Most markets and airlines recorded passenger growth from Ljubljana during the first half of the year, with several notable trends emerging. Turkey overtook Germany to become the airport’s largest market, while routes operated by Wizz Air saw particularly strong passenger growth. The rise of the Turkish market was driven by the entry of Pegasus Airlines, which added more than 23.000 new seats, as well as the war in the Middle East, which prompted many passengers to reroute through services offered by Turkish Airlines. By contrast, passenger numbers on the German market declined following Eurowings’ exit and the temporary suspension of flights to Munich, although the impact was partly offset by increased capacity on the Frankfurt route.
Ljubljana Airport passenger performance on scheduled routes, H1 2026
Wizz Air continued to generate strong passenger growth, with its Skopje service overtaking routes from Serbia, the Netherlands, France and Poland in terms of passenger numbers. This was achieved through an 84% increase in capacity combined with strong load factors. During the first half of the year, the airline recorded an average cabin occupancy rate of 86.3% on the route. Similarly, its entry onto the Podgorica - Ljubljana route generated significant growth on the city-pair.
The UK market recorded the largest increase in passenger numbers, adding 34.954 travellers. This was primarily driven by easyJet and the launch of its new services to Edinburgh and Manchester. By contrast, flydubai saw its passenger numbers decline as a result of the war involving Iran and the temporary suspension of flights. Services to Luxembourg also recorded a decline, following a 20% reduction in both frequencies and capacity.
No wonder OU's ZAG-SKP route is collapsing, look at SKP-LJU. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteWould love to see FR launch ZAG-SKP
it is collapsing also because of limited transfer connections through ZAG which im stil puzzled about
Delete+1 for the second thought
ZAG - SKP could be a smart move from FR - I hope they read
Deleteas long there are ZAG routes for which they can get incentives (unserved routes) SKP will have to wait im afraid, as much as I want to see it
DeleteDo not mix OU and ZAG with LJU please , OU is clearly just a transfer option out of SKP for Macedonians to reach unserved EU route such as AMS,CDG,MUC, and etc. While LJU is just gasto and student route. So no Macedonian going to LJU for transfer it is just simply p2p route.
DeleteSo, no Macedonians, Albanian and Kosovars in Zagreb and north and West Croatia? No business ties? No Croatian people travelling to Macedonia for city break and holidays? Clearly just a transfer option? Hau jes nou.
DeleteThats true , but you need to know that nobody from SKP goes to LJU for transfer it is just p2p route. In the other hand p2p people to ZAG is very small in comparison to LJU. Most of the OU people out of SKP are transfer and small portion as u saying business and leisure , there is of course but small numbers. And the stats proving that as well
DeleteIts the same guy claiming nobody will fly to Poland if Wizz opens WMI
DeleteAlso he clearly has not been on an OU flight to SKP.. Half are p2p. The low cost market between HR and MK is 100% untouched yet
Who would have thought Macedonia would be Slovenia's 5th largest air market.
ReplyDeleteWe work on changing population.
DeleteHow many kids do you have?
DeleteSkopje at 86% average occupancy despite such a large capacity increase suggests there was a lot of underserved demand before Wizz expanded.
DeleteTo every Macedonian living in Slovenia this was painfully obvious. I was so puzzled that the route wasn't served for 4 years, one of the most profitable intra ex-yu routes.
Deletethey laughed at us "no demand for two weekly flights with a high-density A320"
Delete@9:42 "one of the most profitable intra ex-yu routes"
DeleteWhat is your source where we can check this info?
and yet there is no demand for leisure flights fron LJU with LCC
ReplyDeleteThere is plenty of demand. We just fly from other airports.
DeleteKrasnja will tell you there is no demand from LJU and at the same time LJU is just after VCE. Briliant guy.
DeleteWizz clearly has room to grow at Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteBut no business case with current airport charges.
DeletePegasus entering Ljubljana seems to have made a big difference. Competition to Istanbul was long overdue.
ReplyDeletewhat would happen to get LJU-SJJ with Wizzair? Fri-Sun flights?
ReplyDeleteWhich routes was Eurowings servicing from LJU?
ReplyDeleteDUS
Deleteand ill advised route as if there is slovenian gasto in Westphalia. They should have gone with Berlin
DeleteTurkey becoming the largest market is not that surprising when you consider how strong both Turkish Airlines and Pegasus have become.
ReplyDeleteEasyJet deserves some credit here. Ljubljana needed more UK connectivity beyond London.
ReplyDeleteHopefully they can add more UK routes.
DeletePodgorica also seems to have been a successful addition for Wizz. Their Ljubljana ops have generally performed well so far.
ReplyDeleteOf this 20155 pax, 8741 was in June when Wizz launched the route.
DeleteImpressive!
Deletethe difference June 05 and June 06 is around 5900. How many freq were then and how many now?
DeleteLast year there was 3x per week by Air Montenegro, this year Wizz added 4 weekly, so now we have daily flights. Interesting thing is that the route to Podgorica has seen a nice increase in passenger numbers even before June, when it was still only operated by Air Montenegro.
