Finnair will discontinue its seasonal flights between Helsinki and Ljubljana despite initial plans to resume operations between the two cities this summer after two years. Following the revision of its 2022 summer season network this week, the Ljubljana route, which has been suspended since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, is no longer on sale. One-stop options are now being offered five times per week through its Oneworld alliance partner British Airways via London. Initially, Finnair delayed the resumption of its service to the Slovenian capital from March 28 until June 1 but has now shelved the flights altogether. Under its original plan, it was to serve Ljubljana four times per week this year until late October.
The development comes ahead of Finnair’s service launch to nearby Zagreb. The airline intends on operating seasonal flights between Helsinki and the Croatian capital three times per week from May1 until September 29. Finnair handled a notable number of transfer passengers from Asia on its Ljubljana service, with the carrier holding an 8% share of all single-ticket travellers between the continent and the Slovenian capital in the pre-pandemic 2019. That year, it handled a total of 32.218 passengers on the route, representing an increase of 11% on 2018 when it saw 29.019 travellers but down 6% on 2017.
Finnair is among the hardest hit European carriers by the ongoing war in Ukraine and the closure of Russian airspace to EU carriers, forcing it to add hours onto its flights to the Far East. The carrier has established itself in recent years as a transfer airline between Western Europe and Asia. Finnair has reduced its overall operations and estimates that ninety to 200 pilots, as well as 150 to 450 cabin crew, will be laid off as a result. Furthermore, the slow reopening of key Asian markets has also impacted the carrier’s performance. However, despite these issues, the airline will introduce new destinations in the United States and India, along with Zagreb this summer.
Hel route was used for asia connections and with most of them gone this was something expected. At least LHR is available 5 times weekly lol
ReplyDeleteBut aren't they expecting mostly Asian transfers on ZAG route too?
DeleteI guess there is enough O&D demand for ZAG flights.
DeleteThere is more traffic because people use Zagreb to get to the coast. That's why the route will only run until September.
DeleteIn 2021 HEL was LH's busiest transfer destination to and from LJU.
DeleteWe were filling a320 on lju hel route in 2019 mostly for business not leisure ,but now with Asia still closed the route would be used for tourists mostly (ofc with some exceptions). Having most of my meetings with China companies online I can imagine others do to, thus the route is not as effective as it was (business class was full most of the times). With zagreb the situation is different, the route will probably be used for tourists mostly and with costal cities being opened throughout the summer season the route is much more viable than ljubljana
DeleteWhat a surprise.
ReplyDeleteLJU keeps on winning!
ReplyDeleteStop it.
DeleteLol. You literally said same thing on yesterday's article.
DeleteAnd as I said before, Finnair will move to ZAG. Bravo Fraport and fanboys!
ReplyDeleteSo that's Iberia, Finnair and Aerflot gone.
ReplyDeleteAdd Rossiya and Windrose to that list.
DeleteAnd Sunexpress from 2021.
DeleteOn the one hand, Finnair is losing from the Russian invasion and closure of the airspace for its flights to Asia.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Finnair (and Helsinki airport) are gaining A LOT from Russian passengers, as flying from anywhere in Europe to Helsinki is one of the fastest ways to get to/from Russia. The majority of Russians traveling to/from Europe are using the Allegro train between St. Petersburg and Helsinki (or going by car or taking a bus), and then taking a Finnair flight to Europe.
True but I doubt that LJU is in hot demand by Russian passengers.
DeleteThat train has since been cancelled
DeleteThe Allegro will be canceled from Monday, the 28th. In the meantime, dozens of buses do the St. Petersburg - Helsinki route on a daily basis, bringing thousands of passengers to Finnair on a daily basis. Finnair lost a lot with Asia, but gained a lot on flights to Europe and the US.
DeleteThis is going from bad to worse.
ReplyDeleteDon't know on what planet Fraport was on when they estimated 900,000 passengers at Ljubljana this year.
ReplyDeleteMore like 600.000 passengers, or even less.
DeleteKnew this would be the outcome when they announced Zagreb.
ReplyDelete:(
ReplyDeleteDisaster
ReplyDeleteI have never seen a capital city airport do so little to attract new airlines or even keep existing ones.
ReplyDeleteBetween the sale of Adria Airways to Germany's 4K Invest and Ljubljana Airport to Germany's Fraport, I don't know what has worked out better. Keep selling to Germany.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what Fraport wants. There was an article here a couple of months ago on top LH transfer routes from/to Ljubljana. Helsinki is in the top 5 from what I can remember.
DeleteIt is number 1! But for fanboys there is no demand.
DeleteDanke Deutschland! 😃
DeleteFraport Slovenija slogan: "The market will take care of itself".
ReplyDeleteTheir only slogan is give LH cartel 100% market share in LJU.
DeleteWho is next? BA? Easyjet? Wizz? Transavia? I would not be surprised anymore.
ReplyDeleteAfter Adria went bankrupt, everything went downhill for Slovenian aviation.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame
ReplyDeleteWhat a big loss for LJU. The 2 nd tremendous loss after IB has withdrawn fm the market. Both were really special for LJU and gave the airport a special touch. A big pity that there are now no regular services anymore to Scandinavia and Spain.
