Lufthansa, Turkish remain Ljubljana’s busiest airlines in 2022


Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines were the two busiest carriers at Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport during the first quarter of the year, with Flydubai and Russia’s Aeroflot handling a notable number of travellers, despite the latter being banned from operating into Slovenia from late February. Based on data provided by Statistical Office, the German national carrier handled 20.566 passengers on its Frankfurt - Ljubljana service during the January - March period. In January, it had just 400 passengers more than Aeroflot, which was the airport’s second busiest carrier at the time. Lufthansa has steadily increased its capacity in Ljubljana and earlier this month restored operations from Munich after almost two years.

During the first three months, Turkish Airlines retained its position as the second busiest airline in Slovenia with 17.344 passengers, followed by Air France with 12.161 travellers. Air Serbia restored flights between Niš and Ljubljana in January to complement its Belgrade service, handling a total of 9.149 passengers on the two routes run by turboprop aircraft. Flydubai, which commenced operations to Ljubljana last September, handled a solid 8.640 travellers on its flights to and from the Slovenian capital. On the other hand, Wizz Air’s presence in Ljubljana during the first quarter was negligible as the carrier suspended services from Charleroi at the start of the year, while its London Luton operations were halted in early February. Both were restored later in March.

Ljubljana Airport passenger performance for select airlines, Q1 2022

Airline

Passengers

Lufthansa

20.566

Turkish Airlines

17.344

Air France

12.161

Air Serbia

9.143

Transavia

8.772

Flydubai

8.640

Aeroflot

8.317

Swiss

6.786

LOT Polish Airlines

5.394

Air Montenegro

2.288

 

In a further sign of air traffic recovery, all carriers operating at Ljubljana Airport saw their passenger numbers increase during the first quarter of 2022 when compared to the same period last year. Ljubljana Airport estimates it will handle 880.000 travellers this year, while pre-Covid traffic levels should be reached in 2026. The airport is currently in talks with airlines already serving Ljubljana over the introduction of new routes. Operator Fraport Slovenija is also considering turning the airport into a hub for charter flights. Charters accounted for over 20% of Ljubljana’s passenger traffic last year, with the share expected to grow in 2022.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    No big surprise

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:11

      LH, TK and AF were the busiest in 2021 too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:56

      Flydubai is a nice surprise.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    Wow Aeroflot was second in January. I assume it was because of the vaccine tourism that was happening back then.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:56

      Yes. It was the same case in Zagreb.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:02

    Flydubai is performing really well. No wonder they are increasing LJU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Would be interesting to compare to the performance on their ZAG route.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      So on average they had LF of 67%?

      Delete
    3. Around that yes. Since these are numbers for first three months I assume lf should be around 75% now, before going daily.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:22

      That's not bad at all for a route that is still within its first year of operations.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:38

      +1

      Delete
    6. Anonymous23:57

      It's fantastic actually

      Delete
  4. Nemjee09:02

    Really fantastic performance by JU in LJU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      With those numbers and loads on an ATR, JU is turning a nice profit on their Ljubljana flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:08

      flew they a few times lately and plane was more or less sold out.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:11

      Do they often send the ATR72-600 there or no?

      Delete
    4. Nemjee09:16

      I think they are conservative in LJU as they might not have enough ATRs to have double daily from BEG.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:22

      Nice to see Air Serbia performing well in LJU.

      Delete
    6. @anonymous 09:11 Yes, around half flights in May were with -600

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:38

      Nice

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:06

      Time to go 21 in LJU. Don't know what they are waiting for, the market is asking for it.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:15

      The smartest decision they made was to operate INI-LJU with the ATR72 instead of the A319 like in 2019.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous23:58

      I wonder what the average LF is on INI-LJU-INI. Anyone know?

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:06

    Interesting numbers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:06

    Lufthansa rules the Slovenian market now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:59

      It always has, through Adria in the past.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:06

    Things are definitely improving

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      At a snail's pace.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:11

      While other's a recovering at full speed...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:40

      Had Adria still been around the airport's situation would have been much better. This virus and crisis showed how important it is to have a national airline

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:42

      And we would have flights to several major European cities that we are missing.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:42

      +1

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:49

      At least LJU would have a chance to fully recover

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:35

      With this new government and Fraport leading the airport, a national airline won't happen..

