Ljubljana Airport looks to low cost airlines
Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is in talks with low cost airlines Wizz Air and easyJet for the two to launch new flights to the Slovenian capital later this year. The CEO of Ljubljana Airport, Zmago Skobir, says, “We are in the final stages of talks with Wizz Air and easyJet on launching routes to northern Germany and maybe Scandinavia towards the end of the year". He adds, “The airport offers links to 23 destinations, however, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia and northern Germany remain grey areas”. Wizz Air currently operates flights to Ljublana from Charleroi and London Luton, while easyJet maintains flights from London Stansted.
The two are the only low cost airlines currently operating scheduled flights to the Slovenian capital. They are credited for lifting passenger numbers at Ljubljana Airport in 2013. Wizz Air and easyJet now account for 12.3% of all passengers using the airport, up 4.2% on 2012. easyJet is currently the second busiest airline in Ljubljana after Adria Airways. In less than a year, Wizz Air has become Ljubljana’s third busiest airline with some 50.000 passengers carried to and from the airport. In 2012 easyJet also operated flights from Paris to Ljubljana but discontinued the service later on.
Ljubljana Airport hopes to see passenger numbers improve by 7% this year but it will need new destinations to do so. Adria Airways has already announced plans to launch flights to Warsaw and Prague from Ljubljana in late March and early April respectively. The airport’s CEO says growth in 2014 will be fuelled by Adria, Turkish Airlines and Air Serbia. Furthermore, Ljubljana Airport will invest 5.8 million euros in its facilities this year, primarily on necessary adaptations after the airport’s shareholders last year rejected a state backed plan for the construction of a new terminal building. It remains to be seen how the airport’s sale, expected by mid 2014, will impact on its operations.
Why don't rather attract new carriers? Like Norwegian, Vueling, Airbaltic and so on.
ReplyDeleteSeems that LJU be, according to the announcement of the new lines (source this page) 2nd most attractive EX-Yu airport (BEG 52, LJU 11, SKP 8, ZAG 6 all others 15). Besides only BEG and LJU have mostly all year flights, all others sessional. To all who predicted something else, I do excuse, giving these conclusion due to available data. I wish all the best, and my best hopes are with INI (to develop potential of at least 1.5 million in surrounding) and OSI (offering Slavonia and Bačka people some low-cost). In addition, it is important to establish connection BEG-ZAG at least two ATR daily for various transfers (BEG to east and Mediterranean , ZAG to BRU, LXR, Spain, Portugal). Even the same I wish for PRN. I am not Yugo-nostalgy man but practical to ensure the most people (with no brain block) to travel as cheap and comfortable as the most in Europe does.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to establishe BEG - ZAG route is to force Air Serbia and Croatia Airlines to start flying at the same time, with a codeshare agreement so that people who don't like one airline can fly with the other one.
DeleteWhy would you need two airlines flying between Belgrade and Zagreb? Air Serbia can do it on its own, especially in summer when its network expands. There are almost no O&D passengers on this route so JU will have to rely on connecting passengers.
DeleteI didn't mean tow airlines but two daily flights to suit waves from and to the BEG and ZAG airports. In fact, that would leave both Air Serbia and Croatia Airlines to strengthen flight schedule, and use more efficient crafts (more passengers per route).
Delete@ Zoran, how should people with 'brain block' travel. And how do you measure that by the way?
DeleteIf Prague is served just fine with a single daily flight, I do not see why we need a double daily flight to Zagreb. The same can be said for Thessaloniki. Zagreb would depart at around 14.00 the same way Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Skopje and other regional cities do.
DeleteBrain block means that the best option is not chosen because of the name of the airlines (many comments proved that). And for the other comment, I thought that BEG and ZAG could function as two semi hubs, which could be in a favour of both sides (even without brain blocked travelers)
DeleteLjubljana is expensive. 6 days parking 74 euro. That's why people fly from Venice, Ts, Graz, Klagenfurt and Zg.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid you are wrong. Make sure and check everything before! Six days parking on airport parking P2 is 54€, 1 week 60€. Through www.parkvia.com you can get 1 week parking at nearby secured parking lots and even garages with free transfer for as low as 28€. I think this is on of the lowest rates compared to other nearby airports.
DeleteNot correct - cool down
Delete7 days parking
LJU:66 PH & 54 outdoor
ZAG: 72 outdoor just
BEG: 34 PH
GRZ: 65 PH
TRS: 60 PH
I payed 74 in the parking house. Can you please explain why people from Slo use alternative airports? Why there is a very flourishing market for shuttles from Lj to Venice, Graz, Zagreb?
DeleteOT:
ReplyDeleteOva vest još nije potvrđena:
Emirates otvara 5 novih destinacija u Evropi iduće godine, među kojima je Beograd (avgust 2014.). Na ovoj liniji leteće Erbas A330-200.
Po mome misljenju postoje dobre sanse da se to desi. Etihad I "Qatar Airways" su već prisutni u Beogradu koji ujedno predstavljaju direktne konkurentne Emirates-u. Plus formiranje Air Serbia-e I konstantan rast putnika.
DeleteDa nije malo prenatrpano? Qatar, Etihad, flydubai (cak i ako ga zameni Emirates).
