Soon in Maribor
After several years, Maribor Edvard Rusjan Airport will once again be served by flights. Aegean Airlines will operate services from the Greek island of Kos to Maribor every Friday starting June 14 through to September 20. Flights will be operated with the Airbus A320. Passengers using the service will also be offered free parking at the airport, in an attempt to lure potential travellers from surrounding countries but also locals away from using the nearby airport in Graz. Maribor hopes this is the beginning of better things to come since it has failed to attract airlines or passengers for years. Late last year Sašo Murtič, the Slovenian State Secretary for Transport, said “We are trying hard to revive the airport”.
The news comes only several months after Maribor opened its brand new passenger terminal. The CEO of Maribor Airport, Marko Gros, says talks are being held with other airlines as well in order for them to launch services to the city. “At the moment, talks with different airlines are at different stages. We are hoping to reach a concrete agreement with Adria Airways. However, it is difficult to speculate as to how the talks will unfold since it could hinder the negotiation process”, Mr. Gros said. The CEO refused to comment on the airport’s privatisation process and the four bids received for its takeover.
Maribor is Slovenia’s second largest airport behind Ljubljana. It opened for commercial traffic in 1976. In 2007, Maribor handled 31.936 passengers and saw 1.480 flights. Since then the airport has been mostly deserted. Maribor was served by the low cost Ryanair for several months, between 2007 and 2008, but the service was suspended due to poor loads. In 2010, Adria Airways and several other airlines relocated to Maribor during Ljubljana’s runway overhaul.
Disappointing how tickets to Malpensa expensive are.
ReplyDeleteEasyjet to Belgrade you mean?
DeleteThey're not that high: you can easily do a weekend trip for less than 100E. Friday/Sunday early afternoon times work well, even for west Swiss crowd. With a bit of planning it could be cheaper than via ZRH. Regards from Lac Leman
DeleteP.S. Now waiting for similar flights from GVA :) Would pay 100E per segment if GVA departure is 7-8pm (this can make for the return leg to GVA before 11pm)
Let's see...
Delete01.05-08.05
easyJet comes out to be €116
Jat Airways comes out to be €178
easyJet would have been even higher if the luggage was not discounted. I am sorry but the difference between the two is only €60 which is not that much. Anyway, in case that there is a cancellation or anything like that, I would have more trust in Jat. Not to mention that at least with Jat you have free refreshments and greater comfort.
Easyjet's aircraft are very good. Very nice interior and much much much newer! Who cares about refreshments for a 1,5 h journey?!
DeleteJat gets discounted very often and gets below 150E easily for Milan roundtrip, but my point was that EasyJet can be found for less than 100E.
DeleteWhat I tried to say was that: 1) flight times are good, 2) prices are reasonable and 3) not as low as to hurt Jat too much.
As for refreshments: I gladly pay 4E for beer at Easyjet and wouldn't mind if Jat did away with dry sandwitches and offered a la carte fresh offering.
Wtf???
ReplyDeleteIs it charter or scheduled? If charter does anyone know which Slovenian tour operator sells packages including these flights? (I am travel agent and I have not heard about this and I work with all major Slovenian tour operators such as Kompas or Palma for instance).
ReplyDeleteIntelekta tour agency is selling tickets.
DeleteFew charters, two daily flights to MUC, LCC to London 3x per week, and that is the best Maribor can do. For that they have to kill themselves of working.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way in Hell they could ever get 2 daily to any Star Alliance hub. Ljubljana is way to close and it would take away passengers.
DeleteGRZ is even closer (just some 50 km). But as you know LH have practice to take as much as they can, even if airports are very near, so if 4x per day GRZ-MUC flights are at least break-even they will open one and latter even two daily flights from MBX to MUC. Today GRZ has daily flights 4x MUC DH4, 4x FRA CR7, 4x VIE DH4/F70, ZRH 2x AT7, STR 3x DH4 and several 1x daily flights. One route with 2 daily flights from Maribor is not so unreal. VIE is too close, so MUC is, for sure, most real option. Of course it will never have FRA flights in same time with MUC flights, or ZRH, or STR, even if those flights LF are big. In that case their priority would be to put bigger planes to GRZ, not another frequency to MBX, but minimum 2 daily frequencies from MUC is regular LH practice from everywhere they have any chance in Star Alliance target zone.
DeleteWhy not turn Maribor to an hub for on of the cheap carriers Ryanair, Easyjet, Wizz? I can gurantee you they will suceed.
ReplyDeleteWell I am sure that Wizz Air got a really good deal from LJU.
DeleteEasyjet flights are already on sale:
ReplyDeleteFrom 19 April
U2 2577 1325MXP-1510BEG 357
U2 2578 1545BEG-1730MXP 357
Let NATO move in. Problem solved plus it will bring bigger benefit to the Slovenian economy than any amount of airlines the airport could handle
ReplyDeleteWhy would they want to move there? Aviano is too close...
DeletePLEASE no Nato or any of this stuff in Maribor!
DeleteThis place is so wonderful and peaceful..
It should under all circumstances stay like this!!!!!
Aviano yes but the Italians are keen for them to move on. Its no secret the Americans have been looking for a new base with even Udbina being considered at one stage.
DeleteSay what you want about the Yanks but one thing is for sure, they spend cash and lots of it.
They can spend their money somewhere else...
DeleteSome things are not to buy,
for no money in the world!!!!
http://www.politika.rs/vesti/najnovije-vesti/Dinkic-Razmatramo-da-Etihad-preuzme-JAT-ervejz.sr.html
ReplyDeleteGee, another story from the Government of Serbia. LOL.