ReplyDeleteProbably QR will step in and I wouldnt wonder if a LCC carrier would enter the market. The pandemic has brought ME and LCC carriers forward and weakened national legacy carriers, especially those from smaller carriers.
especially those from smaller countries.....
DeleteAnd they said how they will add new airlines and routes each year. More like chasing away..
ReplyDeleteThey should not be taken seriously.
DeleteSlovenia should pay Amelia to fly some routes with their Atrs and Erjs - they even have an A319 for busy routes not served (like Madrid which got canceled due the Iberia not having enough aircraft). Infrastructure is in place, and slovenia is paying about 100mio for train connectivity, I think they should spend some money on air connectivity as well
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAs mr.Skobir once said...Ljubljana is a boutique airport, not suitable for lowcost carriers. So there you go...soon the airport will operate as a sport club and not as international��what a shame.
ReplyDeleteI am not from Slovenia and do not live there but closely watching developments in te region. All what I can say is that yes, aviation was hit hard but many European airports are recovering and returning to norm. But I do not understand what the hell is happening in LJU:
ReplyDeleteNo national carrier, many carriers have gone. Barely any new service additions, no proactive management. Then why was the new shiny terminal constructed? To serve like a sterile, empty pharmacy?
Come on, Slovenia. You can do way much better than this. An EU advanced country and the highest GDP per capita in the Balkans. 3 active airports, a coast. Seriously, something concerning is going on and don't just tell me that Austria and Venice are close. So is Tallinn to Helsinki, so is Bratislava to Vienna. Look at Albania. 2nd new airport and booming flights. Ohrid has more Wizzair routes than Ljubljana. I don't know man, it is not my country but it is part of Europe and so many airports in the region are doing something and makes you upset.
Not to mention the latest laughable subsidies I think around 7 million. A really small amount from a richer country pretending to seriously recover its aviation image and situation.
And now that Zagreb finally woke up as well and connected more and more European cities then why the f is the same thing not applied in Ljubljana?
Not to mention the absolute passiveness and unability to even lease 2 older smaller Embraers or ATRs to initially set up a new airline. Look what happened with Montenegro and I don't care if their logo has a square, hexagon, or all-white airways as long as there is some initial activity.
Finally, also don't jut tell me there is a smaller Slovene diaspora because so is the situation with Estonia and they even managed to collaborate with Air Baltic and generate a traffic of 3 million passengers before the pandemic.
I don't even wanna comment about the situation with charters whether they are summer of winter-warm ones. What a serious pity on how the aviation is in advanced Slovenia...
Largest SLO diaspora is outside of Europe or right next to SLO in Italy, Austria or a car drive away in Germany. Bosnians, Serbs, Kosovars, Macedonias live in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden but by car it is far to drive.
DeleteDiaspora of Slovenes in the US, CA, Argentina and Australia left 150 to 60 years ago, many of those have no real relation anymore to Slovenia, at least not that well, that they would fly 1-2 a year to Slovenia. Where ex YU people in Switzerland for example often visit their coutries 2-5 x a year.
Slovenians are listed as Nr. 2 in terms of arrivals to Croatia, most of them visit Istria or the northern part of the Adriatic sea.
Business ties: Best trade with Germany, Italy, Austria, CRO, France
Asian tourists are missing, but also those usually just pass by Slovenia and stay there for 2-3 days. In boom times there is potential for LJU flights, even fm Japan as JL and NH showed for years but of course just a few per year. But now there is now boom time and we hve to be satisfied if TK and Fly Dubai connect Asia with LJU. And lets not forget, average Slovene salary is ok to buy LCC ticket with family but mum, dad and two kids and each ticket is 200-400 eur is expensive, especially in current situation where no ones knows what's expecting us.
Airport situation as Brnik is not in the centre of SLO but 30 km north of LJU and Go Opti Transfer is doing a great job by connecting SLO with ZAG GRZ TRS VCE etc.
Difficult times for Brnik Airport and I personally have no good feeling for the future as tourist numbers of 2018/2019 from outside Europe wont return that quickly anymore. Maybe LJU is lucky and QR will give them 3-4 flights and def good for SLO and Brnik would be Easy or Wizz Air basing 1-2 aurcraft there. Current crisis will be felt for years and if larger number of Slovenias will buy tickets, than those with cheaper fares.
I know 10 families from Slovenia living stabily, read for decades in Zurich, Geneve and Kreuzlingen. Some have average standard of living but some are extremely well off even compared to Swiss standard. Most of them are still travelling by car when they are visiting Slovenia... Slovenians are care obsessed they simple love it!
DeletePublic transport in Slovenia is still not ideal as it often takes too long comparing to the car. But of course u cld hire rent a car at Brnik, what I hve done several times already.
DeleteWe Swiss love our trains and trams, Slovenians love their cars, bikes and own legs :-)
Every time I come to this (otherwise excelent blog), I fear I will read a title: Fraport Slovenia Terminated.
ReplyDeleteLJU news is becoming depressing.
ReplyDeleteWhen did Finnair start flights to Ljubljana?
ReplyDelete2007!
DeleteAnother one bites the dust.
ReplyDelete