China calls for Slovenia flights


China has proposed for the establishment of nonstop flights to Slovenia, signalling a push to strengthen ties and enhance collaboration in trade, tourism, and cultural exchange. The announcement came during a recent visit by Slovenia’s Minister for the Economy, Tourism and Sport, Matjaž Han, to China along with a high-powered business delegation. Ling Ji, China’s Vice Minister and Deputy China International Trade Representative of Commerce, said the country would work on “establishing an air bridge” between the two countries, noting that introducing flights would significantly enhance convenience, as well as encourage greater movement of people and goods.

There have never been scheduled nonstop flights between the two countries. In 2013, Ljubljana Airport held talks with China Southern Airlines, upon the initiative of the airport’s CEO at the time, while a year later, the airline expressed interest in acquiring a stake in then flag carrier Adria Airways, as well as Ljubljana Airport. The government eventually settled to sell Adria Airways to a German turnaround fund, while the airport operator was sold to Germany’s Fraport. In 2016, the Chinese Embassy in Ljubljana launched an initiative for flights between the two countries to be established, with a proposal for Hainan Airlines to operate its service from Beijing to Prague via the Slovenian capital. Ultimately, the airline launched operations to Belgrade via Prague. In 2017, the Slovenian government advanced discussions with the Civil Aviation Administration of China after a carrier expressed interest in introducing flights between Xi’an and Ljubljana. However, the proposed service never materialised.

Chinese carriers have significantly ramped up their presence in Europe, flooding the continent with capacity and cheap fares as European airlines retreat from China over increased costs fuelled by the ongoing flight ban through Russian airspace. Chinese carriers have launched nonstop flights to smaller European markets, including Luxembourg, while recent permit requests have unveiled plans by Chinese carriers to introduce operations to the likes of Bucharest. Just over 34.000 Chinese tourists visited Slovenia last year with 66.570 overnight stays. Chinese tourists on average spend just two nights in Slovenia. Last month, China waived visa requirements for Slovenian citizens, enabling passport holders to visit the country for up to sixteen days without a visa. China is Slovenia’s most important trading partner in Asia. Almost 5.000 Slovenian importers and 500 Slovenian exporters do business with the country



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Luxembourg, Bucharest, Slovenia...but nothing about Zagreb.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Croatia should do more to attract flights from China.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:14

      If Slovenia gets flights from China the chances for Croatia are very slim especially if we take in consideration already existing flights from Belgrade (Hainan, Air Serbia, China Southern).

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:39

      Agree unfortunately

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:48

      @09:03
      Only prestigious carriers fly to ZAG, remember?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:53

      China Southern is less prestigious than Ryanair?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:38

      CZ is probably the best or second best Chinese carrier alongside Hainan.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:43

      Guys, you didn't understand sarcasm about prestigious. Never mind, it was long time ago, when EK starts ZAG flights.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous13:43

      The Bucharest thing is quite interesting. Three different airlines have applied to start flights there. Whether it actually happens is another thing.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous02:13

      If Ljubljana gets China flights I'm Donald Trump.
      And Zagreb has flights to Seoul for some time already, flights to Asia which Belgrade didn't have at a time when it got China flights. Thats one of the reason

      Delete
    10. Anonymous06:05

      Zagreb does not have flights to Seoul. They have been cancelled. Belgrade got flights to China in 2017 which was before Zagreb got flights to Seoul.

      Delete
    11. Mario07:35

      I would be more happy to see flights from Zagreb to Japan or Singapore than to China.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous00:40

      Zagreb still has Seoul flights, nobody from T'Way has official cancelled it. And before T'Way, it was Korean Air.

      Emirates, Korean Air...prestigous airlines folks are talking about, not sure if you are familiar with these type of airlines. Maybe you just used to one airline...

