Slovenia has issued a fourth tender call for airlines to introduce new routes to the country in return for subsidies lasting over a period of three years. The previous three public calls garnered mixed results, which the government has labelled as “disappointing”. Luxair. airBaltic, Iberia and Norwegian were the only four carriers to apply over the past three tenders. The national carrier of Luxembourg has since launched operations to the Slovenian capital, with airBaltic to follow suit from Riga this May, Iberia in July and Norwegian during the coming summer. Only airlines registered and based in the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) are eligible for the subsidies. The ECAA is made up of states that are part of the European Union, as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Iceland, Macedonia, Norway, and Montenegro. The Slovenian government is primarily targeting the introduction of flights from Vienna, Copenhagen, Madrid, Prague, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Oslo, Barcelona, and Lisbon, although all unserved destinations within the ECAA are eligible.
The state has allocated 16.8 million euros in subsidies divided over three years, or 5.6 million euros per year for the latest public call. They are designed to cover 50% of the airline’s airport costs in Slovenia. If funds are left over following the completion of the ongoing public call, the state will launch a new one. Interested carriers have until February 12, just before midnight, to submit their applications. Their opening will not be public and will be carried out by the Aid Granting Commission within fifteen days of the tender deadline. Airlines will be notified of the outcome of the selection process no later than thirty days after the opening of the bids.
Commenting on the subsidies, the Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure said, “The purpose of the call is to improve Slovenia's air connectivity, with the aim of promoting the establishment of new nonstop scheduled air routes to and from Slovenia. The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic severely reduced the level of air passenger traffic in Slovenia, together with the negative effects of the pre-pandemic bankruptcy of Adria Airways. The recovery of air traffic in Slovenia has been very slow, and the aim of the call is to increase the mobility of people in Slovenia”.
Outlining Ljubljana Airport’s development and plans for 2024, the General Manager of operator Fraport Slovenija, Babett Stapel, said, "2023 brought a revival for Ljubljana Airport. An excellent 30% annual growth in passenger numbers is a sign that traffic recovery is on the right track. We are making strong efforts to bring the flight network back to pre-epidemic levels. This year will also see new destinations - Riga, Copenhagen, and Madrid - along with increased frequencies on some routes, including 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,
Maybe OS to VIE, DY to ARN or OSL and VY to BCN that's it.
ReplyDeleteYeah sure, now or immediately?
DeleteSummer 2024
DeleteSeems like these tenders will go on forever
ReplyDeleteWould be nice if Norwegian also added Stockholm and Oslo to Ljubljana, especially considering they have bases there and have already been accepted by the last tender
DeleteTrade air should do Ljubljana Dubrovnik, instead Rijeka Dubrovnik
DeleteIn general, we have everything from Adria's time. Missing Vienna and may be some old destinations like Stockholm, Prague or Berlin. And Manchester.
DeleteIt's a fact that destinations like Stockholm, Oslo and Berlin have great demand and they're still unserved
DeleteNorwegian could work to 2 of those, ofc
Če imate vse, kar je imela Adria, je v redu. Pomeni pa tudi, da vam frekvence, vozni red ipd. ne pomenijo nič.
Deleteme the latest new routes reports are not disappointing. We have direct flights to Copenhagen, Riga with many transfers to Scandinavian countries and many more, One good addition - Luxair and Iberia (hope increase the frequencies) and other new ones like GP Aviation, Corendon, flydubai, Wizz Air to Skopje.
ReplyDeleteThose last few you mentioned are not related to these tenders. Gp Aviation flights are useless for most of the general public
DeleteThat's right, they are not subsidized, I didn't write it. What passengers do we have on the flight to PRN?
DeleteYou all howled about no SJJ or TIA, PRN, and now the flights are worthless. You can't please the Slovenian.
DeleteGP Aviation flights are only booked through Kosovar agencies afaik
DeleteHow many times it must be said that it is not correct. Juts use Skyscanner.
Deletean "airline" without a webpage
Delete14:39
DeleteWhat a reliable airline without even a webpage whose tickets are restricted to travel agencies and perhaps Kiwi (didn't actually try buying it so I wonder if it'd let me)
And why would you buy ticket to Pristina?
DeleteGp-aviation.ch
DeleteThey have website but now is in construction. Flights are in partnership with Prishtinaticket.net .
hahaha! Good luck giving your credit card details to such shaky websites like Prishtinaticket.net stil laughing sorry
DeleteSwiss bussines in Kosovo.
Deletethey had 693 pax in Nov, if they had 8 flights (1 weekly) then thats 86 pax per flight
Deletehere we go again
ReplyDeleteCould JU apply for Portorož or Maribor flights?!
ReplyDeleteThat actually could happen since JU said it will add new destinations in the region
DeleteIs Portoroz limited to ATR42 size a/c due to RWY length or something changed?
