Nordwind Airlines to enter Slovenian market


Nordwind Airlines plans to add flights to Ljubljana, with the carrier filing a preliminary schedule for services out of Moscow’s Sheremtyevo Airport. Under the planned timetable, operations could begin as early as November 6, with a scheduled departure from the Russian capital at 13.45, arriving in Ljubljana at 15.00, before commencing its return journey at 16.15 and touching down in Moscow at 21.10. Flights are to operate once per week, each Saturday, with its Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The airline is yet to put the flights on sale and changes to the launch date are possible, however, the carrier has so far this year delivered on all of its planned new routes to former Yugoslav markets, which have included Belgrade, Zagreb and Skopje.

Nordwind Airlines would compete directly against Aeroflot on the route, which plans to maintain three weekly rotations out of Sheremetyevo Airport this coming winter season. Late last week, Russia eased caps on flights to Slovenia, enabling the forthcoming Nordwind service. The airline has also filed and received rights from Russian authorities to introduce services from St Petersburg to Ljubljana at some point. Nordwind's Moscow operations will become the latest in a slew of new routes set to be introduced from the Slovenian capital in the coming months. These include Wizz Air’s new service to London Luton in December, easyJet’s flights to the same airport in March, Windrose Airlines’ planned operations to Kiev in April 2022, followed by Transavia’s new service to Paris Orly that same month.

The General Manager of airport operator Fraport Slovenija, Babett Stapel, noted, “Air traffic has been showing signs of recovery for a few months now. Although we would like this recovery to happen at a quicker pace, we are aware that the health situation around most parts of the world isn’t supporting that scenario at the moment. Flight announcements for the winter season, as well as for the next summer season, clearly show that the Slovenian market is attractive for airlines”. She added, “At Ljubljana Airport we have welcomed back all the carriers that had suspended flights because of the pandemic during the 2020 winter season, and we greeted new additions to the network. For the first time Iberia and Fydubai touched down in Slovenia. Moreover, airlines are constantly optimising their flight schedules and expanding them with additional frequencies. We believe that, with an improving epidemiological situation ,the network of flights out of Ljubljana will be strengthened, offering passengers attractive options for direct and connecting flights".



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    LJU is on its way to recovery

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      A very slow one but at least something.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      Are you serious? With that one flight per week?

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    3. Anonymous09:16

      I'm speaking in general with all the announced flights for next few months. And in the era of covid with so few frequencies in general even a one weekly flight counts.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:26

      Of course it counts, but thats far away from recovery. Let's see regarding those flights in spring, we have to understand that Slovenia is running presidency of EU which should be additional reason for airlines to start or increase flights to LJU but nothing happened. So I am afraid that without national carrier we will never recover completely...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:06

      Let's hope that next summer we see the return of all pre-Covid routes. So Lufthansa from Munich and Finnair from Helsinki, and that Iberia and British Airways will come back.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:33

      We are hoping for 2 years now and we see where this is going, LJU is most affected comparing to all other ex-yu airports. I really think that we should stop hoping and actually DO something about it..

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:42

      So far LH is resuming Munich and Finnair Helsinki next summer. BA is also coming back. We will have to wait and see for Iberia but I'm pretty sure they will resume the flights.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:58

      That was the exact same story one year ago and we all know what happened then..

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    Good to see although I wonder who is going to use these flights? Are Russians allowed to enter Slovenia?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      Yes they are. Fully vaccinated passengers don't even need a Covid test.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:27

      Great. Then hopefully we can expect more Russian tourists.

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    3. Anonymous14:11

      No they are not. In theory they are, but the embassy is not issuing tourist visas at the moment in Russia - I speak from experience. So I have no idea who fills all those flights.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    Nice to see so many new routes planned for Ljubljana. Let's hope they all materialize.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      It is good but I would prefer if we got a brand new route rather than doubling up on existing ones, which is the case with all of the announced new ones.

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    2. Anonymous09:18

      +1 last anon.

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    3. Anonymous09:24

      At least this way you get better and more competitive fares,

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:06

    How many weekly flights did Aeroflot have to Ljubljana before the pandemic?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      It was supposed to operate twice per day from the start of the 2020 summer season. Obviously didn't happen because of Covid.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:12

      wow that's impressive, especially since they started flying to LJU in 2019.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:07

    Nordwind is expanding like crazy. Every week they have some new route launching.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      Didn't someone say recently that their service is terrible and that they are expanding way too quickly for their own good?

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    2. Anonymous09:56

      Their fleet has also expanded since the start of the year. They also have quite a few widebodies - B777s and A330s.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:47

      Anon 9:18 Just because someone said the service was terrible doesn't mean that this is the general condition. Maybe he didn't get a second coffee or he disliked the sandwich and thinks the service is bad.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:56

      I think they were mostly complaining about their ontime performance and mentioned that many of their flights within Russia are constantly late.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:12

    Will they finally start Sarajevo? What are they waiting for?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:08

      It will probably happen soon.
      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/10/nordwind-expresses-sarajevo-flight.html

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:55

      Fingers crossed.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:13

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:13

    This is good news. Ljubljana needs all the airlines it can get!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      For LJU and Slovenia it would be much better if existing airlines increase frequencies. Im pointing here to LH group...but of course in addition any other airline is more than welcome to come to LJU

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:17

    Does Nordwind allow for connections via Moscow?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:23

    As we are talking about LJU: ASL YU-APE came to LJU this morning for no reason. Anyone knows what's going on? It's not a schedule route as they sent ATR some 2 hours later as well

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:27

      It is going for maintenance at Adria Tehnika. And really it has nothing to do with topic.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:28

    What are their fares like from other ex-Yu cities. Are they an LCC?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:38

      No, they are full fare. Service similar to most European legacies with small snack complimentary and buy on board.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:11

      SU provides definitively the better service on this route

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    3. Anonymous10:26

      and also have the best and most consistent schedule of flights + their on time performance is remarkable

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:59

      Does Nordwind have a proper business class?

