NEWS FLASH
Leisure carrier TUI Airways will launch flights from Düsseldorf and Brussels to Ljubljana during the 2027 summer season, with tickets expected to go on sale shortly. The services will mark the airline’s first scheduled operations to the Slovenian capital. On the Brussels route, TUI Airways will compete directly with Brussels Airlines, while Dusseldorf is currently unserved following Eurowings’ withdrawal from the route last year.
Commenting on the new routes, CEO of operator Fraport Slovenija, Juergen Deischl, said, “The new Düsseldorf service will significantly strengthen our connectivity with the German market, while the additional Brussels service will complement our existing connections and offer passengers even greater choice and flexibility. These new routes mark another important step in expanding our network and advancing our ambition to establish Ljubljana Airport as The Airport of Choice for the wider region”.


Nice job Fraport!
ReplyDeleteThat's quite unexpected !
ReplyDeleteWoah that was unexpected! Let's hope it's not just one weekly
ReplyDeleteIt would be really weird to operate only 1 weekly at least for BRU where there's competition with SN
DeleteThis is pure holiday flight, so I don't expect them competing for regular pax on the route, they sell holiday packages, so in my mind, this is more of a scheduled charter. I might be wrong
Deletenot at all. These are amied for package deals pax
DeleteTUI sell flight tickets without any packages as well.
DeleteThe percentage of sales that are tickets only is 20%
DeleteAnd they're usually crazy expensive
DeleteAnd they're usually crazy expensive
DeleteIt's not going to be one weekly according to the press release:
DeleteThe new routes open up previously unserved destinations across Spain, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Tanzania, Cape Verde and Morocco. Most services will operate two to three times per week and are designed primarily to serve the flight-only market, while retaining flexibility to support holiday packaging demand where required.
Nice, hopefully at least one of the routes is 3x per week.
Deletehttps://www.tuigroup.com/en/newsroom/news/connecting-demand-creating-growth-tour-operators-in-focus-tui-airline-launches-summer-2027-programme
DeleteWow, nice one!
ReplyDeleteIf this sticks, we could see a LOT of Ljubljana flights from their mini hubs, 1x weekly from every medium sized UK airport is now a possibility. And a good thing for Slovenia is, that there's no off months. Bled, Ljubljana and Postojna are all great in winter and in the summer
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to know if these 2 were counted as one application or two for the gov tender :D
ReplyDeleteis BRU applicable at all?
DeleteAny EU route + Iceland + exyu + some others are
DeleteYes, but only routes which are not operated at the moment. So BRU is not eligible.
DeleteWe will see next week, I'm pretty sure BRU is ellgiable, just not by the same carrier (Brussels airlines)
DeleteNo, BRU is not eligible, only CRL is.
DeleteYou are wrong, only new routes are eligible for state support.
DeleteWell in that case, I'm happy to be wrong, it means that there's every possibility of 4 more routes to be announced if neither TUI nor EasyJet applied
DeleteAlso CRL is not eligible. The criteria for a new route is at least 100km/1hr drive from the airport with existing connection. See Aviation guidelines from EC.
DeleteCRL is listed on priority list tho :D
DeleteI still believe Easyjet applied for BER route.
DeleteThere are many destinations on the priority list which have been established already and are not eligible any more. :-)
DeleteYes, CRL is listed as one out of ten prioritised routs.
DeleteReally unexpected but those will probably be 1 or 2 weekly flights which is quite sad especially as they will take subsidy money for it.
ReplyDelete1-2 weekly will probably cost slovenia around 50k per destination in subsidies, while generating a few times more in revenue from tourism (especially since that means 7-10 day stays). I'm not mad about it at all. Germans and Belgians are big spenders compared to Italians, Spaniards, Polish people so should be a net gain.
DeleteGermans big spenders? In 2026? Are you living under a rock?
Deletedodnt want to comment that. Pozdrav from Deutschland
DeleteI wonder if Tui is the airline that failed to apply correctly and needs to provide additional data to the Slovenian government for subsidies.
ReplyDeleteCould also be that EasyJet didn't apply, and that those 2 applicants that got accepted were TUIs
DeleteFor sure not BRU as this is not a new route.
DeleteI think the new route means not an extended subsidy like if AirBaltic would apply for extension of subsidies for Riga flights. This is considered as a new route so most likely both of those two routes are from those four applications.
DeleteWill be interesting to see the schedule, my guess is 1x weekly for BRU and 2x weekly for DUS
ReplyDeleteCruise ship traffic ex Koper and TRS since VCE has limited weekly departures?
ReplyDeleteI think part of UA traffic is also meant for Koper and TRS departures
Koper has cruise ships?
