Low cost carrier Wizz Air plans to introduce flights between Skopje and Maribor in the coming months, linking Macedonia and Slovenia with a nonstop commercial air service for the first time since the collapse of Adria Airways in September 2019. According to the “Sierra 5" portal, the Slovenian State Secretary at the Ministry of Interior and Public Administration, Franc Kangler, noted that the new route will be introduced very soon and comes as Wizz Air looks to employ its aircraft previously stationed in Ukraine. The budget carrier has never flown to Maribor but maintains services from Charleroi and Luton to Ljubljana.
The Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure and Urban Planning has confirmed that talks with Wizz Air have taken place over the introduction of the Skopje - Maribor service but noted that a final agreement is yet to be reached. The Ministry added it was also in discussions with Ryanair over future flights to Slovenia’s second largest city. The budget airline briefly maintained flights between London Stansted and Maribor in 2007 and 2008. Despite solid loads, the route was terminated after Ryanair hiked fees for a joint advertising program, which was turned down by local authorities. Several weeks ago, the carrier said it was “continuing to evaluate potential operations in Slovenia”.
Wizz Air could make use of Slovenia’s recently launched subsidy program, which plans to allocate up to two million euros among airlines which maintain at least two weekly flights to Slovenia between June 1 until October 30. In 2020, Skopje emerged as Ljubljana Airport’s fourth busiest unserved route following the collapse of Adria Airways. In 2019, 40.293 passengers flew between the two capital cities, from January until late September when operations ceased. Air Serbia has since become the main transfer airline for travellers commuting between the two cities. Maribor Airport has struggled to attract customers over the past decade but will boast scheduled flights this summer with SkyAlps to introduce services from three Italian cities from late June until mid-September.
????? students,tourists?
ReplyDeleteOr this is alternative to LJU?
Alternative to LJU.
Deleteapril fools...
ReplyDeleteit's not April fools ... it's "2 months before elections fools".
DeleteI doubt ministry would confirm the talks if they were making it up. They would have just declined to comment.
DeleteI can't believe Maribor will get flights to Skopje before Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteCrazy
DeleteBravo Fraport!
ReplyDeleteIf this happens this is really a big failure by LJU. It shows that its own customers are now turning away from it.
DeleteMakes sense. They will get lower fees in Maribor, they will benefit from Slovenian subsidy program, they will benefit from Macedonian subsidy program which is also going to be launched soon.
ReplyDeleteWhat about demand?
DeleteI believe there will be enough demand. Students, businesspeople, tourists.
DeleteIn that case LJU would have been the more obvious destination.
Deletesame as Munich and Stutttgart having no flights but Memmingen and Karlsruhe
DeleteMBX is doing more to get new airlines and routes than LJU.
ReplyDeleteIf Maribor develops well with low-cost flights, it can compete with LJU.
ReplyDeleteLike Kutaisi in Georgia. And Tuzla.
It can overtake Ljubljana in a few years. Tuzla is close anyway.
DeleteMeanwhile, wizz announced today the allocation of its ninth aircraft to Tirana base.
ReplyDeleteIt's going mental there. From July 2020, in less than 2 years, they have expanded like crazy. 9 aircrafts and 41 destinations!!! Tirana for Wizz, must be as big as their Bucharest or Warsaw bases by now. It's just incredible.
Deletehttps://wizzair.com/en-gb/information-and-services/about-us/news/2022/03/31/wizz-air-adds-9th-aircraft-and-3-new-routes-to-tirana
It makes sense! There are many more options for destinations, Poland, Czech Republic, Spain, Baltics!
DeleteWell done! Well done to Ljubljana for the many new destinations! Bravo Fraport!
You can't compare Slovenia and Albania. As explained many times before, LJU will never be a base for LCC.
DeleteAh yes. Never, sure, never. Fraport fanboys will always tell you there is no demand and only route that works is FRA to feed LH cartel.
Delete@anon09:37. I understand you can't compare the countries but at least one, in this case LJU management, should at least think why the hell they can't attract airlines? for example: Is it because they are too expensive? Is it because they don't have the right infrastructure?
DeleteIn the case of TIA, they were too expensive. They changed management, the new management lowered the airport charges and now they have a boom. It might not fully be the case with LJU but at least you try!
