The Slovenian Minister for Infrastructure, Alenka Bratušek, has said the establishment of a new flag carrier is unlikely, although not completely ruled out, noting that the existing policy of providing subsidies to improve the country’s connectivity has been successful. “We've explored the possibility of launching a new airline. While the idea hasn't been completely ruled out, it's certainly a far more complex undertaking than managing subsidy tenders. It would have been much easier if Adria hadn’t been driven into bankruptcy by the company that acquired it. A restructuring, similar to what was done with the Italian carrier [Alitalia/ITA Airways], might have been possible. But starting a new airline from scratch is a whole different challenge. It's a tough nut to crack”, Ms Bratušek said.
During the last election campaign, the Minister for Infrastructure pledged to establish a new flag carrier if elected. However, her coalition partners were far less supportive of the idea. The Slovenian Prime Minister publicly opposed the proposal, and the Minister of Finance, a former Adria CEO, also dismissed it. "The situation is significantly better than it was in 2022, when the year ended with just over 970.000 passengers. Last year, Ljubljana Airport handled nearly 1.44 million passengers, a 50% increase. The number of destinations served from Ljubljana has also grown, from 19 to 26. We secured five of those routes through the subsidy program we launched in 2023. When we passed the law to allow subsidies for new routes, we identified ten key connections we hoped to establish. Out of those, we’ve successfully launched six, giving us a 60% success rate".
The Ministry for Infrastructure has indicated it may revise its airline subsidy program following the adoption of Slovenia’s new aviation law, expected later this year. Meanwhile, Ljubljana Airport registered its fifth consecutive month of declining passenger numbers. The airport welcomed 94.532 travellers in March, down 2% on the same period las year. Aircraft movements fell 20.6% to 1.699. During the first quarter, the airport welcomed 248.326 passengers through its doors, down 3.7% on the same period last year, or 9.491 fewer customers. Ljubljana Airport is expected to return to growth this month, with scheduled capacity levels in April projected to grow 16.2%.
Ljubljana's largest airlines by scheduled seat capacity, March 2025
That is excellent news for Slovenian tax payers.
ReplyDeleteThe table in the article is an excellent demonstration of how good it is.
DeleteYes, 1.44 million pax without having to give tens of millions of Euros every year to a loss making national carrier.
DeleteThose wishing to be employed by such a carrier can instead adjust their expectations and apply for work to the rest of Europe's airlines.
This 2025, not 1985.
^Krašnja, is that you?
DeleteDon't forget not giving anything for subsidies as they're paid for by the EU as well
DeleteThey are not paid by the EU. These are funds from Slovenia. The EU only approved its use for this purpose because it is considered state aid.
DeleteSubsidies are a band aid. A flag carrier, even a small one, would give us stability and allow for long-term route planning based on national interest.
DeleteOnly people working or wanting to work for a national carrier have any interest in one.
DeleteThe era of each small country in Europe having a national airline has passed decades ago.
The liberalization of aviation increased greatly the number of people travelling.
Wake up and smell the roses!
^ it is always good to see that some people are proud that their country officially has the worst air connectivity in Europe.
DeleteYes, we are all very sad that we do not have to pay for a loss making national airline or for investments of hundreds of Euros for an airport terminal.
DeleteHow are we gonna live without all that prestige? 🥺
Anonimno09:01
DeleteTo je odlična novica za slovenske davkoplačevalce.
Ob takem razpoloženju velikega dela javnosti in politike (zgleda, da tudi gospodarstva to
stanje ne moti) je vsaka debata o večji letalski povezljivosti povsem odveč in zapravljanje
časa. Dovolj bo vsakih nekaj mesecev proslavljati prihod kakšnega LCC ali čarterja. Odpor do nacionalnega prevoznika je neverjeten, unikum v svetu. Rezultati pri povezljivosti pa temu primerni.
Bravo Fraport!
ReplyDeleteSmart decision by Slovenian government!
DeleteGreat decision. Who needs national airline when Lufthansa Group airlines are defacto national airline of Slovenia?
DeleteSoon Turkish Airlines will be defacto national airline of Slovenia.
DeleteRyanair carries mostly Slovenian Citizens from Zagreb, so in practice is the main carrier.
ReplyDeleteMost financially reasonable flag carrier they can do is probably bus to ZAG.
DeleteSlovenian government doesn't want cheap tourists from Ryanair, they only want expensive ones from German carriers!
Deleteits crazy how best new addition to LJ network is KLM and it was not attracted by subs scheme LOL
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteFlown with them yesterday. Expect either bigger airplanes or additional flights within a few months.
DeleteLast time i saw so much hype around a new line was when adria collapsed and we were without Zurich flights for a month
KLM group sure is expanding a lot in our region. Good competition for LHG.
DeleteWhat is the load factor so far @admin?