DeleteYes the terminal is new (2023 I think) and quite busy
Delete82 of them this year.
Delete2026 Cruise Season in Koper.
DeleteTotal number of ships: 79 scheduled arrivals.
Expected passengers: around 130,000 passengers.
Crew members: approximately 61,000 crew members.
Peak season: the majority of arrivals are traditionally between May and October.
Most active cruise lines: Marella Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Viking Cruises.
Kakve veze ima to nabrajanje putnika i posade kruzera?
DeleteBit je koliko od tih kruzera je imalo kao početnu ili završnu luku Koper?
Koliko ja znam početne i završne luke za kruzere na Jadranu su Venecija, Trst, Zadar i Dubrovnik. Za Capodistriu do sada nisam čuo da bi imala tu ulogu
Deletewell thats shocking if they have cruises. Just look at what Kotor has become.
DeleteThought Slovenia was eco friendly.
Yes, that’s shocking! That we don’t say no to good money. What a surprise!
DeleteKoper isn't a turnaround port, these comments are pointless
DeleteYou meant to say Koper is port of call, not port of sail.
DeleteBravo Fraport!
ReplyDeleteI can't find the flights at all, odd that they announce them and not put them on sale right away
ReplyDeleteIf Düsseldorf performs well with TUI, it indicates that Eurowings really struggles to understand market specifics.
ReplyDeleteThey sell vacation pacakages, and have a loyal customer base, so I don't think it's really comparable
Deleteexcept fpr croatian coastal towns Eurowings failed everywhere in ExYu
DeleteTUI UK has updated Ljubljana page to be fully functioning, so maybe there could be more
ReplyDeleteWas it not functioning before? Where can i see the website.
DeleteIt wasn't fully functioning before, only flights are missing now:
Deletehttps://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/europe/slovenia/holidays-slovenia.html
There are not more. Why would it be more just because they established a page they are going to sell packages from?
DeleteComplete waste of subsidies man. These flights go more in line with their "charter hub" strategy than anything else.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it a waste? This will bring much more money in the country than the amount ob subsidies.
Deleteann 11:40 explained it perfectly
DeleteThis type of routes generate optimal return from subsidies to the state budget. Much better than ie Tenerife, which generates exclusively outbound tourism.
DeleteJust goes to show you can never make people happy here..
DeleteLJU getting new routes? Useless!
LJU not getting any new routes? Nationalize Fraport!
United launching LJU? It won't work!
AirBaltic launching LPA and TFS? I want to fly with Ryanair!
etc.
For the first time, TUI Airline has planned its summer programme through a single commercial framework that brings together demand from TUI tour operators, external partners and seat-only customers across its European network. The approach enables the airline to identify opportunities across markets, deploy aircraft more efficiently and maximise value from its fleet while retaining the flexibility to respond to changing customer demand, while keeping support for TUI's tour operator business at its core.
ReplyDeletethis is interesting
LJU will struggle next summer with: ground handling work force, immigration capacity, number of toilets in gates...
ReplyDeleteHaving only one (kinda small) toilet in the top level of the gates area before immigration is already a problem now. Next year it is gonna be very very busy there.
DeleteAs long as it's not Podgorica/Tivat levels of bad...
DeleteAnd the problem is not only those technicalities, I fear that the whole "vibe" of the airport will be worsened next year with all the extra pax.
DeleteI flew from LJU this Wednesday (not the busiest day of the week) during the time of day when there wasn't so many departures. The airport already felt cramped. All of the inside spaces are just a bit too small I feel like. The line at security stretched almost to the ticket gates (even when all four belts were operating), in the small duty free area, there was a 10 m line to order a coffee and a 15-20 meter line at the cashier. The lines stretched trough half of the duty free area, every table was taken, most of the seats at the gates area before passport control were taken, people were sitting next to the walls and standing everywhere around ... The whole space felt way too small to comfortably accommodate that many people. It was doable, but it ruins the feel of the airport.
Ann, i think you are full of it. "the line at security stretched almost to the ticket gates (even when all four belts were operating)"
DeleteThis is IMPOSSIBLE, as both are seperated by elevator stairs.
I mean the ticket gates where you present your ticket to be able to enter the security area, not the check in desks.
Deletethat would mean a line of about 130 people at max, which in wait time is 13 min
DeleteYeah, I'm not complaining about the waiting time, it went by relatively quickly, I just said that it already feels quite cramped and it will be even worse next year at peak days, when the line could actually reach the stairs @13.43 is talking about if the airport doesn't do anything about it.
DeleteI think Ljubljana might soon start using the old terminal for EasyJet, Wizz and Vueling. That would be a good solution? They have about half a year to renovate it before the summer season.