Heh it's first time someone called me Fraport fanboy :) Actually you should call me National carrier fanboy because I think that's the best solution Slovenia could get to improve connectivity. There is always place for LCC to fly to certain destinations but to base in LJU aircraft with 180 seats to fly 3-4 rotations per day...I doubt so.
Delete@anon 10:12
DeleteLCC had always strong presence in TIA, last years especially due to increased demand in tourism (Albania tourism is booming), not to mention millions of gastoz living in EU (and all others around EU but those are not target area for LCC).
What can Slovenia offer? Only with lower fees you will not convince someone to base aircraft here. As explained before, it would help to open few routes but for something more we simply don't have enough demand (no mass tourism and no gastoz around EU). Simply as that
If i remember in 2020 there were planned 30 weekly flights with LCC, or more than 4 a day on average. So there is demand.
DeleteRealized or planned? And what was the period of those 30 weekly flights of LCC?
DeleteAircraft are being served on taxiways as TIA is completely out of capacity but they push even more there. Wise.
DeleteThey are building 3 more parking spots.
DeleteThis is really big opportunity for Maribor to turn a corner and start developing. Fingers crossed it gets realized.
ReplyDeleteActually MBX has excellent position for a LCC base, not only for some flights by LCC like this Wizz one to Skopje. ZAG and LJU are close to MBX, and for sure source of some potential passengers, Celje, Ptuj, Murska Sobota, Cakovec, Varazdin, Koprivnica as well. But real chance I see in southern Austria, Graz, Steiermark, big and developed region with no LCC presence. Western Hungary, tourist aerea, Balaton region, is also close and potential market served by MBX. So theoretically, MBX could work and have much much more traffic than today, or even better to say could have some serious traffic, unlike today when there is no traffic at all
DeleteA couple of day ago Skopje Airport teased on social media how Wizz would launch new route from Skopje. Maybe this is it?
ReplyDeleteA year ago the Macedonian minister for transport said how they have signed a deal with Wizz Air to start Abu Dhabi flights and we are still waiting to this day.
DeleteThe development of Maribor Airport would actually be a disaster for Ljubljana Airport.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a blessing for LJU. Fraport does nothing also because it has no competition in Slovenia. The more competition the better.
DeleteAgree. I thought when Ryanair came to ZAG, there was no chance we see them in RJK again. But surprise surprise, they returned to RJK as well and out of 3 destinations served, they serve two from both, Stansted and Charleroi
DeleteI keep thinking that at some point Maribor will overtake LJU in destinations! But only if Wizz or Ryanair start!
ReplyDeleteIn a couple if years the only route from LJU will be to FRA.
Delete;)))
DeleteAny guesses that Wizz will move from LJU to MBX? Most likely.
ReplyDeleteI think London and Charleroi are safe in Ljubljana but it probably means there won't be any new routes to Ljubljana (not that they have so far anyway)
DeleteSkopje is rebounding very slow, and with the current renovation of the runway they are just lacking behind all other surrounding airports.
ReplyDeleteNo restoration of flights to the middle east, FlyDubai will start their flights in November, Qatar is unlikely to return soon, combination I'm assuming lack of airplaines and their attention shifted somewhere else.
The European network is very limited, only Turkish and Austrian for connecting flights and everything else is Wizzair.
Bro?! Wizz Air have 30 destinations from Skopje?
DeleteThere is almost no country to which Wizz does not fly from Skopje!(Europe)
But on other hand SKP is one of the least performing airports when there is talk about legacy airlines. Macedonians have big issues with connectivity to major hub (except IST).
DeleteStart an airline with two Embraers and launch flights to AMS, BRU, CDG, FRA... There is demand
DeleteWe are getting Israel and Egypt flight this summer so thats not bad
DeleteAs a Macedonian I would like to a route to FRA with Lufthansa and AMS with KLM. Further than that I think other airlines like Air France and British airways are not gonna work and not necessary for a better connection. But even one major airlines like KLM and Lufthansa would improve the connectivity a lot.
DeleteEven their regional subsidiaries, KLM cityhopper or Lufthansa Cityline, with CRJ/embraers 2-3 days a week will be perfect, so we don't have to use SOF, BEG, SKG. Demand is here for sure, but I think TAV doesn't want to bring any competition to TURKISH. Skopje is the only EX-YU capital, probably balkan as well, that doesn't have Lufthansa service.