DeleteŽ
MONTH PAX. INCREASE. CAPACITY. LF
Jan.26 2066 + 10,8 % + 202 3016 68,5%
Feb.26 1894 - 1,5 % - 29 2784 68,0%
Mar.26 2377 + 9,8 % + 212 3016 78,8%
Apr.26 2538 + 10,7 % + 245 3016 84,2%
May.26 2539 + 1,0 % + 25 3016 84,2%
Jun.26 8741 + 221,8 % + 6025 11288 77,4%
Some overcapacity there but hey its only the first month
DeleteWizz flies two routes to Lju and both seem very successful, in my opinion (besides the actual demand) especially becouse there are barely amy other routes that are that cheap. I would love to see them launch more routes like Sarajevo, Tirana, Pristina maybe even Bucharest/Sofia.
ReplyDeleteWith EES in place, even TZL would work.
DeleteI love these articles with all sorts of statistics.
ReplyDeleteWhat sucks though is when (frustrated) posters start belittling airports and countries
belittling??? do you even know what the word is
DeleteI have to say I love articles like this also, the stats and everything in one place. Thank you Ex-yu aviation.
DeleteIs there any news about any new routes at all? Shouldn’t the tender that was open for a long time like from the start of the spring, be concluded by now?
ReplyDeleteNo new routes, ask Fraport why not.
DeleteThe tender concludes on 31 August.
Deleteso what the only option is to get a new route with tender despite you can see some tocking results on routes that are not served by favourited airlines. Itsa shame
DeleteDoes anyone know how Pegasus is performing? Except July and August, their prices for an one way ticket were mostly hovering around their base fare, 70 euros.
ReplyDeleteI work in a hotel in Ljubljana, and everytime I saw PAX with Pegasus luggage tags, I asked them how full the flight was. Every single one of them said it was empty unfortunatley.
DeleteThe route to Podgorica by Wizz was decreased do 3x per week over winter. Still a big increase over Air Montenegro tho, so we should be satisfied.
ReplyDeleteIs the route to Skopje purely gasto? Is the Macedonian community in Slovenia that big or what is the main reason behind this strong surge?
ReplyDeleteI am sure there are people from both ends going to spend a few days sightseeing in the other city.
DeleteMostly Gasto, yes. Macedonian community is huge there, also Macedonian and Kosovar Albanians.
Deleteits mainly young-ish people on the plane. Students and their friends
DeleteThere is alot of students studying there with scholarship and they decide to continue their education in Slovenia. Plus gasto people , Albanians using the route as well. So its kid of mix of everything
DeleteOverall these are encouraging figures for Ljubljana. The airport now has a diversified mix of airlines and markets.
ReplyDeletetotally agree.
DeleteHopefully these results encourage Wizz to look at more Balkan routes from Ljubljana. Tirana or Sarajevo could be interesting.
ReplyDeleteLjubljana’s biggest issue for years was lack of capacity and competition. These figures suggest that whenever new capacity is added, passengers are there to use it.
ReplyDeletewill there be summer seasonals to OHD?
ReplyDeleteSpain not in first 10 is biggest surprise for me, with only 20k pax
ReplyDeleteIn Serbia has around 200k pax on Spain routes in this period.
Bro, we barely got flights to Barcelona because there is an idea to fly via FRA and MUC.
DeleteOk bro. You also have MAD, LPA and TFS but I guess you can't book those on ryanair.com so no one knows about them.
DeleteNo kolega TFS return flights are 450 pp :) because tour operators bought seats
DeleteNorwegian is dissapointing
ReplyDeleteWould rather see SK operating 5-6 weekly CR9s and Norwegian with 2 weekly ARN
DeleteThe only thing that's bad is that Norwegian is down and they failed to secure subsidies for next year, which by all means probably sets the trend of them exiting Lju next summer
ReplyDeleteThey should step in this winter, considering air baltic won t fly over winter
DeleteCompletely off topic but how the hell did LJU manage to take a drone shot at the sunset where there are about 5 departures around that time?
ReplyDeleteAnd how they still can't manage to install 5th air bridge after 5 year.
DeleteThat costs money and someone doesnt want to pay for it, its a shame. Not to mention boarding via stairs on bridge gate
DeleteIt was taken from Fraport Slovenija Linkedin.
Delete"We will be testing the drone for a range of activities, including perimeter inspections, roof and infrastructure checks, FOD detection on the runway, as well as activities related to wildlife monitoring and management. With real-time visual data, the drone can provide our teams with a better overview of airport infrastructure and help them respond more quickly to potential maintenance, safety or operational challenges.
An important step forward is also that the drone has been approved to operate within the airport during regular air traffic. This gives us greater flexibility in using the technology as part of our daily operations. "
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fraportslovenija-ljubljanaairport-dronetechnology-ugcPost-7494997033540501504-t3QP/
IST probably Nr 1 airport, before ZRH or FRA
ReplyDeleteGlad to see, that things in LJU are going into right direction
I still hope that we get Munich in winter. Any indications to such thing happening?
