Lufthansa remains Ljubljana’s busiest airline, Turkish second


Lufthansa cemented its position as Slovenia’s busiest airline, handling 147.150 passengers on its Ljubljana flights in 2022. The German carrier held a 15.2% market share at Ljubljana Airport, ahead of second placed Turkish Airlines with a 12.3% passenger share. 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. However, passenger numbers on flights to Germany were still notably down on 2019 when Adria was the sole carrier up until late September, handling 213.985 passengers, within a nine-month period alone. However, it should be noted that the first quarter of 2022 was still significantly impacted by travel restrictions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

Passenger traffic on scheduled flights at Ljubljana Airport, 2022


Turkish Airlines was the second busiest in Ljubljana last year, handling 119.337 travellers. Many carriers operating into the Slovenian capital were not present during the first three quarters of the pre-pandemic 2019. Among those that were, Air France has seen the strongest come-back. In June last year, the airline introduced a second daily flight to the Slovenian capital, exceeding its pre-Covid capacity levels. Jointly with Transavia France, which commenced seasonal summer operations from Orly Airport to Ljubljana in late April, passenger numbers between the two capital cities reached 98.7% of pre-pandemic levels. Air Serbia managed to reach 78.5% of its pre-Covid traffic on the Slovenian market.

Flydubai saw its first full year of operations at Ljubljana Airport with the airline handling 45.263 passengers between Dubai and Slovenia. Of those, 22.443 departed Ljubljana for the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, while 22.820 flew from Dubai. The average cabin load factor across the year stood at 60% with a total of 229 flights operated each way on the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. Air Montenegro also marked its first full year of flying to Ljubljana in 2022, with the carrier welcoming 22.305 passengers on board its Slovenia flights.


Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    wow at the fact that Adria had almost double the passenger to Germany in 9 months than Lufthansa had for the entire year

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      Remember that Adria had transfer passengers from the region on its FRA and MUC flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      I think the biggest difference to the Adria era is on the Amsterdam route. Those Transavia figures are poor.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:08

      True but you have to know that FRA is the only one with morning departure to EU hub. So difference is still huge!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:08

      Well considering how many flights Transavia has cancelled it is not surprising.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:12

      Anonymous09:08 - AirFrance has early morning departure at 6.35

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:20

      Speaking of Transavia and Amsterdam, is there any chance of them being replaced by KLM?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:25

      Anon 09:12 - it has, but only 3 days per week. on all other day LH is one and only option. At time of JP you have morning departures to FRA / MUC / VIE / ZRH / BRU / CDG / (CPH / AMS).

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:51

      They will have double daily in summer.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:15

      ok, that's good addition but still we are missing quite a lot of morning departures. Not to mention that their first inbound flight arrive in the afternoon, so passengers coming to LJU again does not have any other choice but LH. Anyway, we can all agree that schedule is very bad at LJU.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    No surprise.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    Interesting numbers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:04

    Flydubai's performance is not bad at all. Better than LOT!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      It's worth noting that lot is flying e75s

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:16

      LOT is mostly transfers and Dubai is an attractive destination in itself

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:25

      FlyDubai is performing quite well in LJU.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:27

      It's just unfortunate it took so long to bring Flydubai in the first place.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:30

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

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:31

      60% LF on DXB route with a narrow body? It's far from "not bad at all".

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:37

      This LF is probably impacted from the beginning of the year. It was calculated it was around 70% later in the year.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:43

      It's a brand new route. It needs time to develop.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:56

      Sure it does. :) It's not like people don't know about it already. The matter of a fact is, you have cheaper/better connections from VCE.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:58

      Actually the DXB LF is getting worse, from September is around 40% or even less... I hope their plans are long term and they will not give up too early.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous10:06

      Annon 9:58 this is not possible, otherwise the yearly LF wouldn't be 60%. This would mean it had to be 100% during summer. Do the math.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous11:07

      I am booked on a flight LJU-DXB on 31 March. Paid around 470 EUR per ticket return (3 tickets total). Checked yesterday and the tickets on the same dates are selling for over 700 EUR. Figured they are probably doing quite well on the route?

      LJU was the cheapest (direct) option when booking, compared to ZAG, VCE or MUC.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous13:05

      As someone who flys on the route fairly regulary, i can tell you that the LF is anywhere from 50% to 90%, the business class is almost always at 75%

      Delete
    14. Anonymous15:04

      Load factors per quarters: Q1 little over 70%, Q2 40-45%, Q3 around 60%, Q4 60-70%

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:04

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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      Let's hope so.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:11

      Of course it will improve, but is this improvement gonna be on same level as on other airports? I doubt this will happen without national carrier.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:44

      True

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:06

    I would say Air Serbia did relatively well considering the restrictions in Q1. Will they be able to overtake pre-Covid levels this year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:44

      They will overtake 2019 this year.

      Delete
  7. notLufthansa09:07

    Let me illustrate with simple fact: it is not uncommon that there more flights per hour with destinstion PRN, that LJU in whole day….