DeleteWith Wizz flying to every village in Germany, there is 200% demand for Lufhansa, and many transfer pax from anywhere in the world will reach SKP, with only 1 stop i FRA
Surely nobody is using those airports because of lack of Lufthansa or klm. SOF and SKG were used for their lcc flights. But that is history now.
DeleteThere must be a reason LJU is unable to attract too many new routes and even a long time customer is now planning to open a new route at another airport in the country. Are the fees high?
ReplyDeleteFraport needs to reduce competition for LH cartel.
Delete@09:16
DeleteAccording to some "experts" on ex-Yu, it's because of Adria. Wait, there is no Adria anymore. Ah, sorry, it must be COVID-19, since Slovenia is the only country on planet Earth were the virus is so widespread.
Hope it can work.
ReplyDelete'Wizz Air looks to employ its aircraft previously stationed in Ukraine'
ReplyDeleteYeah well, those aircraft are still stationed in Ukraine to this day because of the greed of Varadi. The owners will be very very lucky if they get them back in one piece.
I would like so much to see again Maribor getting regular traffic! However, I am not sure SKP is right choice...
ReplyDeleteMaribor lost massively with FR leaving MBX, but hope W6 will make it up.
I think SKP makes sense for Wizz because all of the subsidies they can get (from both sides).
DeleteI think SKP is good choice. Adria used to operate the service twice daily. Capacity of one flight was for sure transfer traffic but capacity of the other one was P2P. Huge Macedonian and Albanian community in Slovenia and northwest part of Croatia, number of buses daily serving and people travelling 16 or more hours for not that cheap prices any more. With LCC prices I am pretty sure the service will be success.
DeleteI agree with @Pozdrav iz Rijeke
DeleteIn October 2019 Ljubljana Airport said that Skopje was one of their most important routes and that they will do everything to restore flights as soon as possible. They said unlike other ex-Yu routes Adria served, Skopje actually had point to point demand rather than just transfer. Fast forward to 2022 and Ljubljana hasn't has a single flight to Skopje.
ReplyDeleteBravo Fraport! LJU keeps on winning!
DeleteLJU still hasn't covered Adria destinations like Copenhagen, Stockholm, Vienna let alone Skopje.
DeleteLJU can't get new airline for LJU-STN (route that had more than 120k passengers in 2019) and people expect them to get new routes? LJU is run by incompetent people.
DeleteCan someone tell me what's the distance between Ljubljana and Maribor. Easily accessible by car?
ReplyDelete1 h and 15 min. Highways between LJU and MBX.
Delete130 km to Mb, 115 km to Maribor airport = 1 hour.
DeleteThanks. I assume there is good public transport between the two too?
DeleteTrains and buses, but it is much faster by car.
DeleteGood connections also with Varaždin, Čakovac, Graz
DeleteLess than 1h between Ljubljana city centre and Maribor airport. 100% covered by highway.
DeleteWell, if it only one hour by car, Maribor airport can also be called Ljubljana North or Zagreb West. Same way as Charleroi is called Brussels South and uses Brussels designation (distance: 1 hour by car from Brussels; 1h 30 min by train).
DeleteThere is high chance of Wizzair stationing one aircraft in Lju (as they don't operate in Ukraine anymore) and doing a W rotation on Skopje Ljubljana route. They had to sent a321 to lju yesterday as the a320 was overbooked and there was delay on CRL route as the plane was overbooked but noone wanted to stay there(this one is not confirmed as i know the guy who was on plane for a few days, so do take the last part about crl with a grain of salt). ..
ReplyDeleteWould be a great addition to Lju and they could even represent a competitor gist Ryanair in Zagreb if they decide to add planes
There are more chances of Wizz leaving LJU and moving to MBX than launching new routes to LJU.
Delete^ true unfortunately
DeleteSrečen in vesel dan norcev
ReplyDeleteIt's no joke
DeleteMaribor Airport deserves a brighter future after the China debacle. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWhat routes could Ryanair stay from MBX?
ReplyDeleteTake your pick. Not as if there is a great variety at Ljubljana.
DeleteRyanair? One of the first routes they always launch at almost every airport is London stansted. Then comes Dublin and so on.