Delete95%+ on my flight, about 5 or 6 seats empty and business class being full
DeleteMy flight today was completely full, I think one empty seat. Has to be a profitable route
DeleteKL is already changing from E190 to 195-E2 with 32 more seats on some days.
DeleteShe said that 6/10 destinations that are on the priority list in the tender are covered... Which is a total lie
ReplyDeleteYeah how is LUX a priority route
DeleteExpected
ReplyDeleteWhy are the results at LJU so bad this winter?
ReplyDeleteHow dare you say they are bad.
DeleteAccording to Bratusek it is a success story
DeleteCompletely agree
ReplyDeleteWell I agree it makes no point anymore. It did in the first year, now no
ReplyDeleteJust imagine with the pandemic and the Russian invasion and now with Trump's tariffs for Slovenia to still have a national airline all these years.
ReplyDeleteThe loses over this period that the government would had to cover would be hundreds of millions!
+1000
Deletethe airport is misleading and with a strategic purpose! no high speed rails in next few years, no connection, isolated island. anyway travelling by flixbus to VIE,ZAG,TRS,VCE. Even the tenders are not fully supporting and understanding the airline industry. luba bronhilda.
ReplyDeleteWhy would they make a highspeed rail line for LJU?
DeleteThat would cost hundreds of millions of Euros, if not more.
There is nowhere near enough traffic demand now or in the future to recoup that investment.
^ everything costs. New airline, railway. Best not to invest in anything. Slovenia's infrastructure truly isn't the envy of Europe.
DeleteShe is delusional or paid by Krasnja and his cartel
ReplyDeletepragmatic approach
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThe government keeps saying the subsidy model is working, yet passenger numbers are falling for five months in a row and are way behind 2019 and 2018. Something doesn’t add up.
ReplyDeleteDon't tell that to some of the people here. They will respond that Slovenia is the richest. Does not matter what you say.
DeleteExactly. We’re calling it a success while traffic has been falling for five straight months. Something clearly isn’t working.
DeleteApril’s projected growth is a good sign. If it holds up, maybe the downturn was just temporary and we’re back on the right path.
DeleteSlovenia still lacks direct connections to major European hubs.
ReplyDeletewhich major hubs are still missing?
DeleteIf there is enough demand some airline will rush to fill it. But there isn't.
DeleteBarcelona, Prague, Stockholm, Vienna, Oslo, Rome, Milan to name few
DeleteYou can add Madrid too. But I'm sure @anon at 9.57 will tell you how 4 weeks of Iberia flights per year is an amazing achievement.
DeleteWhy isn't IB fly more than four weeks a year?
Delete- There isn't enough demand for more flights.
- There is enough demand for more flights but IB is a LJU hater.
Choose the answer you find most probable.
The option is number 3
Delete- LJU passengers fly from nearby airports which have excellent connectivity because their airports worked hard to secure it. As a result a European capital has less direct demand than an Italian village.
And we are fine with that!
DeleteOther countries subsidize their airports, national airlines and LCCs and we only have to pay the ticket price and some gas. Win for SL!
You subsidize airlines as well. lol
DeleteBy a whole lot less vs funding a new national carrier!
DeleteAdria was far from perfect, but at least we had a sense of control over our connectivity.
ReplyDeleteWe had to pay millions of Euros in losses every year, that is what we had.
DeleteDo you understand that paying losses to JP IS THE SAME as loosing other “public” incomes? You dont because you are paid by cartel.
Delete@10:47 people do understand that matters.
Delete@10:47 you are stuck in the 80's. We do not create new national income by spending government money. That is just transferring money from left pocket to right.
DeleteIt is same in Tuzla but on other level locals subsidize flights for gastos, Skopje, Zadar getting tourist to spend some money, Mostar, Banja Luka.... Svi bi da hebu, a da drugi plati.
DeleteThe hidden subventions which LH got are as follows:
ReplyDeleteSwiss was established with over 2 bln CHF by Swiss Tax Payers and sold than to LH for lit bit over 300 Mio CHF. Since years LX is the cash cow for LH with yearly profits of 500 to over 700 mio CHF
ITA Airways was established with 1.3 bln tax payers money and LH bought if for over 800 mio CHF
We can already see now, how the monopoly between Switzerland and Italy works. Were the prices on AZ from Switzerland to Italy before still reasonable, AZ charges now for Business Class tickets ex Switzerland to Italy one way if purchased for this weekend over 1200 CHF. If u travel Business, LH group has now the full monopoly on the Switzerland Italy air travel, as no one else offers Business Class from CH to Italy.
It clearly shows how the big ones in Europe are being prioritized and even get subventions through the back door.
+100
DeleteDaily post by sufferer of LDS, Lufthansa Derangement Syndrome.
DeleteThe numbers may have improved since 2022, but we’re still lagging far behind regional competitors.
