The Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure has held talks with its counterparts at the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport, where the two sides discussed ways of improving Ljubljana’s air connectivity, among other matters. The Slovenian representatives expressed interest in strengthening ties with Lufthansa in order for the country to boast better connections and more flights. The German national carrier is the busiest airline serving Slovenia, handling 20.566 passengers on its Ljubljana flights during the first quarter of the year. It is also Slovenia’s busiest transfer airline, accounting for some 30% of all connecting travellers. Together with its equity partners Swiss and Brussels Airlines, the Lufthansa Group has played a dominant role in the Slovenian aviation sector since the bankruptcy of Adria Airways in 2019.
Following the collapse of Adria, the Slovenian government proposed for it to jointly set up the country’s new national carrier with Lufthansa. Talks on the matter were held on several occasions in October 2019, however, the German airline eventually rejected the idea. Last year, its subsidiary, Air Dolomiti held talks with Slovenian officials over the possibility of setting up operations from Ljubljana. However, the Slovenian Ministry for Economic Development and Technology turned down the proposal, which is believed to have been too expensive. “Air Dolomiti is always seeking new partners and is open to assessing new possibilities. We had a meeting to see and assess opportunities for both parties”, the company said.
Despite cancelling hundreds of flights across its network next month due to staffing shortages, Lufthansa will keep its Ljubljana operations intact and will increase capacity on its flights to the Slovenian capital. Its double daily service between Frankfurt and Ljubljana will be upgraded from the CRJ900 aircraft to the Airbus A319 jet starting July 1. The move will result in an additional 94 seats per day each way between the two cities. The route will be maintained by the A319 until the end of the 2022 summer season in late October. Last month, Lufthansa restored operations between Munich and the Slovenian capital following a two-year hiatus.
Disgusting and outrageous.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteThat is going to be soooo good for Slovenia. Whoever enters a deal with LH will surely profit.
DeleteLet's be honest, they idea situation right now would be basing 2 air dolomiti e90s in Ljubljana and that's it, if that works out subsidizing additional aircraft would be the next step... Which makes you wonder, is it cheaper to establish your own carrier on a long run?
ReplyDeleteUnder EU rules, can a government even set up a 100% privately owned national carrier. I mean the start up capital has to come from government coffers.
DeleteThere are ways around everything! A few brown envelopes to an E.U official and everything is possible.
DeleteYou must be kiddin, something like that does not happen in EU! LOL LOL LOL!!!
DeleteExpected
ReplyDeleteAt this point I would be happy with anything as long as we get more routes and passengers in Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteSame. I don't care which airline anymore
DeleteI wonder if Lufthansa will be happy to offer them anything.
ReplyDeleteThey weren't 3 years ago. I don't see what has changed.
DeleteConditions were different back then but LH has had a lot of success in LJU since then.
DeleteExactly because of that. They don't need to set up a local airline when they can have success themselves and shuttle passengers to FRA and MUC.
DeleteLet's wait and see. They were happy to offer up Air Dolomiti but it was rejected by Slovenia.
DeleteWhat a surprise...
ReplyDeleteObviously the new government firstly looking to find a partner rather than setting up its own airline.
ReplyDeleteI hope the new government finds some solution.
DeleteYes, the government has always proved to be very smart when it comes to aviation in Slovenia.
DeleteWell they are trying. Gotta give them that.
DeleteTrying? Lol
DeleteThey have been at the job for just a few weeks
DeleteTalk to turkish airlines. Nr 1 airline in europe
ReplyDeleteThey sadly don't have an optimal plane for that, otherwise turkish would be much better option for sure
DeleteThey don't have an optimal plane yet, but are about to order around 30 A220s.
DeleteStill don't think Slovenia will be their priority. But it is true that many airlines outside EU are more willing and Turkish has been willing to establish or provide help in setting up airlines like in Albania and Bosnia.
DeleteQatar Airways is also someone to seriously consider. They have equity stakes in many airlines. From Cathay Pacific to most recently Rwanda Air. Giving them access to EU could be a good decision.
I remember that when Adria was put up for privatization Pahor was trying to persuade QR to buy them. Pity it didn't happen.
DeleteSure. Turkish is among few airlines, I would rather use a train instead.
DeleteLH is not your friend.
ReplyDeleteLH looks after its own interest, as any company should.
DeletePeople in our region don't understand profit and company's interest.
DeleteWhy can't Slowenija be the Luxembourg of the Balkans? There should be a NATIONAL carrier. Enough of German dependency. LJU airport is already 99% German so why giving Lufthansa more dominance?
ReplyDeleteLOL.
DeleteMaybe because it doesn't have a GDP of Luxembourg?
I am hoping for Lufthansa Slovenia :)
ReplyDeleteWe already had that. It was called Adria Airways.
Deletelol true
DeleteI don't mind to have it once again..
DeleteAnything is better than the current situation.
DeleteIf JP was LH, the execs would be able to get state money, turnover the company and place it back after hard-times.
