians only need a PCR test to enter and there is no fear that Dubai will be changing its travel requirements or locking down unlike Europe.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteFinally some good news for Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteThe news hasn't been all that bad lately. New flights by Air Montenegro, Iberia, Flydubai, new terminal... :)
DeleteYes, but on the other side we still have slowest recovery in Europe, missing some major European destinations, Aeroflot leaving etc.
Deleteyesterday at mid-day LJU was packed. Very crowded.
Deletebeyond excited for these flights :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting that JU was number two for transfers to the Middle East, especially since their network is rather small.
ReplyDeleteThey flew Tel Aviv and Beirut and also transferred passengers to Etihad on their Belgrade - Abu Dhabi flight.
DeleteWell now that they are not flying to the Middle East at all an there is no Etihad they will loose quite a bit of almost 1.500 passengers.
DeleteIt obviously wasn't the main source for their transfer passengers from Ljubljana.
DeleteA few days ago I promissed i would post how the LF was on LJU-MAD flight. It was probably over 95% in the ECO and there were 4 or even 5 people in C class as well. A big majority were spanish (would say over 75% of pax). I would be surprised if this route was not back next year for the whole SS22.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear! Will you yet out this FZ route?
DeleteNice. I'm pretty sure Iberia will also fly to LJU next year.
DeleteLet's see how the competition responded.
ReplyDeleteAeroflot which is the second most popular choice for transferring to Dubai responded by suspending flights to Ljubljana this winter.
DeleteAeroflot wasn't second it was fourth. Look at the table.
DeleteAnd they are certainly not suspending it because of FlyDubai.
DeleteA few reasons I see why FZ decided to serve LJU.
ReplyDelete1. Large & poorly served O&D Market.
2. EXPO 2020. This will be the tourism industry's first event open to public post-COVID. Dubai has done heavy marketing on this event. This event will be a game changer for the global tourism market on how desperate are people to travel.
I wish FZ all the best for its LJU flight. I hope to take it next summer once Slovenia opens up :)