Points in Europe await Ljubljana flights


Destinations across Europe, which form the bulk of Ljubljana Airport’s busiest unserved routes, are seeking flights to Ljubljana, as the Slovenian capital looks to improve its flight offering. The airport has had to deal with two major events which impacted its network and connectivity over the past two years, including the collapse of Adria Airways in late September 2019, leaving the city without a handful of destinations, and the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the unserved routes were at some point operated by Adria with varying degrees of success. Since the pandemic struck, only one of the destinations within Ljubljana’s top ten unserved on the continent has been launched - Madrid - which was operated by Iberia during the month of August.

Croatia Airlines this week unveiled it was in talks with Slovenian authorities over improving Ljubljana’s connectivity. Meetings have also been previously held with LOT Polish Airlines, Air Serbia and former Etihad Airways Group CEO, James Hogan, who now leads a consultancy company. This week, city representatives from Vienna met with their Ljubljana counterparts where they discussed improving transport links between the two cities. There have been no flights between the two capitals since Adria’s demise. On the other hand, both Luxembourg’s Luxair and Ukraine’s Windrose Airlines have indicated this year they are looking into introducing flights to Ljubljana in the foreseeable future.

Based on OAG data, Bucharest was Ljubljana’s busiest unserved city both in 2019 and 2020. The 935-kilometre capital connection was previously operated on and off by Adria Airways. The Slovenian carrier initially launched the route at four per week in the summer of 2008 with its CRJ200 jet. However, the service was short-lived and lasted until 2010. The airline made another attempt at the route in 2018 with four weekly rotations but the flights were discontinued just a few months later as the airline’s financial problems began to mount, which ultimately led to its demise. Adria remained the main feeder carrier for services to the Romanian capital, transferring passengers primarily to Vienna who would then connect onto Austrian Airlines flights.

Ryanair, which opened a base in Zagreb last month and continues to expand its operations out of the Croatian capital, will cover some of Ljubljana’s main unserved routes. These include Gothenburg, Oslo (through Sandefjord Airport) and Dublin. The list of the top unserved European routes in 2019 compared to the one in 2020 differ, with many destinations previously operated by Adria Airways now in need of a replacement, particularly those in the region. The list for 2019 represents routes which were not served for the entirety of the year, therefore, they do not include destinations that were no longer operated following the collapse of Adria on September 30 of that same year. It also does not take into account passengers who may have originated from or were destined to Slovenia and travelled through other nearby airports in other countries.

Top twenty unserved European routes to/from Ljubljana in 2019


Top twenty unserved European routes to/from Ljubljana in 2020




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    What is TAROM waiting for??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      Perfect for their ATRs

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:06

      Adria could not make OTP work twice!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:07

      Adria could not make most things work. That's why they went bankrupt.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:10

      OTP was doing quite good when they increased frequencies, unfortunately it was more important to serve flight for other airlines and merge JP scheduled flights..Well done 4k!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:10

      TAROM has a codeshare to Ljubljana with JU via BEG I believe.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:19

      I agree, TAROM has many opportunities in ex-YU, not just Ljubljana.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:19

      TAROM is as passive as OU

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:28

      TROM is not the best managed airline around.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:48

      Why should TAROM start flights? There are Ryanair, Wizz, Blue air which are way more successful.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:50

      Because it has an aircraft suited for the route - ATR. It has the potential to carry transfers via Bucharest too. To me it's a no brainer. But like someone said, TAROM is hardly a well managed airline and wouldn't recognize an opportunity if it hit them in the face.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous09:58

      @09:07:
      Sure, that's why we have so many routes in LJU.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous10:17

      You can't rely on Tarom. They have been quite passive as someone previously said and had serious financial issues last year.

      Delete
    13. JATBEGMEL15:52

      @ 09,10

      RO doesn't codeshare on the BEG-LJU-BEG sectors.

      OTP-BEG-LJU vv is only sold on a JU ticket, however it is possible to get an RO flight between BEG and OTP as this sector have the codeshare.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous16:11

      Didn't they receive new planes recently?

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    I find it odd that more foreign airlines have not started flights to LJU. There are some routes that would be successful for sure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      I think there are a couple of European routes Ljubljana could easily secure traffic to. I think a big problem are costs and I don't mean airport fees I mean taxes. I remember LJU management once said that that fees that are not set by the airport are quite high.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:37

      This is because the airport is still expensive. But Fraport doesn't seem to care.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:46

      You would think Fraport would reduce its fees after Adria went kaput.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    A lot of people from Ljubljana start their journey from other airports. So I assume the list would be a bit different if these could be attracted back to LJU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      Two same comments in a minute, that was my exact point one minute later..