      Delete
    13. Anonymous00:54

      Neither Emirates or Korean fly to Zagreb. The only two long haul flights, soon to be officially one, to Zagreb are operated seasonally by LCCs.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    Hope it happens. There are a lot of Chinese tourists visiting Slovenia and they could also use Slovenia as an entry point to Croatia.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    Slovenia is a great market for Chinese. Has absolutely every they want to see.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:05

    This would be great if it happened.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:05

    Everyone trying to get China flights except Croatia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:44

      Croatian PM said 2 years ago how it order to get flights to China the government needs to do more to negotiate them. Since then his governments have done nothing about it.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:08

    People will hate on this but one or two flights per week to Beijing would work in my opinion. Also there is a lot of Chinese tourists in Slovenia in the last years as well as from other Asian countries.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:57

      I think if this were to work the flights should be close to wherever Hisense is located (and I have no clue where this is :))

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:39

      It's closer to Maribor I believe but the difference is minimal. And there's more Chinese people in Ljubljana as well

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:16

      Gorenje is in the middle, taking approx. an hour to get to either Ljubljana or Maribor

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:45

      Is there some sort of Chinese investment in Pipistrel too or I mixed something up?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:57

      They have factory there.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous00:58

      Hisense is from Qingdao/Tsingtao (depends on the speling), it’s a really nice city with a ton of german influence between Shanghai and Beijing. Even though it has 7 million people, it only has two weekely flights to London and no other european cities. So i don’t think that connection will be established.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:08

    Bravo Fraport!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      Yeah they are very involved...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:15

      Sad thing is Zmago Skobir was talking to China Southern 10 yrs ago

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:36

      @9:12 are you a conspiracy theorist?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:38

      @9.15 why is that sad?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:44

      Because airport was more active 10 years ago than now.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:40

      Currently leadership just collects their paychecks while finding things to blame as to why airlines are not flying

      Delete
    7. Anonymous13:45

      True

      Delete
    8. Anonymous00:12

      There are more airlines flying to LJU as ever before.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous08:17

      Again this guy 😃

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:23

      And it's the truth. Nice to use ad hominem, when you do not have a counterargument.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous09:37

      Your usual counterargument is making up things.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:25

    I think Slovenia as a country has a lot to offer. It's already doing well in attracting Chinese tourists. It is also close by to many countries so a good entry way to Central/East Europe. We will see.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:43

      You solved your own problem. Slovenia is already attracting Chinese tourist despite there being no direct flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:44

      It could be doing better, that's the point. Why stop at 30k per year when you can have 60k. These flights could also bring in connecting passengers from Korea and Japan

      Delete
    3. Anonymous07:04

      it used to be 100k before covid.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:27

    Interesting that Slovenia also tried to get Hainan to reroute their Prague flight

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:43

      I wonder what BEG did to get these flights instead of LJU.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:22

      Bigger market size for the same airport fees

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:35

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:35

    The boom in traffic between China and Europe will certainly go into Slovenia's favour.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:37

    I don't get the China - Luxembourg flights. Is there demand?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:01

      Cargo

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:03

      China has over 1 billion people. 2 weekly flights to anywhere would likely find demand.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:14

      Exactly. Pretty much any capital city in Europe can work.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous00:15

      Yes, that is why Bucharest, Sofia, Zagreb, Oslo, Riga and the likes all have direct flights to China.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous07:03

      Three airlines have applied to fly between Bucharest and China. Oslo had flights to Beijing until covid and they will restart soon. Listing Sofia and Zagreb as examples of not having flights to China says more about them.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:46

    Ok great. Government should work on bringing Chinese airline but Ljubljana Airport should work on bringing more European airlines and perhaps flights to Middle East.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous07:01

      Ljubljana Airport should work on bringing both international and European airlines. Unfortunately, it has left that job to the government.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:48

    Great news for Slovenia!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:50

    A couple of years ago China Southern Airlines wanted to buy LJU? They were in the running against Fraport and Vinci. Had they won, we probably would have already had flights between Ljubljana and China.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:52

      A lot of things would have happened had Fraport not won.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:54

      Flights to China would definitely make the LJU more competitive.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:55

      I wouldn't say Fraport has done nothing. Passenger growth has been impressive

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:11

      For sure impressive :)

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:23

      Weakest connectivity of any capital airport in Europe btw :)

      Delete
    6. Anonymous00:17

      Calculated by that one Slovenian guy who wants a nice new government job and presented as some sort of science.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous07:00

      It is not calculated by anyone in Slovenia it is calculated by Airport Council International.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous08:16

      LJU has the best air connectivity 😃

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:30

      Anonimno00:17
      Izračunal tisti en Slovenec, ki si želi lepo novo državno službo in predstavljen kot nekakšna znanost.

