British Airways will suspend its flights between London Heathrow and Ljubljana over the upcoming 2024/25 winter season, which begins on October 27 and runs until March 30. EX-YU Aviation has received official confirmation the route will not operate over the winter and ticket sales have now been discontinued. The airline plans to resume seasonal summer operations next April. Since launching flights in 2019, British Airways initially maintained a seasonal summer service between London and the Slovenian capital, however, last winter upgraded the route to year-round. The Oneworld member, the only carrier from the alliance to serve Ljubljana during the winter period, originally planned four weekly rotations between the two cities this winter.
Ljubljana will continue to boast flights to London, once its busiest destination prior to the pandemic, through easyJet which will maintain three to four weekly flights from Gatwick Airport this winter, slightly down on the two to five weekly rotations the previous winter, depending on the month. British Airways is the only carrier to link Slovenia with Heathrow Airport. The development comes some six months after Wizz Air discontinued its service between London Luton and Ljubljana. In 2019, easyJet, Wizz Air and British Airways handled a total of 231.702 passengers on their Ljubljana flights, with the Slovenian capital being served at the time from Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, and Luton. During the January - April period of this year, 42.423 travellers flew between the two cities, 16.007 of which were handled by British Airways.
Passenger numbers between London (all airports) and Ljubljana
British Airways' presence in the former Yugoslavia this winter season will be limited to Zagreb where the carrier plans to maintain four weekly flights, down from four to six weekly rotations last winter (depending on the month). It comes after the carrier also chose to discontinue its Belgrade service from this September, and Pristina in 2022. British Airways is the second carrier this week to have decided to suspend its winter operations to Ljubljana. Aegean Airlines, which planned to maintain services to Slovenia over the winter for the first time, has also opted to pause flights from November until next April. Currently, airlines that have filed plans to maintain scheduled services to Ljubljana over the coming winter include: Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, Swiss, Air Serbia, Air France, Flydubai, LOT Polish Airlines, easyJet, Brussels Airlines, Air Montenegro, Wizz Air, Transavia, Air Baltic, Israir, and Luxair. Changes to the list remain possible.
Bravo Fraport!
ReplyDeleteWell it means more passengers for Lufthansa. So they are happy.
DeleteDo you really think people will pay 500 euros to go Ljubljana-Frankfurt-London rather than fly with easyJet or drive to Zagreb to take BA/OU/FR there, or Trieste to fly with Ryanair?
DeleteIncredible. From Gatwick, Luton, Heathrow and Southend, now we will only have a few Gatwick flights in the winter. The downfall of Ljubljana-London connection is crazy. For the love of god please establish a new carrier or let someone base an aircraft in Lju becouse this is getting ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI meant Stansted instead of Southend
DeleteBut there is no need for so many flights anymore now that Zagreb has three daily flights on average. A lot of passengers flying to Ljubljana from London (including me) were heading onwards to Zagreb.
DeleteBefore Ryanair came to Zagreb, Croatia Airlines was selling one way tickets to London for £129 and British Airways was also always selling for hundreds of pounds. I always used to fly from Ljubljana. I did Luton-Ljubljana with Wizz for £13, I did easyJet's Ljubljana-Gatwick for 20 euros and I even did British Airways Heathrow-Ljubljana for £44. British Airways was always cheaper to Ljubljana than to Zagreb.
Most people from London fly to Zagreb to get to Ljubljana. Ryanair are taking all the traffic.
DeleteReally?you asked them all?
DeleteI flew earlier this month one-way from EDI to ZAG with KLM. Originally, I was planning to fly LH with a connection in FRA. However, their fare was like over 400 EUR + luggage. At the end we opted for KLM to ZAG which was half the price of what LH was charging. It was my first time flying KLM and I was very impressed by them. I would definitely choose them again.
DeleteI meant that originally, I was planning to fly to LJU on LH with a connection in FRA.
DeleteBritish is not serious in ex Yu.
ReplyDeleteFirst they start flying to the biggest airport in the region and after only 1 year they stop it. It just shows how unprepared they were and how they could not beat the competition.
Now they are cutting winter flights in LJU. Not serious at least.
When will people ok this forum realise that Ex-Yu is a nostalgic concept for the people who live here, and that's it. It's not a region. It's not an economic region, it's not a geographic region, it's not a political region.