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:07

    This is only one part of the statistic while one big part is missing and that is how many Slovenes are actually travelling from ZAG/VCE/VIE to certain destinations. So actual list would be much different than it shows data from OAG.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:09

    When you think about it, TAROM has a very poor presence on ex-Yu markets.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:42

      Tbh, there isn't really a big demand for Romanians to travel to ex-YU. They traditionally visit Greece and Bulgaria by car and now slowly discovering the Croatian coast. There is a good connection between BEG and OTP but I think it's mainly transfer.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:12

    So many European destinations are unserved :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      Yes, many major hubs missing.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:21

      only FRA is covered quite well, not perfectly but it's ok. All others are there just to be marked from the list but does not serve their purpose.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:12

    Is there a point of reestablishing flights to Vienna? Were these used for P2P travel or was it mostly Adria's transfers from ex-Yu and Albania?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      P2P share was a bit lower on that route, I would say around 40%. I know that at that time VIE offered good connections across EU, airport as itself is much more convenient that FRA.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:32

      Individually LJU-VIE sector had no purpose. But within a network it become an integral part of creating added value to the costumer.

      It served as
      -transfer to hub and back for local population
      -final destination for expat workers

      So any carrier that already serves VIE will no consider establishing this city par as it already serves expat community and its local population needs of transfer to hub.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:17

    Is there an incentive policy at LJU for new routes?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:20

    No wonder JU does well in Ljubljana. I can see them taking a lot of transfer traffic to Bucharest, Skopje, Tirana, Sofia, Athens...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:21

    Luxair should start flights. They started BEG and TGD with less indirect traffic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      Same with an airline from Ukraine for Kiev flights. This only shows me that something is wrong with LJU airport itself, because for some routes the numbers are there but no flights are being established.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:34

      Windrose started flights from Kiev to almost every capital city in region except LJU. And LJU had more passengers than some of them. I wonder why.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:35

      I remember reading here that Windrose said they cancelled plans to Ljubljana because of Slovenian Covid measures and the fact that Ukrainians couldn't enter. This was last year.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:42

      So what are Fraport's excuses this time?

      Delete
    5. They do not care about pax traffic, their main and only interest is cargo.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:21

    What I've noticed in all of these is that Kiev is consistently in the top. Quite a surprise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:54

      Ukraine is a huge market.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:24

    Think people still do not understand the mission of the national airline.
    Mission of a national market is to establish air market in the country.

    Only then will the foreign airlines come in to add additional capacity on the routes that have higher demand than capacity.

    It does not work other way around.

    For airport it is important that they reach sufficient PAX flow per year that long range becomes a possibility. After this happens airports become cash cows instead of cash burner.

    So in short you use national airline to establish the market. You invite other carriers to come in to boost demand. You support the market until it gets to levels when long ranges come in and then you start to cash out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:28

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      I agree but if you no longer have a national airline and are having an issue in attracting new carriers, you should do something about it. Incentivizing them is an option. But the government has only given incentives to keep the few airline flying to Ljubljana, and even that has been completely mucked up as only one set of payment has been given. The second still hasn't been awarded even though the deadline passed months ago.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:36

      Slovenia was on the right track to make this happen.
      But it pulled out to early and everything started to fall apart.

      Now they have to start form the beginning.

      Croatia is close, Serbia is at the inflection point.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:38

      @9.23 The incentives Slovenia would have to pay would probably have been more than what Adria needed to keep running

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:42

      Think they did try this and come to logical conclusion.

      You are allowed by the EU to pay others to do this for you only if there is no other option (PSO). But when the market shows a bit of potential they have to pull out.

      And the market collapses again. So you are stuck in a cycle. Only way out of this cycle is to have a bypass around this.

      To drive the market when EU doctrine does not allow direct support of the market.

      So this instrument is national airline.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:30

    Many of these routes have been attempted. Looking at the 2019 list, Bucharest, Stockholm, Athens, Kiev, Barcelona, Madrid and Hamburg were all flown by JP. I won't even mention the 2020 list where there are a lot of ex Adria destinations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:20

      When did Adria fly to Hamburg?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:26

      2018

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:34

    I really hope a turnaround at Ljubljana will be achieved sooner rather than later but I'm skeptical.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:48

      It has been 2 years since Adria disappeared and no turnaround has been achieved.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:51

      You kind of forgot that a global pandemic hit 5 months after Adria went bankrupt and brought air traffic to a halt.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:39

      Even after JP demise situation did not get much better. Pandemic is only excuse for Fraport's incompetent...

