Ljubljana Airport poised for strong winter season

Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is set for strong passenger growth this coming winter, driven by the launch of three new routes and expanded capacity by several carriers including Swiss and Wizz Air. Although adjustments to the network remain possible in the lead-up to the 2025/26 winter season, which runs from October 26 to March 28, current projections indicate the airport will have over 103.198 additional seats on scheduled services compared to last winter, a year-on-year increase of 18.8%. Capacity growth is expected to be steady across the season, with increases of 21.7% in November, 22.4% in December, 16% in January, 14.7% in February and 16.5% in March. Capacity levels will be at around 80% of the last full pre-pandemic winter of 2018/19 when Adria Airways was still in operation.

This winter, the airport will welcome flights from two new Spanish destinations - Las Palmas and Barcelona - the latter being one of its busiest unserved routes. easyJet will introduce a new service from Manchester, while KLM will operate its first winter season in the Slovenian capital following its summer launch. Aegean Airlines and GP Aviation will extend their seasonal services from Athens and Pristina throughout the winter. Additionally, airlines such as Wizz Air, Swiss and Turkish Airlines will increase capacity or frequencies on existing routes compared to last winter. In contrast to the 2024/25 season, Transavia will no longer operate flights to the airport.

The projected growth comes amid the ongoing ninth tender call by the Slovenian government aimed at improving the country’s air connectivity by offering subsidies for the launch of new routes. Slovenia’s Minister of Infrastructure, Alenka Bratušek, said, “Air connectivity has significantly improved over the past year, especially during the summer season. Slovenia is now among the countries with the highest percentage growth in air traffic. However, we are still not at the level we were during the Adria Airways era. For this reason, we have allocated more funds to support air connectivity than there were applications received. Naturally, we cannot force anyone to apply”. She added, “We were particularly hoping for an additional application for Brussels flights, which would also help reduce state costs related to official travel to the EU’s administrative centre. Overall, we are not dissatisfied with the progress made in boosting connectivity, but we are not entirely satisfied either. These public tenders will continue. Fraport has also contributed to improving connectivity by lowering airport charges, so together we have managed to steer things in the right direction”.