DeleteShock... not.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what makes politicians think that Lufthansa would magically set up an airline in Slovenia. If it wanted to it could have bought Adria years ago when it was put up for sale. It would have been such a strong buyer that it could have dictated all the terms to the government which would have done anything it was told by them.
ReplyDeleteThey are not talking here about setting up an airline, they are talking about improving connectivity through LH. Maybe that means more flights, or one of their regional subsidiaries basing a plane or something like that.
DeleteI can tell you how these kind of talks look like. 2 people from the minister´s office go for a short trip to Germany (mostly probably state secretary and minister). 24h before they leave they order to get a short "reminder" of topics to discuss at the meeting. They have no clue about commercial aviation. They do not even know some basic terminology. Nothing. People from the aviation department at the ministry of infrastructure prepare a short list of talking points. Be aware that NOONE at the department has ever worked at an airlines, airport or in any kind of commercial aviation activity. Everything they know about the commercial aviation is what they got from POP TV and RTV, if they read and follow news at all. Out of 14/15 working at the department, only 1 follows this website - occasionaly, but she does not read comments, just the article. Of course people know that air connectivity is low and weak, however the fact that they have no general knowledge about the commercial aviation, they have no passsion for it, even tho some of them have been working at the same department for 10 - 15 years, makes them inapt for advising anyone. Aviation department at the inistry of infrastructure has absolutely NO knowledge. Nothing. Zero. There are people there who can deal with day to day (administrative) issues, but noone (!) knows nothing about the commercial aviation as a business. As much as they can cover legislative part (general aviation) of their business (much to be improved, but this part somehow functions) and the administrative area (ministry is the appeal body against the decisions of CAA), they totally fail at the business part. ZERO.
DeleteI have been telling them for 2 years that they can produce another 100 regulations for GA per year if they want, but if air connectivity stays at the current level, they failed. Lets see if the new GOV changes anything, however I am almost sure nothing will be different. We do not know who will be the new state secretary once Bratovšek retakes the function, but i doubt they will bring someone from the industry, on the other side the middle and low positioned public servants are clueless, so at the end noone knows anything. Too many decades the aviation department served as a "parking" for all those who were useless within the public sector - it is even called "penalty department".
It is just sad who runs and decides aviation matters in this country.
Why limit yourself to Germany and Lufthansa? They would have had a better chance of finding a partner outside of the EU with 49%/51% ownership structure.
ReplyDeleteWho would invest (as in expect some return from investment, not sink the money into a black hole) in a micro airline that will likely never make profit?
DeleteOn top of that, even if you get a generous investor, the government would have to match all of their investment on a regular basis, which exposes them to illegal state aid lawsuits.
With JP going bust the Slovenian market has become somewhat irrelevant. While JP was around it had some action, some relevance. Now it has become a third or fourth tier airport that barely has a million passengers. I really hope politicians are coming to this realization and will do everything in their power to change things around.
ReplyDelete+1
Deletemillion passengers? we will be waiting for that at least one year more..
DeleteWill this year they expect around 800,000.
DeleteMy opinion is that this change is not worth to write it as a daily news! Sorry! Slovenia has to invest in the air connections as a part of public service. As regional buses are getting money from ministry for transport, the same should be on a settled modell price, capacity, frequency, importance etc. with a scale how much for supporting of developing flights... everything 500 km away should be well connected by train at least 3 times per day! BR
ReplyDeleteWith Fraport running the airport, it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteHad the government been serious about this it would have started talks with Lufthansa well before Adria went bankrupt, not after.
ReplyDeleteMy question is what on earth is Ljubljana Airport doing. Waiting for airlines to flock to them? Go out and get some customers (airlines).
ReplyDeleteFor starters they could reduce their fees now that they have 60% of their passenger numbers wiped out.
DeleteFraport is chasing away airlines.
DeleteI find it very interesting that Eurowings has done nothing in LJU.
ReplyDeleteLufthansa could simply base 1 Eurowings plane in Ljubljana like they have done in Pristina. Would cover all that LJU needs.
DeleteIt's probably more expensive to do that in Ljubljana then it is in Pristina. Especially since Pristina gives incentives for airlines to base a plane there... unlike Ljubljana which is still sticking to its expensive pricing policy.
DeleteWhich routes does Ljubljana really need?
ReplyDeleteTake your pick
DeleteMore London airports to begin with and bigger UK airports and Ireland. Iberian peninsula for sure and Poland. Poles need to discover the Slovene coast. There are at least 10 Polish cities in that can be connected.
DeleteBerlin, Copenhagen, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Skopje, Oslo and Tel Aviv
DeleteWhy those specifically?
DeletePerhaps Ljubljana Airport could have helped in these talks? It is run by Fraport after all.
ReplyDeleteTrue. And to note LH owns Fraport with 8,44% share - this by all means affects LJU
DeleteShareholder Structure of Fraport AG:
DeleteState of Hesse: 31.31 %
Stadtwerke Frankfurt am Main Holding GmbH: 20.16 %
Deutsche Lufthansa AG: 8.44 %
Lazard Asset Management LLC: 5.02 %
Unkown: 35.07 %
I'm hopeful the government will stay out of setting up a new airline or any other aviation adventures. The track record of Slovenian governments in this sector is atrocious.