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:36

    Most people expected some low cost boom at Ljubljana after Adria disappeared. To this day nothing. In fact LCC offer has decreased.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:38

      I think LJU needs to deepen its ties with easyJet which does not fly to Zagreb nearby.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:53

      Wizz Air doesn't fly to ZAG either.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:39

    Hopefully Iberia will come back in 2022.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:48

      Apparently they did well this summer. So most likely they will.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:53

      I still don't get that they scheduled flights just for a single month. That was disappointing. If they come back in 2022 let's hope it's from start of summer season.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:40

    They should work on getting an airline to fly to Scandinavia. Currently there are no flights to any Scandinavian city.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:45

      SAS or Norwegian would be a good option.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:41

    I'm really impressed with Helsinki which performed ok in 2021 despite Covid. Seems there is some P2P traffic Finnair handles despite being primarily transfer airline for Asians on route to Ljubljana.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:52

      Same. But also travel options were limited last summer for many.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:45

    It will take time to recover from Adria's bankruptcy, then came Covid quickly after making a bad situation even worse.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous09:46

    Hopefully more new airlines will come.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous09:49

    LH group has so far proven to be a huge disappointment. Not just in terms of coverage and frequencies but also for the most part scheduling too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      True. From Swiss, Lufthansa with 2 routes, Brussels Airlines and announcements that Austrian would come, we are down to LH from FRA and LX from ZRH.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:26

      Looks like LJU has really solidified its future with the Germans, Fraport and LH group.

      Delete
  22. As a frequent business traveller I have travelled extensively on JU regional network, LJU is the most frequent destination. The majority of passengers between Belgrade and Ljubljana are predominately business people, the large number of passengers and families are making connection to JFK, and other JU destinations, with the smallest portion of passengers are P2P (families, students, etc). That is a healthy mix of passengers. But most of them are located in Ljubljana, not in locations far away from the capital.

    Ljubljana has a huge disadvantage of being close to other airports that simply draw the passengers away. Without a local airline, or severe subsidies, is difficult to put it back on the map again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous00:25

      Interesting insight. Hope JU continues to add frequencies to Ljubljana.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous09:54

    Wish them good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous10:19

    No surprise. Too many big airports in close proximity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:29

      That can't be used constantly as an excuse. Bratislava has Vienna next door and no national airline. It still managed 2.3 million passengers in 2019.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:31

      You only forget that Slovakia has more than double the population of Slovenia.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:33

      What are the main airlines at Bratislava?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:36

      You did not get that it is because close proximity of Vienna, didn't you?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:36

      It seems that there weren't any of those airports around if LJU managed to have 2 mio pax per year...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:40

      @10.33 Ryanair and Wizz Air.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous14:05

      Attracting more and more LCCs is the best way to compete against other airports in close proximity.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous00:24

      How many times has it been said here that the Slovenian market is too small for someone to base several A320s or B737s. These aircraft are too large and can work on a couple of routes, most of which are already served.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous07:33

      How is it too small? Have you even seen the list of busiest unserved routes and how many passengers there were? There is more than enough demand for LCC to base 1 or 2 aircrafts.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:28

    Now its time for easy and wizz to expand their operations in Ljubljana.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:29

      Of course, in fact they are planning to base few of their aircrafts at LJU :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:24

      Are you serious or joking?

      Delete
  26. Anonymous10:30

    I really wish new airlines will start flying to LJU with new destinations, as there sure is a lot of potential...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:34

      We wish that for two years now but it seems that situation is worse and worse each month.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:23

      I'm starting to wonder what the situation would be like if it were not for corona. Obviously it would be better but would LJU have completely recovered by now from Adria's bankruptcy?

      Delete
  27. Anonymous10:49

    It's interesting to see that demand for PRN, SOF and TIA is almost identical. No wonder why JP was performing quite well on the Sofia route and even increased the frequencies just before they went belly up. It is now quite clear, that LJU needs a new flag carrier with smaller planes. I don't think placing an LCC will be beneficial, similar to ZAG. It will be challenging filling up an A320 or B738 on some regional destinations.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous14:05

    Can we expect maybe to get TAP flights to LIS?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:11

      No chance, especially with them flying seasonal to Zagreb.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:13

      So what if they fly to Zagreb?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:33

      I agree that one doesn't necessarily cancel the other out.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:34

      We will see about that. Look at the Dubai example. Flydubai planned to start 4 weekly Zagreb and three weekly Ljubljana at the end of this month. Now they have changed their schedule and will fly only 2 weekly to Zagreb.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:10

      Very intetesting to see LJU will have more flights to DXB than ZAG. No doubt they will go daily in LJU next year in summer or at the start of winter season. Time for Qatar Airways to launch LJU.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous00:21

      ZAG must be the only capital city in Europe from which there is no demand to travel to Dubai in these times.

      Delete
  29. notLufthansa14:15

    they said, market will sort everything out. No worries. Yes....

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous14:20

    If Fraport actually did something to attract new airlines, 90% of these cities would be off the list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:10

      People do not use planes because they want to fly. They use it to go to certain destination.

      Airports are like gas / bus stations. Airlines do not come because of airports, but because there are people that would like to use their services.

      So if they think that airports can attract airlines is stupid. The only thing they can do is expand it's cachment area.

      This logic is lacking in current managment. But for some strange reason they think they can attract airlines.

      Delete
  31. Anonymous20:26

    Aeroflot has also put back ticket for sale.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous00:20

    Thanks for the list. Interesting stuff. Tbilisi is a bit of a surprise.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous01:43

    What about SKP? Any chance for a LCC connection to LJU?

    ReplyDelete

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