DeleteATR72 is possible but with limited loads, I believe
DeleteI don't think that AirSerbia will launch Portoroz flights until the runway is extended, which will happen once they sort out some issues...but I believe that Maribor is possible
Delete^I mean extended so there will be no more limits for ATR2
DeleteI think for both. As MBX was in yugoslavian times already a quite popular destination for jat, Portoroz had some flights with Air Serbia... as i can remember...
DeleteNot a bad idea. On top of that, I'm sure JU would be ready to fly direct from there to other European destinations, especially with that stimulus package.
DeleteStill hoping for sone LCC to apply and start some flights from Lju
ReplyDeleteGood luck. I hope they manage to attract someone again
ReplyDeleteIronic that these subsidies didn't attract a single LCCs
ReplyDeleteGot Norwegian for Copenhagen, maybe they'll add Stockholm and Oslo as well
DeleteEasyJet also in consideration for Berlin
So these tenders will keep coming up until they run out of that 16 million? This could literally go on for another three years...
ReplyDeleteYep, until the money runs out. Hopefully, we get something like Berlin, Stockholm, Oslo and Tirana this tender
DeleteW6 could launch TIA-LJU since they have very big base there.
DeleteTheir big base is struggling as reported somewhere else (due to overcapacity)
DeleteAnd P2P between Tirana and Ljubljana was very low before COVID. Mostly transfers.
DeleteAnon 18:11 Where was this reported?
DeleteTo bo trajalo, dokler vlada (in velik del Slovencev) ne bodo dojeli, da tudi civilno letalstvo spada pod infrastrukturo. Večina komentatorjev na tem portalu želi (in sanja) predvsem o LCC, ki pa delujejo predvsem po načelu "danas jesmo, sutra nismo", ki je odvisno od ugodnosti, ki si jih izborijo.
DeleteI still hope for Ita flights to Rome or someone to lunch Berlin. Also, flights to Stockholm, Barcelona, Prague, and Dublin/Manchester would surely be a useful addition.
ReplyDelete^but according to the last three tenders my hopes are not really high
DeleteITA may now be possible from SS24. Their A221s could be perfect for LJU. I think they are supposed to get a few new ones soon which will be based in FCO
Deletesoap opera continues
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia and Wizz should apply for Maribor flights (BEG & SKP)
ReplyDeleteWizzair:
ReplyDeleteMBX-LTN (move the route from LJU)
MBX-SKP
JU:
MBX-BEG
Easyjet:
LJU-BER
SkyAlps:
LJU-PRG
LJU-FCO
LJU-DBV
AeroItalia:
LIN-LJU-BBU-LJU-LIN
Vueling:
LJU-BCN
SAS:
LJU-OSL
LJU-ARN
Peoples/Austrian:
LJU-VIE
KLM:
LJU-AMS
Transavia:
Discontinue AMS and start RTM
No way Wizz will move the route to Maribor from Skopje or from London. Why would they do that? Who is moving a route from good to worse airport? Anyway your whole comment is far away from reallity.
Delete^Exatcly and why would they move to Rotterdam. I mean Rotterdam could work alongside with like KLM flights from Ams. But not having Amsterdam connection would be bad
DeleteWizz clearly has a problem with Ljubljana airport, and paying less in MBX could work for them, especially if they apply for subsidies. And yes if KLM starts AMS, Transavia will fly to Rotterdam, as slots are limited in AMS - just like they did last summer
Deletethose MBX flights to LON and SKP could work paralel with those from LJU
DeleteWizzair is not struggling in LJU nor the flights to Maribor can work paralller. As you can see Skopje-Ljubljana is one of the fewest routes which wont be reduced from SKP in the coming period. Flights are working well and plus they have subsidies.
DeleteIts going from 3x weekly to 2x weekly
Deleteand?
Delete"As you can see Skopje-Ljubljana is one of the fewest routes which wont be reduced from SKP in the coming period." It will be reduced by 1/3rd
DeleteAhh the hater again
DeleteOr someone (Cyprus?) to base a plane or two in LJU and cover all that.
DeleteNote that Skopje flights are subsidised directly by the Macedonian government. It's by the government's terms that they have to fly to LJU not MBX
DeleteHey smart boy. If you had little common sence you would have understood that LJU is one of the fewest routes which wont be reduced as of next week. I am talking for February to mid March period not for the summer. There are no reduced routes from SKP next summer season as the timetable is not finalised yet, the two weekly flights in summer may change back to three weekly, the schedule is finialised in late february. Thanks
DeleteThe should have given up after the third attempt. Perhaps they should allocate the remaining funds to Slovenian public schools. The government has recently decided to cut the funds for high schools by millions.
ReplyDeleteBecause ministry of infrastructure can allocate the money for schooling? Don't speak if you don't know how things are done lol
DeleteMaybe they should pay more but only if an airplane is stationed in one of the airports…
DeleteWhat are top unserved routes out of Ljubljana?
ReplyDeletePick an airport, and it'll be on there...
DeleteWhat a stupid reply. I didn’t ask what route is not served but where is the most demand. U know if u don’t know it’s better to be simply quiet.
