Swiss and Turkish see big gains in Ljubljana at start of year

Swiss, Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa were among the fastest growing carriers operating out of Ljubljana Airport during the first month of the year, data provided by the Slovenian Statistical Office shows. Swiss saw the largest percentile growth in January of over 30% on 2023, adding just over 1.000 travellers on the Zurich route year-on-year. On the other hand, Turkish Airlines cemented its position as Slovenia’s busiest carrier, maintaining the title it overtook from Lufthansa last year. The airline added an extra 2.965 travellers. The German flag carrier also performed strongly in Ljubljana in January, with passenger numbers on its Frankfurt and Munich flights growing by a combined 24.1%.

Ljubljana Airport passenger performance, January 2024

Figures on flights between Ljubljana and London, maintained by three different carriers, also improved. The strong growth was primarily fuelled by British Airways which has been maintaining services to the Slovenian capital over the winter months for the first time. In January, the airline had more flights to Ljubljana than either easyJet or Wizz Air, with the latter since discontinuing its service from London Luton. However, Wizz Air performed strongly on its flights from Skopje, which were launched in late September of last year. In January, it handled 4.753 passengers on the route for an average monthly load factor of 88.3%, with six rotations operated by the Airbus A320 and seven by the A321 jet.

Several airlines failed to reach their figures from January of last year. Air France’s passenger numbers on the Paris - Ljubljana service declined 25.5%, with the airline operating 33.3% fewer flights and reducing capacity by 21.6% on last year. Air France held talks with the Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure in late 2023 over possible incentive schemes in order to add more flights between Paris and Ljubljana this year. However, the French carrier has since downsized its scheduled operations to the Slovenian capital this upcoming summer. Both Brussels Airlines and LOT Polish Airlines saw weaker figures on their respective Ljubljana services. While LOT had one fewer flight on January 2023 it had slightly more capacity than last year, while Brussels Airlines had one additional flight during the month.