Four applications have been submitted for the launch of subsidised flights to Slovenia under the latest public call aimed at improving air connectivity, the country’s Ministry of Infrastructure has told EX-YU Aviation News. “The Ministry of Infrastructure received four applications by March 6, 2026. The committee’s decision will be announced shortly”, it said. If all four applications are deemed valid, this would mark the most successful round of the public call to date. The Ministry did not disclose which airlines submitted applications. Although the subsidy scheme is open to flights serving all three of Slovenia’s commercial airports, all four bids are believed to target Ljubljana, continuing the trend observed in previous nine rounds of the programme.
The Slovenian government had previously expressed hope this round of tendering will help Slovenia close its connectivity gap and strengthen links with priority markets. It has primarily been targeting the introduction of flights to Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Oslo and Lisbon. The Slovenian government plans to continue offering subsidies to airlines to encourage the launch of new routes to the country. Speaking on the initiative, Andrej Rajh, State Secretary at the Ministry of Infrastructure, said recently, “Our goal is to develop the subsidies over the years, and we are committed to making it happen. The plan is to keep this going even into the next five to seven years, with similar amounts allocated”.
The previous public calls garnered mixed results. Luxair, airBaltic, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Iberia, Eurowings, Cyprus Airways and Air Albania applied over the nine previous tenders., although not all qualified for the subsidies. Only airlines registered and based in the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) are eligible for the subsidies. Applications must include a detailed business plan showing that the route can become profitable beyond the subsidy period. This plan should include projected passenger numbers, profitability forecasts and marketing strategies. If no business plan is submitted, carriers must provide a binding written declaration committing to operate the route for at least as long as the period of aid. Airlines may operate supported routes seasonally rather than year-round, provided they comply with the submitted business plan.
Finally more airlines than usual
ReplyDeleteThis is considerable actually
Deletebecause you can also apply to extend existing sub...
DeleteWhich ones could it be?
ReplyDeleteMy guess one of them is Austrian from Vienna
DeleteMaybe Wizz.
DeleteThis would be great
DeleteMaybe SAS to CPH or Stockholm?
DeleteHopefully Air Baltic.
DeleteTo where?
DeleteEasy, Wizz, ITA, SAS
DeleteMaybe they want to try another holiday destination if LPA is successful.
DeleteI know is not gonna happen, but I am dreaming of TAP to Lisbon.
DeleteThat would be amazing
DeleteWill this be mostly for winter 2026/27? or for this summer?
ReplyDeleteMost likely for winter because the summer schedule is starting in two weeks, it's a bit late for that now. Maybe there is a summer route in there which would start in June or July, hopefully!
DeleteHopefully the ministry does not reject them.
ReplyDeleteOnly airline they've rejected is Cyprus Airways and they filed incomplete information.
DeleteDamn, this is unexpected but very welcome. Hopefully at least a few get through.
ReplyDeleteEasyjet to Berlin finally?
ReplyDeleteI don't think easyJet is qualified because they are not in the EU.
Deleteeasyjet has an EU AOC as well. EasyJet Europe registered in Austria.
DeleteIt doesnt have to be in the EU, it needs to be in Europe under EASA.
DeleteWhat’s this need for Berlin: is there really that much traffic to/from there? I’ve flown there and didn’t notice that many Slovenes (from TRS). None at all actually, apart from myself and my friend.
DeleteIt would probably be used by many Germans as well, more than half a million Germans visited Slovenia last year.
DeleteMost of them visited with a car or they were just traveling to Croatia and stopped in Slovenia for one or two days...
DeleteAt least something finally
ReplyDeleteHave a feeling one of them is SAS.
ReplyDeleteSAS would be very welcome, Norwegian 2x per week May - Oct is not enough to cover the Nordics.
DeleteSAS is cancelling 1000 flights due to the high fuel prices.
DeleteGuys, this is really big. We are potentially getting at least four new routes this year. It's gonna be a big year for LJU.
ReplyDeleteCould there be more than 4 new routes coming? It just says there are 4 airlines applying, could there be a Wizz base coming?
ReplyDeleteThere is always a possibility, but from what was reported here before, Wizz is looking for higher discounts that just these subsidies in Ljubljana, so I doubt it. Of course any airline could apply with two or more routes as well. We have to wait and see, hopefully not for too long.