      Delete
    8. Anonymous00:04

      I don't think Fraport is against national airline at all.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:07

    Hope KLM replaces Transavia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      Or we get KLM and keep Transavia. Like we have Air France and Transavia to Paris now.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:13

      Yes that would be best but I doubt it.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:45

      But we already have KLM in LJU, like once per week, but the callsign is from Transavia

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:53

      They don't need to replace them, they could just add a few flights and operate on days Transavia is not flying to Ljubljana.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:02

      Exactly. There is enough room for both. Like with Paris.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:13

      Maybe in 2023.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:33

      In the past Adria operated 2 daily flights to AMS and there was also Transavia. Both were successful so I don't think this would be an issue.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:12

    TK catching up to Lufthansa. Not a big difference.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      No one will be able to catch up to LH, especially now they started Munich.

      Delete
    2. It's interesting how TK lost almost nothing from Flydubai's arrival.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:26

      well they do have the most flights so it makes sense.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:27

      @ yes it's me again

      I thought about it too. Obviously not as many claimed how they will suffer because of FZ.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:27

    Loads are quite good all things considered

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:41

      BA also resumes flights yesterday.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:44

      *resumed

      Delete
    3. Anonymous00:14

      Nice. Hope they extend their flights into winter.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:28

    Aeroflot did amazingly well and they flew for just 2 months.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:56

      What aircraft did they mostly use to LJU? The SSJ100 or Airbuses?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:16

      Airbuses, a few times also A330.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:13

      No wonder Rossiya started flights too.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous00:16

      Didn't Nordiwind also plan flights?

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:39

    While numbers are headed in the right direction, flights to Iberian peninsula and northern Europe are still missing. Hope this will change too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      Yes and this has been an issue for LJU for a very long time
      Northern Europe and Iberian peninsula.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:39

    I wonder if these airlines carried mostly transfers or point to point passengers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:44

      Depends on the airline.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:09

      LH is full of both.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:43

    I wonder if there will be any impact to AF's numbers in Q2 now that Transavia has started Orly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:44

      It's the same company.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:50

      Regardless. It will show us if they created a new passenger base or took away traffic from AF.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:50

    Hope to see more LCCs at Ljubljana.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Honestly, Wizzair could launch like Bucharest and Madrid/Barcelona. High LF guaranteed.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:51

    Air Montenegro is also doing well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:09

      Yes and during Easter and May Day holidays they had to add extra flights because they were sold out.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:54

    If we knew how many flights each had we could calculate the load factor.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:58

    When will Aegean return??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:07

      I doubt they will. They suspended LJU years ago.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:08

      Does Aegean codeshare with Air Serbia to Ljubljana?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:09

      I don't think so.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:27

      I honestly think Aegean (and several other airlines) are overlooking LJU for no reason. I am certain TAROM would have a full ATR to LJU. Aegean would do well with the right equipment too.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:37

      I think Aegean will come back in 2023 they are expanding fast.Their A319 even A320 could do well in LJU.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:37

      Well it should be the management's job to attract new airlines. Let's hope recent Routes Europe event they attended will bring some results.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:39

      @11.08 No they don't anymore but they used to, until Aegean briefly began flying to Ljubljana. But they never restored their codes after they discontinued Ljubljana. Currently airlines codesharing on Air Serbia's Ljubljana flights are ITA, Finnair and Bulgaria Air.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous11:12

    I expected LOT to have somewhat better numbers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:14

      What equipment do they use?

      Delete
    2. Mostly embraers, twice they used B737 Max 8

      Delete
  20. Anonymous12:19

    So, according to the official Fraport figures, LJU had almost the same number of passengers similar to Varna or Kos Island in Greece but slightly higher than Mykonos. Lima and Antalya had huge traffic in April as well.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous12:27

    How surprising that Lufthansa is dominating at a Fraport owned airport.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:36

      And doing little to attract other carriers.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:54

      I don't think Fraport is actively trying to attract any new airline. They already said they are more than happy with what they got.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous12:39

    I hope we will see more new airlines and routes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous00:14

      Hope dies last.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous12:48

    More like Star Alliance dominance.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous12:49

    Really interesting to see the passenger numbers. I think things will improve at LJU this year. Let's see.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous15:36

    "In a further sign of air traffic recovery, all carriers operating at Ljubljana Airport saw their passenger numbers increase during the first quarter of 2022 when compared to the same period last year."

    What a shocker considering there was barely any traffic in Q1 2021.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous15:37

    " The airport is currently in talks with airlines already serving Ljubljana over the introduction of new routes."

    Which airlines could this be?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:46

      Other than Wizz and Easyjet I don't see who else could it be.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:12

      Yes they are the only two possible candidates.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous00:13

      But it also means Fraport is not talking to any new airline.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous15:55

    The main question is how many Slovenian passenger flew with Ryanair from ZAG.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous00:11

      This would be interesting to see.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous00:13

    How many pax handled by Trade Air on charters?

    ReplyDelete

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