ReplyDeleteCompetitors? There is no competition. SL is the wealthiest country in the region.
Delete^Give it a rest will you. Trieste has more traffic than Ljubljana.
DeleteSo? Is there a gold metal we are aiming for? What if LJU had more pax than Trieste?
DeleteWhat would we gain? Probably we would have to give millions of Euros to create aircraft traffic for demand than under normal conditions just isn't there.
If you had more people flying from LJU you would have more money staying in Slovenia, the market size would be larger which would also attract more airlines and improve connectivity.
DeleteWhat money would stay in Slovenia exactly? You think there are lots of foreign tourists that want to visit but don't because we do not have flights to Manchester or Barcelona?
DeleteHow does it help us exactly to pay people to come here?
I am glad you are happy. That's what is important to us all.
DeleteWe are happy and with money in our pocket to decide for ourselves what to do with them instead of some government bureaucrat!
Delete@10:46 would be interesting to see your location you are commenting from haha
DeleteLOOOOL, admin respect! For those wondering, the deleted comment said, and I quote "@10:48 well it's not Serbia like where you're from", something like that (and btw I don't mean to spread hate to my Serbian brothers and sisters mwah).
DeleteWhether it’s through subsidies or a national airline, the current offer still feels too limited.
ReplyDeleteWhy not offer long-term incentives for low-cost carriers to base aircraft in Ljubljana? That would do more than launching a risky national airline.
ReplyDelete+1
Delete1. EU regulation does not allow to give incentives for basing an aircraft, only tool governments have is to subsidise 50% of airport taxes. All other state aid mechanisms are ruled out.
Delete2. Because only LCCs can’t address our air connectivity problem. We need a mix of both.
I see that Krašnja is very active today in the comments.
ReplyDeletePoor guy. Overloaded these days.
DeleteOne big success and here we must be fair, are the daily KL flights LJU has now. This is really a big plus for LJU
ReplyDeleteAlso the add 4 weekly TK flights in Summer are a nice add on to LJU
Eurowings to DUS, I am not so sure if they will hve a future. Same as Luxair to LUX and BT to RIX
DUS and RIX will be fine, RIX is actually quite full, they'll even be sending A320 every Sunday this summer. LUX on the other hand is very questionable....
DeleteTrieste airport published that 20% of passengers are Slovenians. So lets be sceptic and say half of them would ly from LJU so that is 131.980 passengers... You can add Venice,Zag,Vienna and you can very well find out, why there is no demand from Lju. When there will be direct flight from Lju to Barcelona, Tenerife, Berlin, Rhodes People will fly from Lju. Otherwise to pay half of min monthly salary for this flights is insane.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteMy guess is that SLO has around 2.5.to 3 mio air passengers per year and that apx only half of them use LJU. Rest KLU GRZ ZAG TRS VCE BGY TSF and some even take flights from MUC and most probl VIE (long hauls)
DeleteFrom the people I know who are air travelling fm SLO. 80% of their tickets are Italy Origin
Slovenians indeed fly out of MUC, BEG, VIE, MXP, or BGY to avoid having to make two stopovers — for ex. if their final destinations is in the U.S. , but they fly to second- or third-tier airports that require a domestic connection anyway. Flying from LJU would usually mean two layovers.
Deletei always look to fly from Ljubljana but will not pay 350 eur more for a 1.5 hour shorter car ride
DeleteIts called the cartel fee we all have to pay thanks to “no demand” in lju.
DeleteI personally think we don't need a national carrier. However, what we do need is an airport that actively cooperates with foreign carriers (both legacy & lcc) in establishing and maintaining routes and frequencies. Unfortunately this is not the case with LJU.
ReplyDeleteI would really be happy for LJ managment that W6 would start flights to leissure destinations from Maribor.
DeleteUnfortunately DRI is as active as Fraport
DeleteIn the same interview she said that Maribor will be only able to accept traffic next year, as the storm last year damaged the terminal building...
DeleteAs if it would make any difference. They would have no traffic with out without damaged roof.
DeleteIf you just look from wider perspective: Lets say 200.000 less turist in Slovenia per year because of the connectivity: If each spends min 200 eur. Thats 40mio only in turist sector.
ReplyDeleteVery basic maths but very often people understand it.
DeleteAnd how much is that in % of GDP, please?
DeleteBy that logic is the best to subside buses to ZAG, VCE, TRS, ....
ReplyDeleteNo need for subsidies whatsoever. Each service should be paid by those who use it.
