Maribor loses commercial flights due to low demand


Maribor Edvard Rusjan Airport will not see its first commercial flights in three years this summer after services from Italy, which were to be operated by Sky Alps, were cancelled due to low demand. The Italian carrier was to introduce a series of flights from Bolzano, Naples and Pisa to Maribor this past Thursday. They were to run once per week until September 15, with the Dash 8 turboprop aircraft. A total of twelve rotations were planned from each of the three cities, with services primarily aimed at Italian tourists, however, packages were also made available for those wishing to fly from Maribor to Italy. Tickets were being sold online.

Project Manager and the Director of the tourism company BMG, Božidar Dokl, said the flights were cancelled due to a lack of interest from Italian tourists as result of growing Covid concerns in Italy. “Italians now mostly opt to vacation in their home country as concerns over Covid keep growing. BMG had put a lot of time and energy into promoting these flights but flying almost empty planes would be costly. The charter flights, primarily set up for Italians to come to Slovenia, were also offered to Slovenians that wanted to visit the three Italian cities, but this was not a priority for us as the majority of the promotional efforts were aimed at Italians”, Mr Doki said. The Slovenian Tourist Board was also part of the project.

Return tickets for Sky Alps’ Bolzano flights cost 259 euros, the Naples service was priced at 359 euros, while the Pisa flights were advertised at 289 euros. The fare included fifteen kilograms of checked in luggage, as well as a cabin bag weighing up to eight kilograms. Maribor Airport, which has struggled to attract airlines for years, is expected to be put up for concession in the near future, after a previous concession agreement was terminated several years ago over the government’s inability to adopt a new spatial plan, which would enable the airport to expand. The government is adamant the new plan will be approved soon, after which the selection of a concessionaire will begin. Earlier this year, Wizz Air expressed interest in serving the city from Skopje but is reportedly seeking subsidies valued up to one million euros.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:01

    At those sort of prices, I'm really not surprised there was no interest.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      The fares are crazy

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    2. Anonymous09:15

      Exactly. People in Italy have access to all LCCs and can fly to major European capitals for under 10 euros. And they expected someone to pay 300 euros to fly to Maribor on a prop?!?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:33

      How do you expect to have profitable flight with Q400 and prices of 100E?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:01

      I seriously think the airport should close for ever and be converted into a market garden for eco vegetables...after all Graz and Zagreb are nearby unless there are secondary interests?????

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:03

      No good flogging a dead horse..it can't get up

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    The only flights that can work out of Maribor are LCCs by major airlines, with a lot of state support before they become established.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      Agree. It would have been worth more spending those 1 million from the Ljubljana flight subsidies on Wizz Air to start flights to Maribor.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:10

      Didn't they already do that with Ryanair in Maribor and it didn't work out?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:13

      As far as I remember, the state wasn't paying for those flights. Tourist authorities were providing funds. Then Ryanair increased the price and they no longer wanted to pay for it so the flights got cancelled. But they had good loads.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:16

      Sometimes you got to invest money to get long term results.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    News from Slovenian aviation is just depressing.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      Simply the state has no aviation policy. Neither previous governments and it does not look like this one has any either.

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    3. Anonymous10:05

      But with the new government, we are at least dancing.

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  4. Anonymous09:07

    Good luck finding a concessionaire.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      If they do find someone, I really hope the government will do better vetting process than what it did with Adria's German owners and Maribor's Chinese concessionaire.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:34

      +1

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:07

    Maybe they should have focused more on passengers from Slovenia visiting Italy. Could have had more chance of working.

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  6. Anonymous09:09

    :(

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  7. Anonymous09:14

    The airport has been dead for more than a decade, used mostly to park planes. Doesn't seen like anything is going to change.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:35

      Not with the 'visionaries' we have in power.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:14

    They still haven't adopted the spatial plan???? They have been talking about it for 3 years!

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  9. Anonymous09:17

    It would have been ironic if Maribor had gotten flights to Italy before Ljubljana.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:23

      These could have worked well from LJU.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:36

      Some form flights to Italy definitely would

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  10. Anonymous09:18

    I really hoped this would work out but knew it would not get off the ground.

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  11. Anonymous09:24

    The airport deserves so much better

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  12. Anonymous09:28

    Maribor is small local community in German EU near Gratz. No one wants to fly there without big subsidy.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:35

      Never underestimate a city just because it´s not a big one or a capital city.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:02

      How yes no. Look other small city airports in former Yugoslavia. Tuzla and Nis give almost free flights for companies. Unlike Tuzla from Nis they can use Sofia airport. Others live from summer tourist season.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:22

      Flying from Nis = 3 EUR
      Flying from Zagreb for FR = 5 EUR

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:26

      Maribor is much smaller city then Nis, plus Nis, Ohrid, Tuzla and even Kukes in Albania have flights cuz there is so much diaspora living in Western Europe, and in Maribor? Who needs a flight from Maribor except the diaspora that is living in Slovenia from Macedonia? The best decision for Maribor will be to give 1M euros to Wizz Air for Skopje flights, what lcc's want is to "own" the airport and to be the main airline there.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:34

    It would have been better and much more worthwhile for MXB if local authorities just threw some money at Wizz Air to start flights.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:42

      True, I don’t remember when Wizz Air failed somewhere. They could at least start with Skoplje and somewhere in Germany for example

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    2. Anonymous11:32

      "I don’t remember when Wizz Air failed somewhere."