DeleteWell you didnt understand his comment. He ment that there are so many unserved busy routes from LJU and he was right. However if all of them were busiest unserved then they would have been launched until now.
Delete12:56
DeleteVienna, Berlin, Prague, Barcelona, Manchester, Rome, Stockholm...
You will find Stockholm, Bucharest, Vienna, Barcelona, Sofia on the list. I think there was a post about top unserved destinations from Lju on this page last year
Delete13:41 - oh I understood totally. But even if there are 100 or 1000 … some of them have more demand than other… so my question was literally what are top 5 among many of them. ;)
DeleteThis just painfully illustrates in what dreadful state Slovenian aviation sector is. There is no strategy how and where it should be connected, all politicians only know about highways. Railways have not been upgraded from times of AH empire, public transport is almost non existant, we only have bunch of private companies playing the role of public transport system and they do that under heavy subsidies. There were many very vocal, predominatley of right political persuasion, who were yelling all the time that “socialist” way of doing business (subsidies) are no longer acceptable. So state killed off almost all public (or state owned) companies and let the market sort it out. It did. They stopped more than 80% of the lines they were serving and/or drastically reduced frequencies. Now we are aprox on 50% of what we had, but almost fully subsidised. So tell me, is this what makes things better, same or worse, compared to what we had before? As you see from the text, main aim of subsidies is reducing ground handling fees, which are astronomical at LJU. So major oart of them will end up in Fraport hands. Is this happy story or what?
ReplyDeleteU must be kidding. Railways are getting upgraded (not fast enough but there are some projects).
DeleteYou mean like second rail to Koper, and then? More than 3/4 of railway traffic passes through Ljubljana, some towards Maribor, there were some upgrades
DeleteOn small portion of whole network. Average speed (not speed railway is capable of beraing) has increased by 8 km/h since 1910! This is hardly any improvement! Are you aware, that Austrian Railways don’t sell tickets from Ljubljana to Vienna for instace, as trains are so unreliable and slow, that purchase for first departure is posslible only on Austrian side! Vehicle carriages run only till last stop in Austria or Pragersko, from where thousands of trycks roam towards West on the highway for the same reason! Railways in Slovenia are a joke!
well i was just responding to your "Railways have not been upgraded from times of AH empire" which is simply not true. just to name a few latest projects:
Delete- 500 million € spent on 72 new trains, (52 delivered, 20 to be delivered)
- 1,2 billion € on new Divača - Koper link (in progress till 1/2 2026)
- 460 mio € on Pragersko - Hodoš (finished)
- 670 mio € on Ljubljana - Divača upgrade (in progress till 2027)
- 100 mio € Maribor - Šentilj upgrade (finished)
- 90 mio € Pragersko station upgrade (finished)
- 110 mio € Jesenice station upgrade (in progress)
- 60 mio € Nova Gorica station upgrade (in progress)
- 200 mio € spent on upgrading telecommunications (ECTS)
- Maribor station upgrade (done)
- 200 mio € on Ljubljana station upgrade (in progress)
- and many more projects ... so in a past 10 years few billions was and will be spend.
So as you can see there are some projects, railways were upgraded (so your statement is sadly not true) but yes i agree, not even close enough. there was nice article in one of the main newspapers stating that we would need to invest 20 mrd €.
it is obvious you work at Ministry of Infrastructure as you laid down a comprehensive list of enhancements in railway system. But, it is political list, as majority of upgrades you've laid down has nothing to do with improving the rails or adding new rails where needed. Let alone installing control and command system which is not from 19th Century. Latest sad incident clearly showed, that nobody in the whole system knows, where exactly are trains on the tracks! New trains - don't help in speeding up the ride, as majority of tracks are not capable of carrying greater speeds, Divača - Koper - and what then? Single link again and 19th Century signaling system. All other improvements don't change main problem - slowness and congestion. In the upgrades many other things were hidden - like new railway stations, new signals etc. 3/4 of the above list is about upgrading railway stations. And it pains to see, that Jesenice, which sees daily traffic of quarter of milion passengers, is going to tost 100 milion to upgrade! Railway "upgrade" project is just wast money laundering operation, where public money is helicoptered to selected companies.
DeleteIn 1946, youth volonteers built 88 kilometers of railway between Brčko and Banoviči. Works started on May 1st and were concluded with opening of the track on November 4th (same year!). Two tunnels and 22 bridges were also built on that track! And then compare this to your list! And you may say to Ms. Bratusek, that she is still pathetic aviation sector gravedigger.
Once again. Im just saying that your statement that nothing is happening is wrong. Clearly. And no im not working there. Not even close. And yes those are solid projects and upgrades. As a daily commuter i am more than happy we have new trains. And now I suggest u start breathing deeply and try to relax ;)
DeleteMaybe they should speak with UK carriers to get a Manchester link back - as a former Adria destination and is an airport with bases for easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair and TUI who may see an opportunity here with incentives
ReplyDelete