DeleteBerlin? That popular route that would be flying by now if it actually was popular and needed
ReplyDeleteIt was popular, easyJet increased it from 2 to 4x per week, it was discontinued because they closed the base there.
DeleteUhmmm easyJet has a base in Berlin. As does Eurowings.
DeleteNow they have it again, but they closed it for some time I think in 2019, and then covid happened.
DeleteWhen could they announce the airlines or routes?
ReplyDeleteFinally, our saviour Golob saved slovenian aviation y'all!
ReplyDeleteIf Geni was airport owner than he would help, so not true.
DeleteI was being sarcastic haha.
Deleteso was I haha. :)
DeleteEasyjet with Berlin, Milan and Basel.
ReplyDeleteWizz with Tirana
Austrian will replace Zagreb with Ljubljana
And then let's wait and see for the 4th
Is that insider info or speculation?
DeleteIt's speculation, because it's Air Baltic, Air Baltic, Air Baltic and I don't know the 4th :-)
Delete@9.37, what? haha
DeleteIn that case it would only be 2 airlines, article talks about 4
DeleteIt says four applications not necessarily airlines.
DeleteAlthough if airlines are starting more than one route they submit a single bid, not separate for each one.
DeleteMilan - to close to Slovenia, served well from TRS, ZAG
DeleteVienna - maybe but there is a lot of LHG cartel in LJU already, i think they would attack themself only. Austrian to replace much bigger airport and move to airport 50km from KLU, just no.
Tirana - probably true after SKP success
Milan has great flights from TRS to Linate. Basel would be fantastic though.
Deleteou with 2 routes
ReplyDeleteTo the croatian coast?
DeleteNo chance
DeleteIm 99% that both Wizzair and Easyjet applied. They have both shown interest in the past especially there was some talks about Wizz lately. The other two could literally be any airline from SAS, ITA, Austrian and maybe even OU.
ReplyDeleteIm in shock hahah no way this confusing scheme actually attracted four airlines in one tender. But good for Slovenian aviation if they materialise it could be a big boost.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the chances Ryanair applied?
ReplyDeleteZero
DeleteWe prefer easyJet and WizzAir anyways.
DeleteLJU said in the past it was disappointed Ryanair didn't apply for these subsidies
DeleteFinally some excitement for Slovenian aviation :D
ReplyDeleteFantastic news
ReplyDeleteWhen will we find out about which airlines are in question?
ReplyDeleteWell after several failed tender rounds it is good that at least someone applied.
ReplyDeleteFinally some momentum
DeleteWizz hopefully with either Tirana or Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteCould work well with Wizz but since Wizz does not have a base in either SJJ or LJU it's highly unlikely.
DeleteCan't wait to find out which ones
ReplyDeleteTAP Air Portugal to Lisbon.
ReplyDeleteWould be nice but doubtful
DeleteDoes anyone have any real info about which airlines really applied?
ReplyDeleteAirChina with Shenzen flights
DeleteWhere is now this EDI and LPA guy with news ?? :D
ReplyDeleteIm here ;)… i dont have any info but will ask. So far I only know fraport was planning Berlin to be part of their network so probably Easy for Berlin will be one of them
DeleteIs Fraport planning new routes? How? Krasnja said many times they have nothing to do with it... :-)
DeleteShould be announced before the elections, right?
ReplyDeleteWithout doubt. Probably tomorrow or Friday.
DeleteTomorrow, Friday is cutting it close
DeleteLet’s see if these are actually serious bids or just airlines testing the waters. Previous rounds didn’t exactly deliver spectacular results.
ReplyDeleteeasyJet to Porto would be a banger, especially because there is no competition in TRS or ZAG
ReplyDeleteLJU is always very loud about Prague...but who would even operate it? Smartwings with A220? Or does Wizz have a base there?
ReplyDeleteIf Vienna and Prague don’t get launched this time, then I really don’t know when they will. Those are basic missing links for Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteIs there really so much demand for Prague?
DeleteI know Adria used to fill the CRJ900
DeletePrague is constantly among top 3 unserved routes from LJU.
DeleteI wouldn’t be surprised if airBaltic is among the applicants again.
ReplyDeleteDoes Mr. 10% aka Županković have any saying in who gets the deal?
ReplyDeleteIf he have anything to say in this then we will se subsided 5 daily to BEG haha
DeleteORY with Transavia
ReplyDeleteThats already operating.
DeleteNot in the winter
Delete