Two airlines have submitted applications for the launch of subsidised flights to Slovenia, the country’s Ministry for Infrastructure told EX-YU Aviation News. “Currently we are checking whether they fully meet the tender conditions”, it noted. It did not specify which two carriers have applied as part of the recently completed eighth tender aimed at improving the country’s connectivity. Although the subsidy scheme is open to flights to all three of Slovenia’s commercial airports, both applications are believed to target services to Ljubljana, continuing the trend seen with all previous submissions under the program. So far, only 494.376 euros of the allocated 16.8-million-euro subsidy scheme fund has been spent, with Luxair, airBaltic, and Norwegian being the only beneficiaries so far.
Ljubljana Airport has recently said it is targeting new services to Barcelona, Berlin, Prague, Stockholm and Vienna. 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, Kosovo, and Montenegro. For its part, the Slovenian government is primarily targeting the introduction of flights to Vienna, Copenhagen, Madrid, Prague, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Oslo, Barcelona, and Lisbon, although all destinations within the ECAA are eligible.
The Slovenian government is considering revising its airline subsidy program. The Ministry for Infrastructure has indicated that policy changes could follow the adoption of Slovenia’s new aviation law, expected later this year. "The Act on Aid for Ensuring Greater Air Connectivity, on the basis of which the current public tender is being implemented, will apply until October 5, 2025, i.e., until the new Aviation Act (ZLet-1) comes into force. After this date, it will be possible to notify the European Commission of a new financial aid scheme with a duration of up to three years and conduct a new public tender on the basis of ZLet-1, so the Ministry of Infrastructure is considering a possible continuation of the measure”, it said, The Ministry added, “In addition to conducting the public tender, we are also studying options that will improve Slovenia's air connectivity in the long term, as we are aware of the short-term effects of a time-limited public tender. We are open to various forms of cooperation with airlines that would help increase air connectivity in Slovenia in the long term and we are interested in discussing possibilities for cooperation”.
Finally some good news
ReplyDeleteJU for Kraljevo and OU for Dubrovnik :D
DeleteDefinitely not Croatia Airlines
DeleteWould Kraljevo-Ljubljana have any potential. Considering flights to the much bigger Niš are only twice per week on a small turboprop
Deleteadditional weekly departure LJU-INI would be good fri-sun for fly often for diaspora home... without taking holiday
DeleteThere is more than sufficient capacity with current schedule.
DeleteWonder which two it could be.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the ministry does not reject them.
ReplyDeleteWould not be surprised if they do.
DeleteOnly airline they've rejected is Cyprus Airways and they filed incomplete information. The issue lies with the tender rules, not the Ministry playing beer pong to decide whether to reject an airline
DeleteMy guess is Austrian from Vienna and Vueling from Barcelona.
ReplyDeleteThis would be great
DeleteDon't think it will be either of those but let's see.
DeleteAny guesses on who these two airlines might be?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Wizz. There was an article here recently that they held talks with the government and were asking about the subsidy scheme.
DeleteThat and we've also seen Fraport in talks with Ryanair on here and mentions of them being in talks over Barcelona and Stockholm at the aviation event awhile ago
DeleteDon't count on it being Ryanair.
DeleteBravo Fraport!
ReplyDeleteFraport keeps winning!
DeleteThat would be a win for Fraport if these flights materialize.
DeleteSo sad, considering Fraport has 0 to do with this. Bravo the people of Slovenia, who are footing the bill for this. Not saying I don't support this aid, let's just give credit to whom the credit is due!
DeleteSo realistically, these two routes will launch next winter?
ReplyDeleteYes, of the ministry approves it.
Delete*if
DeleteProbably next Spring, unless they're routes with winter potential like Malaga
DeleteI'm sure at least one will come this winter.
DeleteAt least something
ReplyDeleteI would say that Eurowings is defenitley one for those Berlin flights but the second one could be anyone. Maybe even Wizz as it was previously reported that they were in talks with the government about subsidies.
ReplyDeleteWhich Wizz route is most likely?
DeleteProbably the return of Luton and Charleroi. But it would be nice to see the likes of Tirana, Bucharest, Rome maybe even Belgrade.
DeleteIts berlin with eurowings and wizz with tirana
DeleteIf true, I think they could make LJU work to TIA like with Skopje.
DeleteIt's possible Wizz is launching more than 1 route, after all. It says two carriers, not two routes. Charleroi, Bucharest, Tirana, etc. are all open for the tender (Luton afaik isn't cause it's operated by Wizz UK)
DeleteOfc LTN is possible.
DeleteHow is it possible when the UK is not part of the ECAA?
DeleteSo if it isn't? You think they only use Wizz Air UK for flights from UK? Check again.
DeleteYou don't understand. The government will only subsidize flights to destinations within the ECAA. So if Wizz Air applied with Luton route, it will be disqualified, no matter with which AOC it applied with.
Delete@10:15 it's EU subsidising EU-based airlines to ECAA-based airports.
DeleteECAA-based airlines*, my bad
DeleteEurowings has already been granted subsidies for Berlin, they just need to launch the flights
DeleteHave a feeling one of them is SAS.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see that airlines are still showing interest in flying to Slovenia
ReplyDeleteLike on life support.
DeleteThis whole tender needs to be seriously rethought.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey plan to do that.
DeleteFingers crossed for routes to Barcelona and Lisbon!
ReplyDeleteOne of those is possible. Both highly unlikely.
DeleteLisbon is very unlikely. The airport is at its capacity limit, so it's unlikely an LCC would use expensive slots on a lower yield route. Barcelona, though, is entirely possible
DeleteStill almost nothing to show for it after eight tenders.
