Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport will welcome at least four new carriers in 2024, with more expected later in the year. It comes after Norwegian Air Shuttle scheduled its new flights from Copenhagen to the Slovenian capital, joining airBaltic, Corendon Airlines and Iberia, which will commence services to Ljubljana this summer season. Norwegian will launch two weekly operations from April 29, with further flight details available here. It will mark the first time the two cities have been linked with a scheduled air service since the demise of Adria Airways in September 2019. Back then, flights were maintained six times per week.
The Slovenian Foreign Minister, Tanja Fajon, noted, "We are very excited that Norwegian is now connecting the Nordics with Slovenia through their Copenhagen to Ljubljana route. Slovenia is the green heart of Europe - a fantastic tourist destination and an excellent meeting place”. Similar to airBaltic’s upcoming service from Riga, and Iberia’s new flights from Madrid, Norwegian will receive subsidies to maintain its flights to Ljubljana after the carrier applied for the government’s scheme aimed at improving the country’s air connectivity. Meanwhile, Slovenia recently issued a fourth tender call for airlines to introduce new routes to the country over a period of three years. Interested carriers have until February 12, just before midnight, to submit their applications.
Apart from the subsidised routes, Corendon Airlines will commence seasonal flights from both Heraklion and Antalya to Ljubljana this summer. Commenting on what is expected to be a busy summer for Jože Pučnik Airport, the General Manager of operator Fraport Slovenija, Babett Stapel, said, “This year will see new destinations along with increased frequencies on some routes, including to major European hubs. This will significantly improve Slovenia's air connectivity with the world. We are pleased that the 60th anniversary of the airport is marked by vibrant tourism, strong traffic growth, and an increasingly diverse flight offer. The positive results support our commitment and vision for Ljubljana Airport to become the airport of choice for the region once again".
Capacity changes will inevitably continue throughout the first quarter as airlines adjust operating equipment and frequencies, however, these will have little to no bearing on the overall level of change on last year, barring any extraordinary circumstances.
Excellent to see another new airline in LJU. This subsidy program is giving some results. Quite a few new airlines have launched flights.
ReplyDeleteand nobody says thank you minister or thank you gov. Not even Fraport. Of course not. New routes go against their narrative to canalise everyone via LHG hubs. THANK YOU ALENKA 🙏🏾
Delete100€ return. Nice!
ReplyDeleteLet us just hope it will last.
ReplyDeleteAnd hopefully they increase the frequency from just two, at least during summer months
DeleteWhich new airlines could apply for the new tender? Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteMaybe ITA, Austrian, easyJet to Berlin or Manchester, WizzAir to Tirana, Vueling for SS to Barcelona,...
DeleteAny of those would be great.
DeleteITA is a possibility. Especially if Lufthansa is successful in taking them over.
DeleteIs there demand for nonstop FCO-LJU flights? How long would such a flight be?
DeleteShould be less than 2 hours if they'd use an A220
DeleteThere is demand for 4x daily flights from FCO to TRS, myself and I know others living in Slovenia take them. I don't know the numbers of course but surely LJU could make it work several times weekly.
DeleteI think it would take simillar time as LJU-BEG
DeleteThanks. Don't know how I concluded it was much closer.
DeleteI would love to see Austrian in Ljubljana but don't know if they will bother because of Klagenfurt.
Deletethey will be soon forced to stop klagenfurt.
DeleteA flight from Rome to Ljubljana is under one hour fying time
DeleteYes that sounds more realistic
DeleteI'm assuming around 1.5 million passengers this year at LJU.
ReplyDeleteI bet 1.6
DeleteThat's good considering the loss of transfer passengers.
DeleteFinally good news from Ljubljana
ReplyDeleteSo 5 years ago we had 6 weekly to CPH and now we have 2 weekly and celebrating.
ReplyDeleteYes, because now you will pay less than 100€ for return ticket. How much did you pay with Adria?
DeleteWell 5 years ago even with 6 weekly it was too expensive to fly.
Delete250+€
DeleteHopefully they increase the frequencies eventually, it'll be far easier to fill up cabins with such affordable prices
DeleteCheapest RT ticket was less then 200 eur on JP, when promotion was in place real close to 100 eur. You think that Norwegian will sell all seats for 100 eur ?!?! But of course, every flight is nice addition to this poor schedule at LJU airport
DeleteTwo weekly flights with 180 seats are like four flights with Adria, so its okay.
DeleteDidn't Adria fly Airbuses to CPH?
DeleteDvakrat tedensko je bolje kot štirikrat! Zanimivo razmišljanje, tudi urnik sredi dneva je verjetno boljši kot Adrijin jutranji. Povsem v skladu z logiko večine teh komentarjev. Če bi bila cena 50 Eurov bi bil verjetno fajn tudi en let tedensko.
DeleteFinally, I was getting worried they wouldn't start flights after all. Hope their flights work out and they eventually add Oslo or Stockholm too.
ReplyDeleteNice. But how will the new Ryanair Trieste base impact LJU? Will it make a difference?
ReplyDeleteU know which routes they will add?
DeleteRonki already has a huge impact, doubt it can make a bigger difference
DeleteI think it will only cement the fact that Ryanair will never fly to Ljubljana.
Delete@9:11 They added Berlin, Paris, Krakow, Seville and Brindisi
Delete@9.13 highly likely. This is a replacement for LJU.
Delete@9.27 they even fly routes that Ljubljana listed in the tender: Barcelona, Berlin, Charleroi etc.