      Zagreb, Osijek for example?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:49

      And Norway, Dortmund, Doncaster, about half of there expansion in the West...

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:43

    Could there be demand for JU to start operating Belgrade-Maribor with ATR at least twice a week?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:28

      Yes, there cozld. It used to be daily with a DC9 once.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:14

    well.... new gamer as the flight destination started the marketing activities when? when were the tickets put on sale? what kind of booking it was used to fill up the planes? through agency on request? siriously in 2022 that that kind of booking would generate bookings? and about pricing! new line and a till now almost not discovered flight destination I would go for return tickets 99 eur or not more then 139,- on return. The flights dont bring profit? Well what are the goals short and longterms? will the airport and hotel industry or the region Styria kooperate and support each flight with some money, acitivity, etc? My opinion is that Maribor airport can be put on rental to the big low cost airliners with conditions that the airport rental is cheap just in case they increase for some amount PAX on arrivalsj. If this is not ok, than try to get some semibudget airlines baltic air, volotea, transavia, air arabia... but with semi budget money investment as a part of their business models. Maribor had already Ryanair and it looked actually not bad since it came a second invoice that was much higher as the airport, goverment and the region of Styria were able to pay...... In fact to be attractive dont forget that Maribor airport should be connected by international and commuter trains with Graz! They need to build aprox 2 km rail to be direct connected with public transport for a huge market.... non of bigger airports is nearear to such low investment that would convert the airport back to life. Graz airport trainstation is already 5 to 10 walking distance for instance... Just a pity ....

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  16. Anonymous10:33

    Why should somebody fly to Maribor? What is the business model? Dont try to ride a dead horse even if in your dreams you see a pegasus... :-) Reality might look different.

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  17. Vlad10:43

    The flights were cancelled due to a lack of interest from Italian tourists as result of growing Covid concerns in Italy. “Italians now mostly opt to vacation in their home country as concerns over Covid keep growing."

    Well that was creative. Zero basis in reality, but creative.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous11:00

    No marketing, no way to purchase tickets through Skyalps website; in fact, you couldn't find these flights anywhere online, except on one slovenian website. I don't understand what did they think, really.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous12:07

    As irrelevant as it may seem, Maribor can try working with the current Plovdiv model. They are quite close to Sofia but managed to secure commercial flights after a longer struggle. The neighbouring municipalities agreed to unite abd contribute to a fond that will try sustaining flights throughout the whole year. A temporary shuttle bus connecting the airport to the city has been organised. And even more flights are expected.
    If there is a serious will from the local municipalities there will sure be an effect m Come on, man. Slovenia cannot be left with no flights at all!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:37

      Sounds like a smart idea

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:07

      Plovdiv at least is somewhat a decent sized city. But Kukës that barely is a town and has TIA and PRN next door secured 4 Wizz routes. Because they actually moved their asses and did what they're supposed to do. This is just total negligence. Slovenia deserves better.

      Delete
  20. As expected. I am not surprised at all. Destinations are just not as attractive as would be Bol, Split or Zadar for example.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:41

      well its not the only problem in destinations... its the fact that you cculdnt book the flight through the website of airline and also not through other sites like swoodoo, checkfelix etc.

      Delete
    2. Well, that's even worse then. A real good marketing indeed. 🤦🏻‍♂️

      Delete
  21. Anonymous14:16

    Svaka cast!

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  22. It seems that the only viable option for Maribor is to have weekly flights to various destinations at reasonable fares. And that is only possible if a low cost airline had a monopoly at the airport

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  23. Anonymous18:23

    Hi time for AirSerbia to step in!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous20:45

    When I read about these flights, I knew right away they would not happen because they do not make any sense at all, not even with double digit prices for round trip!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous10:49

    People should really understand, that MBX is not needed for passenger aviation. Just get it already...

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous02:39

    I've been checking the prices out of curiosity as Maribor is reasonably close to my hometown, in case I want to visit my family, it could be an alternative. Also, to log it as a new airport, with a new airline and I have only flown a Dash-8 once with Austrian. So I've looked it up on their webpage, then I saw the prices I couldn't believe my eyes. Not surprised there is no demand, people will just fly somewhere else nearby, take a limo taxi and it will be still cheaper... Maybe next time someone thinks about this opportunity in a better way.

    ReplyDelete

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