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    5. Anonymous11:12

      Only on some widebodies. But not on B737s

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    6. Anonymous13:53

      Some of their B777s are in all economy layout :O

      Delete
    7. Anonymous14:12

      Yep their B777-300ER has 486 seats!

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:30

    Great to see new airlines coming despite the times.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:33

    This would be great

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:34

    I feel like we will see daily DME and daily SVO (or 2 daily SVO flights like SU intended before the rona) in addition to 3-5 LED flights next summer; Hoping to see the Portoroz aiport actually doing the expantion as 2x weekly from SVO and 1x from LED would work great, especially with the increasing demand of rich Russian turist in Slo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      Who will fly DME?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:42

      Pobeda or even Azur could do it, not to mention S7 is in the mix; Russia has a lot of airlines willing to expand if there is PAX available

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:45

      S7 would be a good airline to come. Oneworld membership and extensive Russian and international network. That would be real competition for Aeroflot on Moscow route.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:35

    Flights are still not published...

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:37

      It says in the article they are not on sale. But they are in GDS.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:52

      What does that mean?

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    3. Anonymous13:58

      It means the flights are visible in ticket reservation system but cannot be booked yet. I assume that's where ex-Yu saw the exact timing of the flights too. Nordwind always does this. They put the flights in GDS but don't start sales for a few weeks and usually delay launch date by a few weeks because of it.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:37

    Good. At the moment anything new you get is good news.

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  17. Anonymous09:41

    Russian airlines in general seem to be booming.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:41

    This is great and not too unexpected.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous09:42

    I hope they manage but I'm not sure they will be able to repel SU to/from SVO.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:44

      They carry different types of passengers. Nordwind are mostly tour groups of Russians. They have survived against Aeroflot in BEG and ZAG without a problem.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous09:43

    Why are they limiting flights from Russia to Slovenia to so few frequencies?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:50

      It's Russia's policy for all markets. To manage covid.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:52

      Well that's really working for them...

      Delete
  21. Anonymous09:51

    What equipment is SU currently using to LJU?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:52

      Mix of A320 and SSJ100.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous09:53

    Is this privately owned airline?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:57

      Yes. Nordwind Airlines was founded in August 2008 by the Russian and Turkish branches of tour operator Pegas Touristik.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous09:57

    I assume they will use B737-800?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:05

      Umm yes, it says so in the article

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:10

    one more addition for winter 2021-2022 :) nice

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous10:10

    Samara, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar or Sochi would be nice additions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:50

      Let's first get Moscow up to daiiy.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous10:10

    Maybe in the future we will see Irkut MC-21-300 flying, as they have them ordered :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:12

      Well we have Aeroflot's Sukhois as regular visitors to LJU so maybe we see MC-21s too :D

      Delete
  27. Anonymous10:11

    How about Moscow-Maribor?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:13

      Pobeda VKO-MBX 2-3 times per week would work without problem.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:18

      Would be nice. Weren't there MBX charters in the past?

      Delete
  28. Anonymous10:13

    I wish them success

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous10:20

    Their ZAG fares are around 150 euros without luggage which is not bad at all.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous10:33

    The list of airline serving Ljubljana is actually becoming quite good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:40

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:01

      And the list of frequencies offered by airport Ljubljana is natural disaster. Not to mentioned carried pax...

      Delete
  31. I hope the proces will be lower

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous11:13

    LJU finally waking up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:02

      if that's waking up then other ex-yu airports are in full sprint..

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:51

      Well we got Flydubai and soon Wizz is launching new route and it seems Nordwind too. So it is something. I won't comment on planned new routes for next year since it's too early but still all of these will help with recovery.

      Delete
  33. Anonymous13:28

    I would rather they launched St Petersburg. We already have Moscow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:31

      They have plans for LED.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:48

      It's a pattern they followed in BEG and SKP and since they already got permission from the Russians to start the route, I'm sure we will see it soon. Probably next summer.

      Delete
  34. Anonymous13:49

    Any other new airlines on the horizon for LJU?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:52

      Hopefully Luxair. They have expressed interest.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:10

      Tarom (or Blue Air), Luxair, SAS, KLM are all airlines that would thrive in LJU

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:12

      ANA, AA, SAA at least, not to mention all other..

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:14

      Actually I just checked SAS website and Ljubljana-Copenhagen route is set by defolt to 7th June 2022; So maybe they are planning the route

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:55

      ? there is no possibility to book direct flight LJU-CPH on SK webpage. Probably you checked codeshare options.

      Delete
  35. Anonymous16:15

    Ljubljana just got listed on S7 as a destination: https://www.s7.ru/en/routes/LJU/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:24

      I think codeshare destinations are listed there as well.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:25

      Think so too since they have Auckland, New Zealand listed as well.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:39

      Who could they codeshare to LJU?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:56

      BA and Iberia.

      Delete

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