ITA Airways is believed to be among four applicants vying to operate subsidised flights to Slovenia. According to the Italian portal "AirlineStat", the carrier plans to introduce services between Rome and Ljubljana. However, no official confirmation has been issued, with Slovenia’s Ministry of Infrastructure telling EX-YU Aviation News last week that “the committee’s decision will be announced shortly”. ITA Airways’ part-owner, Lufthansa, is seeking to expand the airline’s European network in order to capture a greater share of transfer traffic through Rome. The strategy is primarily aimed at funnelling passengers onto long-haul services to the United States, thereby strengthening ITA’s market presence and enhancing connectivity within the Lufthansa Group network.
Ljubljana was last connected to Rome with a scheduled air service nearly two decades ago, when Adria Airways operated seasonal flights between the two capitals in 2006 and 2007. ITA Airways currently has no presence in the former Yugoslav markets, having discontinued its short-lived service to Split, which it operated for just one month during the 2024 summer season. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, in 2019, its predecessor, Alitalia, maintained year-round flights from Rome to both Belgrade and Podgorica, alongside seasonal services to Dubrovnik and Split.
During the peak of the upcoming summer season, the Lufthansa Group will account for 30% of all scheduled weekly flights at Ljubljana Airport, as well as approximately 28% of total capacity. The only Lufthansa Group carrier to have applied for the Slovenian government’s subsidy programme in the past is Eurowings, which briefly operated flights from Dusseldorf between April and October last year but has since discontinued the service. As it did not meet the conditions of its contract, the airline was not paid the subsidies.
Its so weird that there was not direct flights to Rome from Ljubljana since 2007.
ReplyDeleteThis would be a great addition.
ReplyDeleteIf they make a good connection on USA and intra Italy flights would be great and could fly daily at least in summer
DeleteThere is no ITA flight without a good connection to intra Italy flights. This is how they compete against Ryanair.
DeleteTheir USA connections are good. I’m booked on TRS-SFO/LAX-TRS. Good transfer time and arrival time in US.
DeleteThey hardly compete against FR in intra Italy flights.
DeleteThat’s fantastic if true. Would be also nice to see SAS, Austria and TAP or some more low cost carriers.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteYes. ITA would be most welcome.
DeleteDoes anyone have any more info on the remaining 3 airlines if ITA is true?
ReplyDeleteHow long would LJU-FCO be?
ReplyDeleteMore or less same as Trieste
DeleteAround 1h 10
DeleteDepends on the plane and the path but roughly 70-80min
DeleteMore like 60minutes of actual flying time
DeleteBravo Fraport!
ReplyDeleteIf ITA launches this it would finally restore a long-missing link. Strange that Rome–Ljubljana hasn’t existed for so long.
ReplyDeleteRome could work, especially for US connections.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how we’re still talking about routes Adria operated almost 20 years ago. Shows how much connectivity Slovenia lost.
ReplyDeleteIf they are planning to increase transfers via FCO, ITA will soon start flights to other Ex-YU airports.
ReplyDeletePodgorica and Belgrade would be the logical ones.
PRN would have been the most logical one prior to Wizz launch. They would have had no competition for the point to point and would feed their long haul aswell.
DeleteLufthansa Group already dominates Ljubljana. This would just strengthen their position even more.
ReplyDeleteIn this case its actually nice addition to the network if so. Problem of LHG cartel is when they dont allow with favourable airport managment enter of LCC to the airport. Even if they would only fly to leissure destinations that LHG CAN NOT compete with because of the direct LCC flights from neighbouring airports. But somehow they cant understand that.
DeleteThis would be fantastic!
ReplyDeleteGreat! Any idea how many times per week could they start with?
ReplyDeleteWith good connections onwards to Italy the route could be used by many Italians as well. Last year, around 566k Italians visited Slovenia. They were the second largest tourist group after the Germans.
ReplyDeleteIs there any possibility they could start it before the start of the winter schedule?
ReplyDeleteProbably not. ITA is facing a major fleet crisis with 22 aircraft (almost a third of its fleet) grounded due to P&W engine problems.
DeleteAir Dolomiti is expected to play an important role as a feeder for ITA as part of the integration of ITA into the LH Group. But even if they use Air Dolomiti we probably can't expect it just overnight.
DeleteITA would be just great. FCO became a much nicer airport to connect at as other LH hubs, especially Germans.
ReplyDeleteHow many flights weekly would they have? Surely 3-4 right?
ReplyDeleteI would say they will start with max 3w.
DeleteWhat aircraft would they fly? A220?
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska??? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
ReplyDelete???
DeleteAny chance of an LCC to CRL?
ReplyDeleteWizz could apply but they “don’t like the current scheme” and I highly doubt Ryanair will apply.
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