DeleteParis was part of a tender??
DeleteNo, but Barcelona, Berlin and Charleroi all were
DeleteThe fact that trieste will have a Ryanair base only shows that Ljubljana could have it too.
DeleteWell, Norwegian will I guess only be mainly used for P2P traffic. As it's morning flight to LJU from CPH doesn't really make sense for connections on the trip to Slovenia or a return to Slovenia.
ReplyDeleteGreat for going out of LJU and getting to it's vast destination network from CPH, but impossible to return, unless you're willing to spend the night at CPH on benches or nearby hotel.
I hoped for better schedule.
It’s weekend getaway schedule
DeleteWell if you ask the airport and the government it's "for connecting the Nordics" not a weekend citytrip destination. But it doesn't "connect" if you're trying to come to Slovenia, only if you're leaving Slovenia for the Nordics. Failed schedule.
Delete+1. If you can't connect back to Slovenia or to Slovenia, then you won't book the airline. This is a pure P2P line. Disappointing.
Deleteit's the same as Finnair, you also can not connect on return to Slovenia from Nordics, only from their intercontinental which arrive that early. For return from Nordics it's useless. thankfully AirBaltic has better hours, but it doesn't have as many flights to different Nordic airports, especially if you want to go futher than Oslo or Stockholm.
DeleteThe schedule changes to Saturday and Tuesday flights over the summer, on MAX 8. The Saturday flights are scheduled in the afternoon, allowing for connections in CPH on the way back.
DeleteSchedule is perfect for weekend break.
ReplyDeleteTanja Fajon commenting a new Norwegian route?
ReplyDeleteI found it odd too haha. She didn't comment on any of the others
DeleteIt is probably because her embassy actually made it happen with the airlines to open the routes....
DeleteHer embassy?
Delete4 new airline is really good. And there will probably be more.
ReplyDeleteLJU is getting a decent and diverse portfolio of airlines.
ReplyDelete+1
DeletePortfelj je res zanimiv za potnike z nahrbtniki, koliko pa za poslovneže, obiskovalce kongresov pa ...?
DeleteVerry happy Ljubljana is finally waking up.
ReplyDeleteSo on 28th Air Baltic starts LJU and on 29th Norwegian starts LJU :D
ReplyDeleteFinally some action :)
DeleteFinally an LCC.
ReplyDeleteSamo da je LCC pa je vse rešeno.
DeleteWill the Norwegian flights be year round?
ReplyDeleteThey still haven't published their schedule for winter but it was said it it is year round.
DeleteThey won the tender from 29.4 until 31.3 2026
DeleteThey have published schedule for winter 24/25
DeleteDon't be so excited when these new routs are announced. Be excited if the airliners keep them when the subsidies will run out...
ReplyDeleteI think they are obligated to operate them for 3 years.
DeleteSo we are fine.
Delete+1
DeleteNot true. They submitted the application only for the summer season with a business plan and they are not obliged to operate beyond that.
DeleteEveryone would be celebrating the results if the 4 routes would be a result of one tender. Now when we had 3 of them and 3 new routes with iberia just being iberia it's not really any good IMO. Only LUX flights wouldn't happen without the tender
ReplyDeleteAir baltic would have happened without the tender?
DeleteYes, they said it multiple times that ljubljana is an interesting choice
DeleteThey would have launched it eather way
DeleteThe newest tender will probably mean the airlines that apply would start flights in winter 24/25. Or is there still a chance for summer?
ReplyDeleteI think there is still a possibility some airline could start flights later in the summer. September perhaps.
DeleteFingers crossed.
DeleteThe subsidies should not be limited only to EU/ECAA airlines. If they were available to everyone I am sure Qatar would start flights.
ReplyDeleteIt is only available for European airlines because it was the only way the EU would have approved for money to be given for airline subsidies.
DeleteOh I see :/ I still hope QR comes eventually.
DeleteIf Flydubai can work, I'm sjre Qatar can too.
DeleteIm still waiting for 23 results ljubljana - dubai. Will be interesting to compare with zagreb results
Delete@13.39 but is there enough room for both?
DeleteProbably not
DeleteWell done! Finnally i can say that LJU is doing better now, five new routes this year plus Skopje and Luxembourg last year, deffinetely better then it was one or two years ago. I hope Antalya flights work as SunExpress tried this route. Even though Madrid flights will be maintained for five weeks, still better then nothing. Congrats
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWith Copenhagen they have pretty much covered almost all routes operated by Adria.
ReplyDeleteVienna, Manchester, Tirana, Sarajevo, Prague
DeleteSofia
DeleteI think we can forget about Sarajevo. There is no one that can launch those flights.
DeleteSkyalps
DeleteBravo Fraport!
ReplyDeleteLol sure.
DeleteDoes Norwegian still offer transfer flights like that used to before covid?
ReplyDeleteYes they do
DeleteExcellent. Thanks
DeleteFares are really good for this new Norwegian flights
ReplyDeleteBravo, dear Ljubljana! Greetings from neighbouring Zagreb! 😃
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteTrst can do better than that.
ReplyDeleteHuh?
DeleteConnectivity means all year round ability to fly to certain parts of the World. Some weekly flights from April till October do not count. That’s “let’s party till money dries out” connectivity
ReplyDeleteSlovenian aviation has got start of the year!Nice✈️
ReplyDeleteSlovensko letalstvo se je končalo z uničenjem Adrije.
DeleteSlovensko letalstvo se je končalo z uničenjem Adrije.
ReplyDelete