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:46

      True unfortunately. Remember the days when LJU was in ex-Yu's top 3 busiest airports.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:13

      Yes but it wasn't that LJU was that good, it was just that the others were that bad.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:11

    Air France did really well

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:14

    Considering how much money Lufthansa gets from the taxpayers, they should be number 1.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      It is peanuts all things considered. Like a million euros per year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:27

      One million for 2 flights a day on a small plane is a lot.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:14

      They would have to fly for 50 years to get to just one state injection that Adria got.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:17

      Lufthansa paid off everything that they got for the pandemic from the state

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:16

    Has Lufthansa started using Airbuses on the Ljubljana route?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      They use ther flagship CRJ900. Interesting that people who complained about Adria using CRJ900 don't complain about LH. Double standards and mentality that everything thats foreign is better.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:32

      Made me chuckle. But you are correct

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:49

      Not correct. During summer on both routs LH used A319, during winter FRA is served with CRJ900, MUC with mixed CRJ900, E95 and A319/320.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:58

      Depending on the traffic load/operational reasons, Adria used to fly with A319 to FRA/MUC as well. But yes, if LH charges 300€+ for a ticket to FRA it's alright, when it was Adria, it was the most expensive ticket out there. Go figure.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:15

      It's not alright if they charge that kind of money, but the prices now can't be compared to 10 years ago. Everything is ridiculously expensive and there is less competition.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous21:01

      Adria at least used jetbridges with crj900, lufty won't do it no matter wheather conditions

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:16

    I would like to see Eurowings start flights next from the LH group.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:32

      I find it very interesting that Eurowings has done nothing in LJU.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:18

      they have done nothing in bigger german markets in ExYu then LJU

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:17

    With Fraport in charge at LJU, Lufthansa will be dominating for many many years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      Stop with the conspiracy! LJU is the best managed airport in EX-YU.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:25

      Why aren't LH group airlines dominate all the other airports Fraport operates?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:26

      I would say best managed airport in World! :)

      Delete
    4. Or even Universe 😃

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:24

    The UK market was once number 1 from LJU. What happened?.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:27

      Covid and Brexit.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:31

      Don't forget that Lufthansa's entry on Slovenian market has impacted UK airlines in Slovenia. LH has quite a few transfers to the UK.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:32

    Glad to see Lufthansa doing well in Ljubljana.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:33

      Is this sarcastic or? :D

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:43

      Lol

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21:05

      I don't know what lufty considers "doing well", but it's a really staff's-nerves-unfriendly airline. Would avoid it as a pap either.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:45

    Waiting for the day Wizz or Ryanair become Ljubljana's number 1 airline :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:11

      Don't think it will happen any time soon.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:49

      Let's wait and see. You might be surprised :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21:06

      čiči pa čaki, izgljedaj ljubko

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:47

    Swiss' numbers are a bit disappointing tbh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:11

      I don't think they flew during the first quarter but not 100% sure.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:13

      Too expensive for Slovenians too low number working low paid jobs as Serbs and Albanians. Probably mostly transfers.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:16

      Don't forget that ZRH was one of the best routes for JP (operating 3 times per day).

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:36

      Transfers from Tirana and Pristina.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:03

      Of course, those transfers again, with like 10 direct flight from ZRH to PRN per day. In addition that would mean that average yield would be very low but ZRH had one of the highest yield among other routes within JP. There were transfers as every legacy airlines have them, but not 80% as some of you claim.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:34

      And LX sends widebody airplanes four times a day. Most of flights to CH are now with Croatian companies.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:08

    Which destinations should LJU get once the gov iniciatives come?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:11

      Hopefully Madrid and Stockholm at least.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:11

      Bucharest and Vienna too

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:48

      Is there really demand for Vienna? I kind of think Austrian would have started it if there were.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:49

      Flights to Berlin would be welcome. Easyjet did well on BER-LJU route but were forced to suspend it along with several others.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous18:31

      JP flew there double daily so there is demand

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:20

    Still amazed and stunned about those Dubai flights. It seemed there was huge demand for this route. Number of passengers might even surpass Serbia given the route launch date. Which could possibly mean either frequency increases or EK deploying larger planes to LJU. 50 thousand is a pretty solid figure given the size and traffic in LJU.
    It might be possible that there is demand to Abu Dhabi as well.
    Yet again, still think LJU definitely needs more UK flights and more London airports. The demand is clearly there. It has the typical demand on many other EU airports with various UK connections.
    MAN, BHX, LPL, EDI and ski flights in winter.
    Babett has some more work to do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:36

      Ljubljana surely has a large untaped potential in vacation rutes; Iberia, Africa still missing

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:46

      UK P2P flights and more leisure destinations. I would add Jordan and especially Israel. Israel is a very important market.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:20

      stunned about LF of 60%?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:48

      That is the LF average across the entire year which also included several months of travel restrictions in Slovenia due to Covid.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:29

    I hope we will see more new airlines and routes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:37

      Don't hold your breath. There is a grand total of 1 new route this summer which is catastrophic.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:08

      We will see. Finnair already increased the frequency but the route wasn't even launched yet

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:47

      How did they increase frequency? It is 3 per week, increasing to 4 weekly in high season as originally planned.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:30

    We need a national airline

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous10:37

    Loads are quite good all things considered

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:52

    Air Montenegro did well

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous13:45

    Bring airBaltic, bring Iberia and wake up sleepy Easyjet for trunk routes to Paris, Brussels, London.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:47

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:04

      Is there demand from the Baltics to Ljubljana?

      Delete
  24. Anonymous20:23

    I dont know why Slovenians always complain .
    Ljubljana got always flights other would never hear of .
    For example Madrid with Iberia or Japan Airlines charters .
    Can you imagine them ever flying to Belgrade ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:27

      Comment like this could only come from analyst-neighbour trying to provoke some kind of tension between LJU ans BEG fans. It won't work, we recognze your jealousy.

      Belgrade has flights to five destinations in Spain by two airlines and year-round scheduled services to the US and China by two airlines.

      LJU will keep growing so passengers won't have to cross border and fly from your airport.

      Delete

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