ReplyDeletei stil cannot imagine LJU without a MUC route
DeleteAirport has confirmed recently there is no Munich planned for winter. Such a pity, I have used it recently to transfer and loved it, such a nice airport. I prefer it over Frankfurt or Zurich.
DeleteThe airports PR team is a nightmare. They comment on the published schedule and not on what's happening in the background. I remember their PR saying that Pegasus has not yet been confirmed whilst they already listed the flights on the website...
DeleteFair, that is also true.
DeleteOne route I am scared for is Luxembourg, their passenger numbers are slowly getting worse and worse. In June they only had 746 passengers, which represents a LF of 70 %, eight percentage points less than last year. In 2027 they also completely removed any flights in the winter period. Hopefully the route can at least work seasonally in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI often flew with Luxair. In the beginning the price was great, about 180 both ways. Then it grew to 240 and this summer to 280. This time I'm flying via ZRH (swiss) for a little under 190. An hour more though, as the transfer is about 50 min.
DeleteCan I ask during which months did you use Luxair? Were the planes full? I often check the prices and they are many times very expensive.
DeleteI think the route will stay, 70% LF is profitable with Dash, and let's not forget that the subsidies are active. They got paid more than 100k in total already, which probably equates to about 10% LF alone
DeleteYeah, fair. The thing is that the pax numbers are getting less and less each year. June 2024 was 1129, June last year 1070 and this year only 746. And in May for example 1026 -> 1008 -> 980.
DeleteI *THINK* that for the first year Luxair was flying almost all winter season, whilst in 2025 they stopped in January, returned in February for a week, and then started in March, this year there wasn't any February rotations, so it shows in the numbers too
DeleteYeah, the lack of winter flights also contributed to the decrease.
DeleteStatistics for LUX ops for the first half of the year compared to last year:
DeleteMONTH | PAX | PAX % CHANGE | NUM OF OPS |CAPACITY | LF
Jan.26 193 - 6,3 % - 13 (2) 304 63,5%
Feb.26 279 + 1,5 % + 4 (3) 456 61,2%
Mar.26 202 - 75,6 % - 625 (2) 304 66,4%
Apr.26 894 + 5,4 % + 46 (9) 1368 65,4%
May.26 980 - 2,8 % - 28 (9) 1368 71,6%
Jun.26 746 - 30,3 % - 324 (7 - one diverted) 1064 70,1%
Overall it's good to see growth across the board.
ReplyDeleteThe most surprising figure for me is Skopje. For a relatively short route, those passenger numbers are excellent.
ReplyDeleteThat is a 10 hour car ride...
DeleteIn Summer it is definitely not 10 hours :)
DeleteI would expect Germany to recover once Munich stabilises and more capacity returns to the market.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this will finally convince Wizz that Ljubljana can support more routes.
ReplyDeleteThey know it can. There was an interview published here with one of the Wizz executives where he said exactly that. The problem is he said that LJU is expensive and until that changes they can't meaningfully expand. In order for these routes to work, fares have to be very cheap so costs must be low too. The two routes they fly from LJU are both subsidised, one from the Macedonian government, the other from the Montenegrin government.
DeleteMacedonian support ends in Sept. if you missed out
DeleteWizz air have one of their most succesfull regional route in the Ex-yu area and thats exactly SKP-LJU in terms of passnegers numbers and LF as well. So they will keep this route until it is succesfull and demandinh
Deletehappy for SKP's route success but what an impressive list of airlines! :)
ReplyDeleteFully agree. And once again can't understand TWELVE airlines that operate to LJU don't operate to ZAG, despite weak and non-competitive OU. If it was 3-4-5 companies, due to market specifics and diferrences, I could understand, but TWELVE, it should ring a bell somewhere in Croatia. But they simply don't give a shit...
DeleteNo one seem to be noticing how well Finnair is doing
ReplyDeleteThey are doing amazing actually. Their LF in June was almost 90 %. We could definitely see an increase next year, they should also think about doing twice weekly with an Embraer during the winter, should probably work, at least until the end of the year.
DeleteYes E190 flights up until 10.1 is almost a must with those numbers
DeleteI'm seeing turkish arilines when I drive back home from work on weekends, but they are departing at around 2 in the morning. Are those scheduled flights?
ReplyDeleteno, charters
DeleteYes, charters operated by Trukish from Izmir on Sturday and Cuqurova on Sunday. Both Started in middle Julay and continued in september.
DeleteFor slovenian turists or for turkish ones?
DeleteTurkish tourist. LJU is start point to nort Italy , Swiss and Austria tour for Turkish tourists.
DeleteInteresting how two of three biggest LCCs decided to fly to Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteOne focuses on exyu only and the other focuses on UK only.
Any idea why that is?
50k passengers and 86% LF in a A321 for just 6 months SKP-LJU is just brutal numbers and LF :D :D for a such a short distance route it just wild✈️
ReplyDeleteWhich one is dominant Point of Sale, LJU or SKP?
Delete