DeleteFlying to "the biggest city in Ex-Yu" means absolutely nothing to British Airways.
What does it mean they were "unprepared" in Belgrade? They gave Belgrade prime slots at Terminal 5, which is something that Ljubljana didn't have. Even Split and Pula are Terminal 3.
DeleteAnd Belgrade was the cheapest British Airways one-way fare for Heathrow inbound flights in the entire British Airways route network! They really did all that they could.
I guess JU was too strong for them, they couldn't get the transfers they needed.
DeleteBA has zero love for our region and our market.
DeleteIt only cares to carry British tourists to the Dalmatian coast during the summer and that's it.
Anonymous 09:13 , you are absolutely correct.
DeleteBritish Airways main priority is the US market.
Unpepared means they were flying only 3 pw to the destination where the competition has more than 15 weekly flights.
Delete@09:31 Are Zagreb and Ljubljana on the Croatian coast? Is December winter?
Delete@Anon 09:13 Brilliant comment! Spot on. Ex yu countries are so different from one another, with different laws, tariffs, policies and political orientations, different currencies, some EU and Schengen members, others not...etc. With the exception of Slovenia and Croatia, this area has stopped being the same region in any meaningful way, long ago.
DeleteYet when a fuse blows in Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia are left without power. Whether some like it or not this region will always be interconnected due to shared history, shared language (no matter what name for the language is made up by which country) and shared mentality.
DeleteIt makes sense that they are boosting Zagreb and cutting back on Ljubljana because they are trying to defend themselves against Ryanair.
ReplyDeleteThey are not boosting Zagreb. If you read the article you would see it is being decreased.
DeleteArticle is wrong. Zagreb will be at the same level like last winter, 6 weekly.
Delete^ it is correct. Go to their website.
DeleteInfo is right. In November just 4 weekly flights to ZAG.
DeleteTime for state to do the same to LJU as Hungary did to BUD.
ReplyDeleteWhat is that?
DeleteLjubljana is a small city in a small country with excellent road links to all of Europe and fantastic nature which means you don't have to fly abroad to go on holiday. Croatian beaches are nearby, skiing in the Alps are nearby, there is a rail network to European cities. After two hours of driving you have Venice, Trieste, Zagreb etc.
DeleteWhat Ljubljana needs is a national airline. There is nothing that Fraport can do without it.
I did not know excellent road links and VCE, TRS, KLU, ZAG.. were built in past few years. Is this why numbers are down from than 230k to 150k? Just excuses from fanboys.
DeleteThe excellent road links led to London frequencies dropping from 3 daily to less than 2 in the course of 4 years lol, it's definitely not the absurdly high fees Fraport imposes on a tertiary airport
Delete@09:21 Yes, we from other countries dont have roads or anything, just the airport, thats why we have higher pax numbers than LJU. People are going with car to Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Estonia even from Macedonia as well as on holidays with bus to Spain and yet SKP has increase in pax numbers, at least it had until Wizz Air reduced its network this summer, but still the numbers are pretty great and the flights are even more full now than last year. We all get it that LJU is near Austria and Italy and Croatia but expain the difference in the numbers then from 2018, didnt you have roads and werent you near Italy and Croatia back then? Didnt Adria fly charters to Croatia in the past?
DeleteWhat i am conserned about the numbers with London service is if the exit of UK from EU has anything to do with it?
It has nothing to do with exit from EU as other airports have much more flights now than before (ZAG, TRS, KLU...)
DeleteThen the reality really is that people from Slovenia started to use ZAG, VCE, TSF, Trieste and Klagenfurt and they will use them even more in the future if something does not change.
DeletePeople here are seriously comparing driving to Germany from Macedonia and from Ljubljana?? Just look at all the Croatian football fans in Germany - 99% of them came by car. It's quick and easy. You don't have to fly.
DeleteThey are falling apart in the region, literally no interest from them. Why even bother flying over summer?
ReplyDeleteThey are flying over summer because only then they make enough profit. If they can use the aircraft on some other destination for 1% more profit they will abandon this region in a heartbeat.
Delete^ true, especially when operating from such a highly slot constrained airport such as LHR.