      Napisal tisti, ki ima alergijo do nacionalnega prevoznika in je prepričan, da bo svobodni trg vse rešil. Rezultati so po 5 letih vidni in bodo še dolgo.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:57

    I will be happy when a Chinese airline actually touches down. Until then, wishful thinking

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:58

    Would be great if it materializes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:59

      In same time Qantas, Emirates, United, Air Canada, SAA and TACA will come to Lubljana. Inauguration flights will be same day with freueqencies 4 times per day

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:12

      Hilarious...

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:58

    First try to secure QR or EY.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:00

      There is already Flydubai

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:24

      QR has a fleet shortage due to their feud with Airbus while Etihad doesn't serve any destination in the region lol

      Delete
    3. Anonymous06:59

      They could have secured QR before it had issues with its fleet.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:00

    If it were charters then I think it could work

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous10:02

    Do it for the spotters please! :D

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous10:03

    Which option do Chinese passengers use the most to reach Ljubljana at the moment?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:05

      I assume Turkish Airlines.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:06

      Budapest and then bus to Ljubljana

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:45

      I wonder how many fly with Air Serbia

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:59

      It's Turkish all the way; Evening flight has 90min connection to Shanghai, Beijing and a few other Chinese destinations, and then China connection is perfect for the morning flight with 120min connection to the morning arrival to Ljubljana

      Delete
    5. Anonymous18:58

      Makes sense. Thanks

      Delete
  22. Anonymous10:04

    Big if true.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous10:04

    Incredible. Maribor might get flights to Saudi Arabia, Ljubljana maybe to China and Iceland. Slovenia is on fire 🔥
    Hopefully some flights will materialize 🤞

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:28

      Nothing will happen.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous06:58

      Let's wait and see

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:12

    Slovenia has a good Tourist Board that could market the country well to Chinese tour operators.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:15

      If Slovenia is serious about getting these flights, then now is the time. As soon as a Chinese airline starts flying to Croatia, the chances of flights to Ljubljana will become much slimmer.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:20

      There are currently no plans for a direct air link between Croatia and China.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:39

      They are Chinese policemen in Croatia during the tourist season. Croatian tourism is promoting in China too.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous06:58

      It needs to do more to secure flights. It is the only major tourists hotspot in Europe without nonstop flights to China. Everyone has them - Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece....

      Delete
    5. Anonymous07:22

      Ahh.... Remember when there was some action on China to ZAD flights some yrs ago... Hainan was it?

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:20

    Ljubljana needs improved connectivity to other European countries first.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:25

      Government is working on it too. They are offering subsidies

      Delete
  26. Anonymous11:59

    They would make hella lot more sense than the Saudi Arabia ones

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous12:18

    Bravo for Slovenia! 😃

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous12:26

    Hisense have bought out Gorenje, so never know

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous13:39

    Number of Chinese visitors is still relatively low but there is potential.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:47

      It's still below pre Covid numbers.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:59

      34k in 2023 vs 100k in 2019

      Delete
    3. Anonymous06:56

      100k is a great number.

      Delete
  30. Anonymous13:40

    At least the government is doing something. Otherwise, Fraport does nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous16:15

    If this materializes, would this be the first scheduled long haul flights from Ljubljana since Yugoslav times?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:58

      I think Adria flew to the Seychelles but not sure if it was just before the Yugoslav breakup or after.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous06:57

      "Through its history, Ljubljana Airport used to be linked to Africa by both JAT Yugoslav Airlines and Adria Airways. After purchasing four used DC-6Bs in 1961, Adria initiated flights to Tunis, Conakry and Leopoldville, today known as Kinshasa. The Slovenian carrier also used to operate services to the Seychelles in the late 1980s, which ran via Athens and Djibouti. In 1990, an Adria A320 flew nonstop from the Seychelles to Athens setting a new record for the longest flight ever made by the aircraft type at that time. "

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/10/ljubljana-sees-africa-leisure-flights.html

      Delete
    3. Anonymous07:04

      Is there anything that hasn't been covered on this site :D Thanks

      Delete
    4. Anonymous07:49

      There were regular summer charters to Cleveland in 95 or 96 and to Tokio a few years ago, but both with 0,5/weekly frequency.. But for regular scheduled lines I think this would be the first after YU times

      Delete
  32. Anonymous08:42

    There's no airline catering unit on LJU airport no more. No catering no long flights 🤔

    ReplyDelete

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