DeleteMrs. Bratušek will go down in history as gravedigger of Slovenian aviation sector. She opened doors wide open for privatisation of almost all segments. Not many know, that before the sellout of Adria Tehnika, workers offered an employee buyout in order to ensure such specific aviation branch, which among other things demand highly skillfull workforce, to remain in local hands. They were turned down. They did take place in tender for privatisation, only to be outbidded by current owner by few thousand euros. There must have been traitors among those who knew the original bid from the workers. AAT was sold for 2 milion euros. Lintech is now in excelent bargaining position: they can blackmail workforce and state at the same time. They can relocate from Brnik to everywhere they can find skilled workerswith EU licences. I wanted to illustrate the importance of owning industry, even more aviation industry. Adria was not in such bad shape. It could easily make modest profit or in worst case modest loss. Biggest financial woes were caused by stupid business decisions (too early sellout of MD fleet, nad leasing contract fir both A319 and spare engines etc.) and not that much from operations. Last owners sucked all money out.
ReplyDeleteSlovenia will never again have connectivity in sense it had with Adria, there will be next to none new routes, situation today will remain reality for decades or will get worse.
Airport was sold instead leased and now, plots around it also, so it is increasingly becoming more of industrial zone instead airport, noth aprons are full of defunct airplanes or those on long term storage. Military and police are only local aviation employers left.
Under new owners LJU has become a shithole, worse than in late sixties when it was established. Future is grim….
You should get a presidential medal for this text. BRAVO 🙌 Natasa, are you here?
DeleteSounds like some one I know and who has worked for 3 decades at JP
DeleteWhat a one-sided view! Not everything is black and white. Ljubljana Airport will never have the same level of connectivity as it did during the Adria Airways era—because that model was financially unsustainable. If the losses had been even remotely modest, we could discuss it, but JP’s operations were far from "modest." For example, no airline can afford to fly empty planes one-way on routes like LJU-BRU, as JP routinely did. On the other hand, LJU now benefits from a much broader range of carriers—far more than before. This has made prices far more competitive. The airport itself is also much more traveler-friendly today—far from being a "shithole." The staff is welcoming, and security checks are much smoother and more efficient than they used to be. In fact, I find myself traveling more frequently from Ljubljana now than I ever did during the JP era. The bottom line? Not everything is bleak, and the future isn’t nearly as dark as "notLufthansa" portrays it.
DeleteThe view from notLufthansa is a view of someone who feeded off of Adria and has lived very well and is now frustrated that the majority of Slovenians and therefore the government does not want to support his comfy job and lifestyle anymore. notLufthansa conveniently forgets that there is also Solinair when it comes to maintenance at LJU, a company that is just building a new hangar and i2i who is developing nicely and has managed to build a hangar in Tirana where they also do a vast array of maintenance works.
DeleteThis view is a very damaging view, where you think that a national carrier and an airport that has more passengers than the airports in your neighbouring countries are needed to guarantee a country's sovereingty and autonomy. The current system, although it does not bring the connectivity and the comfort to some as it did before, it does in the end enable more people and more ideas to flourish. Even with an incompetent CAA.
I love this “ The airport itself is also much more traveler-friendly today—far from being a "shithole."
DeleteI guess you mean very traveler friendly passenger flows at LJU? Up and down the stairs …
Or you mean the boarding process when passengers are let on the bridge where they left waiting for 20min with no AC?
Very much a pleasant experience.
You can always travel comfortably form your beloved TRS, waiting on a sun, wind or rain from the time when Ryanair haven't even touched the ground form previous rotation.
DeleteOf course i can, however i prefer LJU, but unfortunately the airport is run by enemies of Slovenia.
DeleteI think you're a bigger enemy of Slovenia than the people working at the airport.
DeleteRepeated policies of selling out the Slovenian aviation sector have resulted in the government losing control of it. Nobody should therefore be surprised at the state it is now in. Embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting comparison since it comes out on the same day you are also revealing some interesting Montenegro airlines profit results.
ReplyDeleteSo if Montenegro a country that is 3 times smaller than Macedonia and/or Slovenia can have a profitable airline, why wouldn't the Slovenians or Macedonias also do it with 6 to 9 E190?
Just wondering?
Do we trust their books?
Deletesad
ReplyDeleteMake Maribor airport again.
ReplyDeleteAs a sLOVEenian tax payer I am happy to hear this. We are too small a market to have our own carrier, we always were. Tourist season as limited to two-three months and not something that can support owning an airline today. It would be better if we worked closer with a regional airline in order to improve our connectivity, like JU.
ReplyDeleteLOL !
DeleteCongratulations Fraport in collaboration with Lufthansa. For comparison, 6.5.2025, one-way flight, LJU-FRA at 6.20 = 575 EUR for comparison with Trieste TRS-FRA, at 6.30 = 178 ERU, congratulations and congratulations and this is not the only example! A lot of right-wing voters raged over Adria Airlines and overpriced tickets, (but they forgot about the millions who flew with the Slovenian Railways every month), but this with Lufthansa is TERRIBLE! It has never been so expensive to fly from LJU. Thank you and no thank you! FRAPORT get out of Slovenia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete