No airline has applied for the Slovenian government’s seventh tender call aimed at encouraging carriers to launch new flights to the country in return for subsidies. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, the Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure confirmed that no carrier submitted its application by the set deadline on February 24. The Ministry for Infrastructure previously allocated a total of 16.8 million euros in funds for airlines between 2023, when the first public call was made, and 2026, when the last call is expected, although it can be extended if funds are left over. So far, just over one million euros have been used up. The funds equate to covering 50% of the carrier’s fees on the new route.
The previous public calls garnered mixed results. Luxair, airBaltic, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Iberia, Eurowings and Cyprus Airways have applied over the six previous tenders, although the latter did not submit complete documentation. Luxair (Luxembourg) has been granted 257.960 euros for operations between September 14, 2023, and May 31, 2025. airBaltic (Riga) will receive 284.408 euros for operations between May 2, 2024, and October 31, 2025. Norwegian Air Shuttle (Copenhagen) has been granted 557.518 euros between April 29, 2024, and October 31, 2025, while Iberia (Madrid) was the recipient of 18.774 euros between July 29, 2024, and September 5, 2024. The value of Eurowings’ subsidies has not been made public. So far, all the newly launched routes have been seasonal, with exception to airBaltic, which maintains year-round services, and Luxair, which operated throughout the 2023/24 winter and the 2024 summer, but has only a handful of flights this winter season.
The Ministry for Infrastructure had previously said it was in talks with a number of carriers in order to find a solution for the country’s perceived lack of air connectivity. “The Ministry for Infrastructure is continuing to rigorously seek out solutions that will improve Slovenia’s air connectivity long-term, including talks with airlines that present their proposals for improving connectivity. The fact is that basing a few aircraft at one of our international airports would increase connectivity and also improve flight frequencies on individual air routes. The Government of the Republic of Slovenia will decide whether the establishment of a national carrier is the most appropriate solution for improving connectivity, after all options to increase connectivity are presented”, the Ministry said last year.
Comments
Fraport in Ljubljana is dealing with Ryanair opening two new bases (Zagreb and Trieste) in the immediate surroundings. Slovenia is one of Europe's smallest countries with a tiny capital city when you look at population size. The population density in Slovenia is low. Ljubljana has excellent road links to central Europe for business travellers and the Adriatic coast for leisure travellers. There is no large diaspora for VFR air traffic. There are no borders anywhere around Ljubljana due to Schengen so you can easily drive in all directions. There are trains to Croatia, Italy and Austria every day. And then there was the collapse of the national airline Adria Airways and the loss of all transfer traffic.
These are extremely challenging circumstances in an already limited market. What more is Fraport supposed to do?
The airline I worked for wanted to apply, but wanted to negotiate with Fraport. You don't wanna imagine how that went
Also for the sake of anyone on here, next time they put the tender out, email every airline in Europe about it, you might think it doesn't help, but Fraport or ministry do it... So at least someone can
You know the sad part?
The airline I worked for wanted to apply, but wanted to negotiate with Fraport. You don't wanna imagine how that went
Also for the sake of anyone on here, next time they put the tender out, email every airline in Europe about it, you might think it doesn't help, but Fraport or ministry do it... So at least someone can
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/02/ljubljana-set-for-strong-growth-as.html
Slovenia is not wealthy country. Slovenia is post-socialist Eastern European country with deep deep deep Balkans mentality, just a little bit wealthier than most of post-socialist countries and waaay poorer than really wealthy countries of northern and western Europe.
Please compare LJU numbers and connectivity with those of for example Riga or Vilnius, similar in size and wealth, and tell me are you ashamed at least a little bit for what you wrote.
Why do you not want to name it then?
Also, how about parking and the car amortization. Why did you convenietly leave those details out? This is the classic obsession that a car doesn't cost anything, yet most families in Slovenia spend a quarter of their disposable income on a car.
Te raziskave o možnostih večje povezlljivosti trajajo že pet let in bodo trajale še dolgo, dokler politika ne bo dojela, da letalski promet spada pod infrastrukturo.
Anonimno09:07
In zapravite le toliko milijonov, da bi osrečili nekaj izvršnih direktorjev na foteljih. Ponudba LJU je glede na število prebivalcev precej pestra.
Poleg politike tudi večina Slovencev (vsaj tistih najbolj glasnih) vidi v nacionalnem prevozniku samo "osrečevanje direktorjev in elite". Zato je za njih ponudba (čarterjev) popolnoma zadovoljiva. Zato je do nadaljnjega tudi vsaka debata o večji povezljivosti odveč in le nepotrebno zapravljanje časa.
Ker je Bratuškova kot prometna ministrica nesposobna. Vodila je prodajo Adrie, stečaj Adrie in zdaj
Bratuškova je bila le izvajalec in danes izgovor. Pri uničenju Adrie je sodelovala skoraj vsa slovenska politika, velik del slovenske javnosti, večina slovenskih medijev. Vsa ta množica je več kot desetletje pripravljala averzijo do Adrie, kar je na koncu pripeljalo skoraj do splošnega navdušenja ob koncu Adrie. Potrebno je samo pogledati pisanje medijev iz tistega časa.
Riga & Vilnius are a lot larger and further from much of the EU… and they have a carrier offering connecting traffic…
I’m pretty impressed with the number of routes they have - great if they can get even more…