DeleteWell LH, KL, OS, LX, TK, LO are doing great in our region but BA cant put an effort to establish good network here. We are not Malaga or Barcelona so that BA can fill their planes even from the first flight. All the carriers that i mentioned above didnt come in our region overnight.
Delete@Anon 10:05
DeleteI don't buy the slot constrained argument for the lack of BA connectivity in our region.
They find slots to fly 5 daily to ATH and 4 daily to LCA but they can't fly even once a day to our region's biggest city or 4 weekly to ZAG and LJU?
^ it is because the ex-Yu region is managed by their Bulgaria office which cares about no other market but Bulgaria. So they don't care about working with tour operators, developing the markets etc. They just care about Sofia flights.
Delete^^^
DeleteJust for your info they are only flying 5 times a week to LHR from SOF.
@10:15 What a ridiculous comment. Split gets more capacity than Sofia!
DeleteBA is interested in serving British travelers and foreign frequent business travelers.
DeleteSplit works for them because lots of British tourists go there. SOF gets only 5 flights a week because most of the UK-Bulgaria traffic is gastarbeiters and British tourists for skiing resorts in winter.
Luxair is also getting seasonal.
ReplyDeleteWinter is coming.
DeleteAegean as well
DeleteShame
ReplyDeleteNational carrier. For a millionth time.
ReplyDeleteWe will wait another 10 years for all the alternatives to fail, which they already are, until politicians understand why a national airline is needed.
DeleteDo you really think British Airways flying a few times a week makes any difference?
DeleteThe same old national carrier that - outside of few failed attempts - didn't really fly to London in the last deade of their existence?
DeleteLondon is a P2P route, and LJU should do more to attract easyJet and Ryanair.
2018, the last good year for Slovenian aviation in every respect.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteInteresting about no Oneworld presence anymore in winter. I don't get why Finnair does not extend flights to LJU past winter.
ReplyDeleteAnd they have been flying to LJU seasonally for 15 years. Crazy.
DeleteThere was an interview here with them and they said the route would not work in winter due to passenger structure.
DeleteBA sucks anyway. Service wise
ReplyDeleteBut they offered excellent connections to the Americas.
DeleteHaha. Whatever, enjoy getting to Zagreb to fly with a shocking airline to an airport which is barely in England, let alone London 😂
DeleteWhat is this shocking airline that flies to barely English airport?
DeleteStansted with FR
DeleteI would not be surprised if they don't come back next summer.
ReplyDeleteI hope it does not happen but me neither.
DeleteBooo BA.
ReplyDeleteZAG: Croatia 3x, BA 4x, Ryanair 9x, total 16x weekly,
ReplyDeleteBEG: AirSerbia 7x, Wizz 7x, total 14x weekly,
SJJ: Wizz 4x, Ryanair 3x, total 7x weekly,
PRN: Wizz 7x weekly,
SKP: Wizz 4x weekly,
LJU: EasyJet 3/4x weekly,
TGD: Ryanair 3x weekly
LJU going from airport with most flights to least is just sad. SJJ that had zero flights now has twice as much as LJU. Bravo Cartel and fanboys!
Its time for Wizz to return LTN-LJU or easyjet will increase the flights then.
DeleteJU has 9 weekly flights to LHR, so total with W6 there is 16 pw to LON.
DeleteThanks for correction. Is TUI also flying this winter to SJJ?
Delete^ 20 foreign carriers for a city and a country of our size is very little. SOF has 30, TIA has 38, OTP has 30.
DeleteZagreb is 17 weekly: Croatia Airlines flies 4 times per week from January to March.
DeleteWhat was the fascination between London and Ljubljana before Covid? What sort of passengers are these mostly? Tourists?
ReplyDeleteI would estimate that 30% of the passengers were from Zagreb. Now that Ryanair flies directly to Zagreb nine times weekly, they don't go to Ljubljana anymore. Plus, loads of Slovenes drive to Zagreb now to fly Ryanair from there.
DeleteI would agree with the above estimate and as for the structure of these passengers - whether from Slovenia or Zagreb, yes it's mostly tourists in my experience. In both directions. The second largest group make up transfer passengers, flying to the States via London. The third and smallest group consists of business travellers, mostly from the financial sector and those attending various conferences.