DeletePa cak i Pegasus koji leti i do Katara i do UAE ima odlicne cene. Npr 220€ do Katara, to je fenomenalno. A, da, zaboravio sam i Air Serbiju. Bas zato, jer vec ima mnogo kompanija, mislim da nam trziste mozda malo zasiceno.
Ne mislim da je nemoguce, ali mislim da je ipak daleko od verovatnog...
Jeste, došlo bi do prezasićena. Samo Air Serbia + Etihad su ogroman kapacitet.
DeleteEK might fly to BEG only after FZ double dailies become full - that's what it took them to launch Kiev. Though, anything can be possible if they have few spare-frames and want to push TK out while relying on BEG-DXB O&D.
DeleteYou can't compare Belgrade and Kiev, totally different markets. In addition to that, their late launch of Kiev made absolutely no sense, regardless of how many passengers flydubai had. They could survive in Belgrade with four weekly A330-200 flights. I am sure they can also attract some cargo to fly via Dubai.
DeleteYes i can compare the two markets since i am from there and do not need your authorization for doing so. The two are similarly structured markets with more high-end demand from Kiev but that's it. I'm sure you know better than Tim Clark what took them so long, whether it induced it or not they did launch the route only when FZ's double dailies became full. Whether they'll do the same in Belgrade we can't know but it's not up to you to judge. If you have read my earlier posts you'll know that i never said EK can't survive in BEG, i predicted that 4 weekly flights where they'll replace FlyDubai could make perfect sense for them. So inform yourself better and don't run faster than your brain is running.
DeletePegasus to Doha is only so cheap,because it is their worst performing new route.That was mentioned in an interview with their chief of sales i think on Anna.aero some time ago.
DeleteYep they need to deploy their A332 somewhere as more and more destinations see 77W and 388 services
ReplyDeleteWld be terrific to see a regular widebody in BEG again. Also good for passengers as ticketpricing will remain low
Ex-Yu could you let us know how did montenegrin airports finish 2013
ReplyDeleteThe problem with Croatia Airlines is that the airline is not good .the main problem is the Ceo Mr.Kucko that has no knowledge about airline business as he got the position due his connection with Croatian Prime minister. What Croatia Airlines need is a business man not what they have now.What he is doing to the airline is puur crime this can only happen in Croatia.
ReplyDeleteThat is the problem with airlines in Ex-Yu. Management positions are given not based on experience, but based on political connections. Jat would have gone bankrupt if it was not for Etihad.
DeleteQuestion: Does anyone commenting here know how you get WIZZ, RYAN, or EASY to fly to your country and city?
ReplyDeleteAnswer: by paying them !! Guys and girls maybe since most of you are anonymous...government and local tourism boards pay these airlines to come..but its win-win. If Slovenia would advertise weekly in any major London newspaper, that cost would far exceed the cost of giving cash to these airlines!! And you get it back with new tourists, take off and landing fees etc..and trust me if Ljubljana does not do it, there are 50 other cities waiting in line from every country in Europe, so lets just hope, and personaly Ljubljana is my choice to serve the area within 2 hours drive..so Italy, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, all count strongly into any future numbers!
It seems that it's only Belgrade and Skopje that can sustain a Wizz Air base at this time... without granting any major subventions.
DeleteNaturally, Belgrade market is big enough for many different players while Skopje was realistic enough and they got rid of MAT which allowed for new and more professional players to step in.
Dear Czinkan...
DeleteSlovenia is now cutting subventions for everything even for the poorest.
They call it Austerity measures.Demanded by EU and who knows who else.Slovenia no more has the means to pay for anything.Sad but true.
^ Skopje also subsidize Wizz Air !
DeleteCity Ljubljana reports 10% increase to a ttl of 500 000 visitors in 2013
ReplyDeleteOvernight up 11% to 960 000.
Lets continue that way...
Source: Slovenia Times
Zagreb also had good result, growth of 5.5% on 2012 with 808 000 visitors and 1.4 million nights.
Delete2014 Zagreb is expected to have around 875 000 visitors and 1.6 million nights.
Still bellow its 1987 and 1990 record when city had 1.02 million visitors and 2.1 million nights.
http://www.mint.hr/UserDocsImages/htz-turizam-br012_HR.pdf
In 2015 Zagreb is expected to reach best results in history with 1.05 million visitors and 2 million nights. Although Zagreb receives loads of day tourists from Austria, Germany, Czech R. Hungary and Italy, especially in summer months with 1.75 million tourist arrivals but no overnight stays, something Zagreb tourist Board plans to change in coming years.
These so called subventions come from the country"s tourism promotion budget, so no cuts here!! I work in tourism and marketing, the I Feel sLOVEnia motto, is probably the top one I have seen in the last few years, and Slovenia"s booths at intl trade fairs are also some of the most modern and up to date, so the tourism budget for Slovenia seems to be well spent!
ReplyDeleteplease can someone send me the link of that JAts flight BEG to JFK on youtube that was posted a few days ago. Thanks
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBDsy_U4MUU
ReplyDeletethere is also other videos of JU DC10s flying BEG-DXB, DXB-SIN, SIN-SYD and SYD-MEL
or you have the story of Jatko, however the video is incomplete, after 10min it just shuts down
Great read, very interesting
ReplyDelete