ReplyDeleteAdria - sold to 4K and now dead
Maribor Airport - given to Chinese and now dead
Ljubljana Airport - given to Fraport and struggling big time
Adria was already on life support before it was sold, MBX was more or less dead before the sale, and LJU was doing great until Adria went bankrupt.
Delete+1 Anon 09:57
DeleteMBX was more or less dead, but far more alive than now. MBX used to have quite a low of charters, but now is really dead. The other day I already mentioned there are serious thoughts on MBX closure if noone will apply for a concession.
DeleteI totally agree if they place 5 aircrafts at LJU and operate morning/evening rotations to ZRH/BRU/MUC/VIE/CPH. But such operation would cost a lot of money, probably much more than having its own airlines.
ReplyDeleteThe only solution is through LH.
ReplyDeleteSure sure, more od that cartel. Yes please!
Deletethis whole business of starting a new airline, I would laugh if it wasn't very sad to read. Slovenia is a tiny market and it can best served by foreigners
ReplyDeleteSo why was Slovenia better served when Adria was around?
DeleteAfter everything govt wants to work with LH? That's crazy!
ReplyDeleteWe saw in zagreb that Ryanair is much better option, right?
DeleteExactly. And how other airlines would take of the Slovenian market after Adria went bankrupt.
DeleteWould love to see Air Dolomiti launch a few routes from LJU
ReplyDeleteTheir offer was EXTREMELY expensive.
Delete@sloavio do you have any figures about AirDolomiti proposal to government?
DeleteWow, so more of taxpayers money is going to the Germans?! Is Germany on social support or something? I wasn't aware we were so rich to offer financial support to Germany. First we sold them the airport, then we paid them to bankrupt Adria and now they want to give them even more money.
ReplyDeleteWho said anyone is giving Lufthansa money? Calm down.
DeleteAdria was essentially bankrupt even before the sale.
Delete@ 10:24 Typical knee-jerk reaction: being upset without really knowing any details yet!
Delete@ 10:27 & 10:54 Fully agree.
The very big problem is that the decisionmakers dont have a clue about running such infrastructure complex branch neither in LJU, neither in MBX... and just god helps with POW!
ReplyDeleteVery much true. POW is another story. Just check at ERAR.SI how much public money they get every year (around 500k EUR only from Ministry of infrastructure!).
DeleteMinistry of infrastructure bears all the costs they have with running an airport. Private airport with all their costs covered by tax payers. Only in Slovenia. And they want more and more money. On the other side its too expensive to have a national airline, however its not too pricy to spend 2 mio EUR per year on airports which bring you 900 pax (MBX and POW).
That is outrageous. Why on earth do they give POW money when it is privately run and owned??
DeleteWell, that is THE question :)))
DeleteBecause it is working out so well in Croatia?
ReplyDeleteLH presence in Zagreb isn't that big actually. Because they have a feeder to do it for them instead
DeleteSo, dancing troll will give concerned tax payer's money to LH (Air Dolomiti) for a few flights out of LJU and his followers will (continue to) be captivated by his ingenious? Great plan. At least we won't have to listen to stories about nepotism/overpaid workers/crappy service of Adria Airways.
ReplyDeleteAt least something is finally happening again.
ReplyDeleteSlovenia - no airline
ReplyDeleteMacedonia - no airline
Montenegro - two planes
Would it be possible to have a common airline ?
No
DeleteIzet Rastoder was planning to create a joint Slovenia-Montenegro airline in 2019 when Adria went bankrupt.
DeleteCroatia, Slovenia and Montenegro should create one joint airline (similar to SAS and AirBaltic)... but you know it's balkans so no way of doing that
ReplyDeleteAir Baltic is not a joint airline. It is Latvian and it has been always Latvian.
Deletesooner or later LH will establish 4 weekly flights to LJU and hopefully OS will enter the market, than LH group would have 7 daily flights to LJU
ReplyDeleteIf SK and KL enter LJU, the situation wont be that bad at all
You mean 4 daily, not four weekly? :D
DeleteYess Sir and sorry for the typo
DeleteWe already had more than you counted with just one airline we had. The airline had daily CPH, AMS (together with Transavia flights it was almost double daily), CDG (together with AF it was more than double daily) , double daily BRU, VIE and triple daily ZRH, MUC and FRA. A total of like 20 daily flights to big hubs in Europe. But you hoped for this airline to go bankrupt and here we are in this sh*tty situation.
DeleteMaybe it's time to finally launch long-haul flights by Condor. If LJU is going to be the next German airport. Although, the missing airline is definitely Eurowings Discover and a Lidl supermarket in LJU just because there is Billa in others.
ReplyDeleteDanke Deutschland!!! 😃
ReplyDelete