ReplyDeleteMost airlines probably don’t find the incentives worth the hassle.
DeleteEven if someone wanted to fly to Maribor, the airport is still closed! Nuts.
ReplyDeleteWhen do they plan to reopen it?
DeleteNot for another few months at least.
DeleteI can't believe it is taking them over a year to fix the roof.
DeleteWhen will we find out about which two airlines are in question?
ReplyDeleteImagine if it is Ryanair :D
ReplyDeleteWell LJU said it was disappointed Ryanair didn't apply for these subsidies.
DeleteIt is funny that the most useful of all the routes launched in the last 3 years is KLM from/to Amsterdam which didn't even apply for these subsidies.
ReplyDeleteAnd they are performing crazy good
DeleteI'm really hoping they expand operations next year!
Deletethey are already selling tickets till end of April 2026.
DeleteI wonder when will Slovenian authorities understand that such interventions to the free market would chase true commercial companies away?
ReplyDeleteWhen will you understand you have no idea what you are talking about?
DeleteWell after several failed tender rounds it is good that at least someone applied. I'm hoping for more than one route from at least one of the two.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI remember some 15 yrs ago Jat Airways has been granted rights for BEG-POW and POW-FCO on its AT7 on Fridays and Sundays, subsidized flights by Portoroz TO, aiming for Italian high-class tourists visting casinos in Portoroz. Would be great to employ its AT7 fleet on such a exotic routes... What do you think?
ReplyDeleteProblem is that, due to how short the runway at POW is, the ATR would face load restrictions. Normally that was fine, but we're in a phase where planes and pilots are in a shortage and low-cost high-yield leisure routes dominate the market.
DeleteInteresting. I actually think JU cancelled those flights before they even launched. I also remember it had to do with gambling tourism. I believe Italians were supposed to go to the casino. It turned into a real mess because Slovenian agents then sued Jat for not honoring the agreement.
DeleteThey'd introduce Sarajevo if they were sane
ReplyDeleteCould work well with Wizz but since Wizz does not have a base in either SJJ or LJU it's highly unlikely.
Delete12:49 Exactly! It would have to be done like e.g SKP-SJJ-LJU-SJJ-SKP or BUD-SJJ-LJU-SJJ-BUD, if Wizz Air were to launch it. Wizz Air does W flights already though, so it shouldn't be impossible.
DeleteMost likely scenario would be TIA-LJU-X-LJU-TIA, they wouldn't be adjusting the SKP schedule, as it was just adjusted a week ago
DeleteI think we could see something like this, as SKP is offered 4x weekly:
Delete2x weekly: SKP-LJU-BCN-LJU-SKP
2x weekly: SKP-LJU-OTP-LJU-SKP
2x weekly: TIA-LJU-LCA-LJU-TIA
Maybe it's wishful thinking
It's plausible
Delete20:27 That's possible as well. I just wrote that if Wizz Air launched SKP-SJJ and/or BUD-SJJ, it could be used for SJJ-LJU W-flights as well. It could also be the other way around by doing TIA-LJU-SJJ-LJU-TIA.
DeleteCan't wait to find out which ones
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember what was the deadline date for the eighth tender?
ReplyDelete14 April
DeleteThanks. So that means that we will probably find out the two airlines next week.
DeleteFingers crossed.
Deletereanimate MBX Ljubljana-Maribor airport for low cost carriers
ReplyDeleteNot too many LCCs flying to LJU so I don't think they would rush for MBX.
DeleteTAP Air Portugal to Lisbon.
ReplyDeleteWould be nice but doubtful
DeleteIf Iberia flies MAD for a month a year, I highly doubt TAP will start flights.
DeleteAirBaltic had LPA-LJU listed as a direct route, it has since been removed
ReplyDeleteThat would be fantastic and would work this winter
Deleteit will happen in winter but not as part of subs ...
DeleteThis would be amazing!
DeleteDo you know any more ex LPA routes that were briefly listed?
DeleteNo, Ljubljana was the only one
DeleteYes, LPA is starting in W, they applied for subsidies.
DeleteWhat would the frequencies be?
DeleteThough there is absolutely no chance of happening this way, ideal would be 2pw with routing lpa - tfn - lju - tfn - lpa
DeleteThey have a base at LPA, hard to belive they wouldn't use it and opt for W flights instead. W flights would be only good for LPA-LJU-X-LJU-LPA flights.
DeleteIf they add Berlin or even Barcelona instead of the "x" destination... Then we are talking about maybe a testbed for a mini base in Ljubljana
This kind of rotation would be much more likely but from catchment point the route would have much bigger pool if Tenerife bound passangers and the diaspora there could also use the route
DeleteI think most likely the LPA route would be offered to tour operators as well, which would make a lot of sense. If that is the case, we could see the route being 2x weekly from October till the end of May
DeleteFor sure TO would be one segment, this in mind it would generate much more demand if it would include also Tenerife, the most popular amongst Slovenes even if this would meen 20-30 eur higher average ticket price to cover the cost of tfn/tfs - lpa segment flying half empty and double landing/ground handling cost
DeleteEverything can be arranged, although I think that LPA-LJU-TFN-LJU-LPA would then be run, as TO would most likely fill their A220s by themselves
DeleteI doubt there is enough demand to fill 300 seats per week on each of the two islands but if you split this in half you manage to maintain double weekly frequency with 150 seats per Island weekly or 75 seats per rotation which would basically equal using atr 72 or crj 700 but with better seat cost and here you get the advantage vs classic lcc with rigid point to point and 190 seats to fill model 🙂
DeleteDelo is reporting LPA and TIA
ReplyDeleteAmazing - finally Canaries 🙂
Delete