DeleteTruth to be told the crunch points at Lju are:
Delete-Business lounge
-Passport control (2 windows only and useless personnel)
-Arrivals, no idea what they were thinking with those stairs to the lower area
-Luggage, not the spaces, but the SPEED of reloading
I use LJU quite a lot, and never have I used my fasttrack at security, as the lines were never more than a 2min wait, but the lounge desparately needs to be reworked/extended, maybe opening the old one would be a good solution too
@13.52 the old terminal could solve problems such as check in counters, there are 7 still operational (if I am not wrong), but regarding the security it is still connected to the new part. There are also plans that in future additional 6 check ins are added to new terminal but that is currently not a problem yet (tho if they will have all these flights at rush hour than it will get full). And in that case they might add the third conveyor belt at arrivals.
DeleteBut we will see what the management will say, as the dirst guy said, the biggest problem is ground handlers…
There’s not enough of them*
DeleteI personally find the new terminal pretty, modern and quite cozy. When I’ve been there, 1-2 times a year, it was always more than OK. But immigration, yes, that’s not the best with that low ceiling and little space. I read somewhere though, a few days ago, that for United next year, Fraport will make some changes to the arrivals area too
DeleteIt seems to me that fans of "we desperately need a national carrier" have been lying low recently. Funny that market can even take care of intercontinental flights from LJU.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have year round connections to: Madrid, Scandinavia (any country/airport), Helsinki, Romania, Bulgaria, Vienna, Prague, Pristina, Tirana, Italy, Greek islands, Malta, Cyprus, morning departures to Brussels (very useful for daily trips), Munich this winter. There's still room for about 10-15 routes
DeleteNot to mention, if anything happens on market (similar to corona) we loose all of the routes. A very nice place example was munich, lufthansa suddenly decided they don’t need half of their regional fleet and they let it for more than a month and for whole winter season. While in Belgrade air serbia stepped in and is now also a competition to LH.
DeleteSo yes it’s very good run for LJU and I hope it stays that way, but as soon as something will go wrong in this world, it will fall quick :(
Do you think that a national carrier could support all of those "easy to fill" 10-15 new routes? Do you think that a national carrier could still sensibly fly during corona?
DeleteWell of course they couldn’t fill all the routes up because all people want to fly ryanair in slovenia, but it can jump in on certain routes quickly and make some money, the rest is financed. Why? well because it ads routes that were previously unserved and maybe someone who would go to venice for a direct flight could fly from LJU. There is definetly some demand but that carrier should be operated by someone and have the loss covered by the country (which wouldn’t cost that much)
DeleteThe change between CEO shows with their goals. Babbel used "Charter hub" slogan while he is using "The Airport of Choice for the wider region"
ReplyDeleteQuite a welcome change
that "new" goal is pretty much far fetched ... if the wider region means Klagenfurt, Graz, Trieste and Pula, sure!
DeleteFully agree. And showing missing devoted professionals on top postions in airports and airlines, and too much political influence, all around ex-yu, is the reason for bad results, and not "no demand" what some posters here are constantly trying to imply. Especially in case of OU, RJK and ZAG
DeleteKlagenfurt, Graz, Trieste, Pula, Zagreb together have around 5mio catchment area.
DeleteDon't forget, Ljubljana has a lot of flights Zagreb doesn't offer. Vueling, EasyJet, Wizzair, Finnair, Air Baltic, United...
in case you missed it ZAG has flights to both BCN and Girona, Skopje, Manchester, London
DeleteI'm sorry but the base customer of OU flight to Skopje vs WizzAir flight to Skopje are not the same
DeleteThis is from 60th anniversary speach in 2024 two years ago. Dr. Stapel highlighted efforts to strengthen connections to important air hubs, add new connections, optimize flight schedules, and increase the share of low-cost carrier flights in traffic development plans. Fraport Slovenija aims to position Ljubljana Airport as the airport of choice in the region.
Delete@ 14:08 I agree.
Delete@15.06 +1
Deleteevery airport wants to become the airport of choice in the region, move over.
DeleteThe region are Kranj and Ljubljana menucipality.
DeleteGlad to see Dusseldorf back... next stop? Stockholm :) #EDI
ReplyDeleteWho will fly to Stockholm edi?
DeletePeople
DeleteWho will fly to DUS? For me as a Slovene, I’d much sooner go Stockholm than Düsseldorf. But that’s just me.
DeleteThe question was more in the line of which airline
DeleteSo they announced the flights...without putting them on sale? Never seen that in recent memory
ReplyDeleteI have.
DeleteI like their ad!
ReplyDeleteLjubljana is lucky to have such a beautiful monument.