DeleteI think this makes sense especially with Ryanair in Zagreb which is close to Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteMaribor Airport can also serve as an alternative for Graz
DeleteAre there many Macedonians in Graz or that part of Austria?
DeleteGovernment finally taking some initiative over Maribor airport?
ReplyDeleteIn took them 10 years to realize that the airport sitting empty, serving only training flights, costs a lot of money.
DeleteThe GOV is doing nothing. DRI (which operates MBX on the basis of in-house rules) is not competent (they were incorporated for road and other infrastructure projects), but they are doing their best. The guys who work at the airport know what to do, but there is no money even to repair some basic fails (roof is leaking, no ticketing app etc). DRI brought some serious ideas to the ministry, but there was no response. Ministry of infrastructure is clueless about anything regarding the aviation. 15 people work in the sectore and you can hardly find 3 people to have some basic knowledge, the rest is just ****.
DeleteGood move
ReplyDeleteThis route will work well.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone explain where all the demand between Skopje and Ljubljana is coming from?
ReplyDeleteAren't there a lot of students from Macedonia studying in Slovenia? Also I guess there used to be a lot of transfers via Ljubljana when Adria was around.
DeleteA lot of Albanians from Macedonia are also living in Slovenia.
DeleteHalf of demand from SKP should be shifted to PRN. At the time when JP flew to both destinations SKP had much lower prices than PRN due to strong presence of LCC in SKP.
DeleteWith less than 1 h drive between SKP and PRN many passengers (especially families) decided to go from SKP.
Now as presence of LCC is improving in PRN demand is back where it always was and results in number of passengers shows that as well.
An LCC on this route will generate point to point demand.
DeleteThere are many Macedonian students in Maribor.
DeleteThere are also a lot of Slovenian businesses in Macedonia.
Delete@anon 11:30
Deletelike what? I think that Slovenia did invest much more in Kosovo than in Macedonia..
You have NLB banka in Macedonia. Puklavec Family Wines, plastics producer Roto, insurers Zavarovalnica Triglav and Sava Re, LTH Castings, battery maker TAB, metrology company Lotrič Meroslovje and engineering company Riko. Interenergo and Trigal will build 40 mln euro wind farm there too.
DeleteThis was unexpected. I'm glad there is a direct link to Slovenia again.
ReplyDeleteI remember transiting LJU from PRN to VIE countless times on Adria to avoid the astronomic fares of Austrian.
Boy, how times change...
I definitely expect either Ljubljana or Maribor in the next package of new Wizz routes from SKP.
ReplyDeleteYes there are rumors here in Skopje that Ljubljana will be included in the offer by Wizz Air, although it is possible that they decided to change it to Maribor.
DeleteIs Maribor worth a visit, as in tourist visit?
ReplyDeleteYes it is, especially by renting a car and exploring also other parts of Slovenia, like for example Stajerska, Prekmurje, Gorenjska (Bled, Bohinj, ...), Primorska ...
DeleteMaribot is a beautiful city.
DeleteHAHAHAHHAHA, Maribor a beautiful city? Yeah, one street (Lent), everything else is just a random city with no urban vibe. Ljubljana and Maribor were more or less the same 30 years ago. Look at Ljubljana know and look at Maribor. Maribor still looks like an industrial city (but with no industry left), horrible road infrastructure.
DeleteWell... I cannot agree. Many foreigners even prefer Maribor over Ljubljana. Maribor offers a nice city break option which is loved by neighbouring Austrians and Croatians. The offer for active holidays is good in the resorts close to the city (Mariborsko Pohorje, Rogla...), the city offers interesting museums, theatre events, hotels, shopping centres, galleries, restaurants and parks. The friendliness and hospitality of the people living in Slovenian Styria is admired and considered superior to the one in the other parts of Slovenia.
DeleteHow many weekly flights did Adria have between Ljubljana and Skopje?
ReplyDeleteDouble daily flights.
DeleteNever trust politicians when they announce air routes.
ReplyDeleteDitto
DeleteEspecially Franc Kangler to the former mayor of Maribor, who had to resign due to the protests of the citizens of Maribor.
DeleteHope this happens.
ReplyDeletethis is worst april fools joke ever
ReplyDeleteFor aviation in Slovenia every day is a joke.
Delete