NEWS FLASH
Spain’s national carrier Iberia launched seasonal operations between Madrid and Ljubljana this Monday, connecting the two countries with scheduled flights for the first time in several years. Iberia will maintain services between the two capital cities twice per week during August with its 177-seat Airbus A320 aircraft. Ljubljana Airport’s operator, Fraport Slovenija, hopes the route will become year-round as soon as possible. “We are very pleased to welcome Iberia at Ljubljana Airport for the first time. The Spanish market is of interest due to tourism and the economy, and, having connectivity in mind, flights to Madrid also mean a great addition for connecting travel to Latin America, where the Spanish carrier has established a broad network of flights. A smaller number of flights are offered in this summer timetable, but we expect the carrier to return next season with more frequencies. Undoubtedly this new route indicates that even in such challenging circumstances due to Covid-19, Slovenia remains an attractive market for air travel”, the operator’s Head of Airline Management, Janez Krašnja, said. He added there were just over 140 passengers on the inaugural flight from Madrid, and a further seventy travellers on the return service. Iberia's Director for Business Development and Sales for Latin America, Victor Moneo, noted, “The launch of a new route is always exciting, but in the current circumstances where the world is facing the coronavirus, it is truly a cause for celebration. Ljubljana is special because it is the first destination to have been chosen with the help of our followers on social media”. Iberia announced flights to the Slovenian capital after it was selected by followers of its social media channels in 2019. The service was initially planned for 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic.
9 rotations, it isn't much but it's honest work xD
ReplyDeleteI think Iberia is testing this route, so only few rotations at first. I think they fly to Zagreb daily or even twice daily at some point, Zagreb is only 120km from Ljubljana and soon Croatia is entering Schengen area, 80 min drive with a car or bus to either city probably deminishes route's longevity.
DeleteIf i understand correctly what you said, you are telling me iberia will cancel LJU flights when they enter schengen? Why would they do that if both LJU and ZAG are performing great for them?
DeleteCroatia is very unlikely to enter Schengen. At least not until the border dispute has been settled/acknowledged from their side...
DeleteNonsense. Croatia is firmly set on the course of entering Schengen by 2023. You are completely clueless!
DeleteWhat a highlight to have IBERIA in LJU. I hope they stay forever!
ReplyDeleteWhen they wanted to fly this route in 2020 they had to upgrade aircraft to a321, because a320 and a319 were too small. So there are a lot of passengers on this route.
DeleteBCN-LJU with vueling next please.
ReplyDeleteOr any other airline.
DeleteI am happy for Ljubljana!
ReplyDeleteSlovenia is a market with strong outbound so this route makes sense.
Iberia should ask themselves why they ignored so long the Slovenian market.
Also Belgrade is the big elephant in the room, these Spaniards dont seem to have a real strategy for this part of Europe.
Sometimes i have the feeling that Ljubljana routes would perform even better for airlines than Zagreb routes .
ReplyDeleteLjubljana would be the perfect base for Ryan-or Wizzair, Zagreb not so much ...
Obviously you are the only one who thinks so :))))
DeleteNo he is not. There were many eoutes that performed much better in Ljubljana than in Zagreb. Some of them: Moscow (Aeroflot), Istanbul (Turkish Airlines), London (3 airports, 2 airlines) ... People in Croatia don't travel as much abroad as Slovenes do, and the fact that the tourist to the coast use many of Croatia's coastal airports doesn't help Zagreb either. Ljubljana has probably even bigger LCC potential than Zagreb, but the question is, whether it will ever get the chance.
DeleteAnd sloavio, since you have so many doubts about the demand in Ljubljana, let me just tell you that the only planes that were flying empty or half empty were the ones of Adria Airways. All the other routes were always full, speaking also from my experience. I habe been flying fron LJU to SXF, STN, AMS (Transavia). On these flights the plane was always full, with max 1 or 2 seats free, but mostly full without free seats. The routes in Ljubljana from foreign companies were practically never canceled due to demand being to low.
DeleteThe only problem why LJU still isn't LCC base: Fraport
DeleteWell, flights to SXF werent that full when i was on board. They were quite full, but not full. My good friend lives in Berlin so she used to fly VERY often and by her words the LF was mostly around 70-75%. Even tickets never got extremly expensive, even if booked just a week in advance (outside of the big holiday weekends like Easter, Christmas etc), so thats also an indication for well the route performs. I am not saying that LJU has no potential for LCC routes. It has a few. But i dont see LJU having a LCC base. Any base any soon if i am honest.
DeleteIndicator for how well the route performs*
Delete@Anonymous21:42
Delete"People in Croatia don't travel as much abroad" Croatians along the coast don't, Nothern Croatia, Zagreb, Central Croatia, Zagreb is only airport for them, and they travel a lot, especially from Zagreb area, not as much as they could or should, but on average they fly twice a year, depature and arrival i guess once a year, that average shoulod go up as more routes become avilable and cheap Ryan air tickets. Croats especially in Zagreb area earn decent money and city is quite cheap place to live a lot cheaper than some costal cities. So there's plenty of disposable income.
https://www.total-croatia-news.com/news/53734-average-net-pay-in-zagreb-in-march-higher-by-162-than-croatia-s-average
FYI - 1€ = 7.4HRK