DeleteForgot they also discontinued PRN. So many fails for them in the region.
ReplyDeleteDiscontinuing an unprofitable route and utilising an aircraft somewhere where they can make money is not a fail. It's a win for the airline. It's a fail for the airport.
DeleteThey failed in TGD too
DeleteWhen did they fly to TGD?
DeleteOh never mind I found it. Just for one year in 2022.
DeleteJust saying that Cyprus Airways added London to their destinations when booking a flight, but the flights aren't available from Larnaca :)
ReplyDeleteCyprus won’t happen in Lju because of their issues with A220 engines. Currently they only have one A220 operational and one is grounded due to the issues and i am not sure when the other new A220s are arriving.
Delete2 scheduled to arrive by the end of the summer, which pretty much means by the end of the year with the delays
DeleteIt won’t happen for sure.
DeleteIt is very interesting that they have around 120-130 seats on the A220s. They have a proper business class cabin with 12 wider seats just like everyone else in Asia and America.
DeleteI doubt the incoming ones will have a proper business class. The reason the existing ones have a proper business class is because the planes were destinated for an African airline. In Africa all airlines have dedicated business class even on planes like Dash 8s. Cyprus Airways just didn't retrofit the planes. They even have the colourscehme inside of the African operator. The African airline cancelled the A220s due to engine issues. And seems they were right in doing so considering all the trouble Cyprus Airways is having with them.
DeleteAvoid BA at all costs
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteIt is a mediocre airline at best and a terrible airline for short haul. LHR is also a mess.
DeleteCroatia is really their only focus market in ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteThere are two main reasons for that:
Delete1. in ZAG there is no strong local carrier so they handle a lot of transfers.
2. Croatia is popular among British holidaymakers and since OU isn't interested in carrying them then it's up to the British carriers to do so. BA is merely exploiting this.
Everyone wants to visit beautiful Hrvatska!
DeleteCroats don't need visa for United Kingdom. Just like Slovenes. And they all travel from Zagreb.
DeleteThe slots at LHR are so valuable and they have such a huge choice of potential destinations where they can use them that we should consider ourselves lucky for getting even the sumer flights.
ReplyDeleteBingo
DeleteSlovenia in Winter is basically dead. Ski resorts can not compete with Austria, Italy, France, (also due to their heights), Xmas markets u find today all over Europe. The coast is too northern for warm temperatures and main trade partners of SLO are Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Austria. All either well connected by air or within car driving distance.
ReplyDeleteBA is purely numbers focused. If that A320 can be used for 1% more profit within the medit. region, they will downgrade LJU and use the aircraft for other destinations. Todays neoliberal capitalism is short term driven, there is no room for romance
Slovenia in winter is beautiful. We love our neighbouring country. Greetings from Zagreb!
DeleteIsn't Slovenia really attractive for skiing in winter?
DeleteSlovenia is beautiful in winter and summer alike. Other alpine countries might have somewhat higher altitudes, but there are still great ski resorts in Slovenia, spas all over the place, beautiful lakes, charming towns. For six months out of a year, I live out of Croatia and constantly hear people from northern Europe ask about Slovenia, especially those who've only discovered it. The most frequent question by far is about flights, why aren't there direct flights, why aren't there more flights..and so on. Shame.
DeleteI know that SJJ has flights to various London airports through Ryanair, Wizz Air and TUI, but a British Airways route to Heathrow is what SJJ really needs. It would at least be useful for transfers from US as well as for travellers from UK. They could abandon Ryanair and/or Wizz Air then.
ReplyDeleteBA used to fly to Sarajevo until 2010 I think.
DeleteAgain…Ljubljana is viable only for 90-100 seat aircraft which services major European cities on daily basis. There is not enough intetest i.e. seats to fill in larger aircraft. Has been proven to the bone. But such kind of ops are not sane economically, thus support needs to be injected ftom time to time with tight control over costs and ops. Fraport is increasingly reminding of Serbian film Cuvar plaze u zimsko doba…
ReplyDeleteSure you know that LJU is only viable for 100 seaters. Expert.
DeleteThanks for the passengers numbers on LON-LJU route.
ReplyDeleteShows the slow downfall of this route.
DeleteAs if we wern't isolated enough allready...
ReplyDelete