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| Ljubljana Airport anticipates new flights to Spain, Germany, Scandinavia and Asia |
Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport and its operator Fraport are looking to link the Slovenian capital with destinations in Spain, Germany and Scandinavia in order to boost passenger numbers. General Manager, Zmago Skobir, believes the airport has to cover these “gray areas” in the coming future. Primarily, the airport is looking at establishing connections to Madrid, Barcelona, Oslo and Hannover. Earlier this year, Adria Airways’ CEO, Mark Anžur, said the carrier is considering introducing flights from the Slovenian capital to either Madrid or Barcelona. “We could offer connecting flights to South America through Spain and, at the same time, lure visitors to Slovenia as well. Personally, I think Madrid would be more interesting than Barcelona because it is bigger but this will be decided in 2016”, Mr. Anžur said. He added, “Additional routes to Germany, such as Dusseldorf and Hamburg, could be of interest”.
This March, Ljubljana Airport recorded passenger growth of 5%, ending a several month long decline in numbers. Its operator is confident of a busy summer ahead. Recently, Swiss International Air Lines launched flights from Zurich to Ljubljana with some 30.000 passengers expected to use the service this year. Ljubljana Airport’s Commercial Director, Janez Krašnja, believes many passengers will connect from Zurich onwards to North America, Africa and the Middle and Far East. "Our expectations are greatest in the North America segment", Mr. Krašnja said. The head of Swiss for Austria, Central and Eastern Europe, Bernhard Wodl, added that the airline does not see Ljubljana only as a summer destination, with Swiss expected to operate the route throughout the 2015/16 winter season four times per week. Next week, Adria will introduce new flights from Ljubljana to Stockholm and Berlin, which are expected to further boost passenger numbers at the airport.
Despite its close proximity to larger airports such as Graz, Venice and Zagreb, Mr. Skobir says Ljubljana handled roughly the same number of passengers on international flights as Zagreb in 2014. In addition, the airport’s medium-term goal is to further strengthen charter operations, particularly from Asia. Japan’s JAL has been a frequent visitor to the Slovenian capital over the years, bringing hundreds of tourists from the country on charter flights to Ljubljana. Still, the majority of Japanese passengers use scheduled services to travel to Slovenia, primarily Finnair’s flights from Helsinki. Some 70% of all passengers using the route are Japanese tourists.
Meanwhile, Aerodrom Ljubljana, the operator of Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, was transformed into a limited liability company earlier this month. The decision on the transformation and subsequent delisting from the Ljubljana Stock Exchange came two months after German airport operator Fraport completed its acquisition of an outright stake in the company. As part of the transformation, Managing Director Zmago Skobir was given the nod by the owner to take over as General Manager of the limited liability company. From now on, operations will be overseen by a board of investors consisting of Fraport representatives. Fraport purchased operator Aerodrom Ljubljana for 234.4 million euros.
LJU should do much more to attract low cost airlines. The choice from Ljubljana is bad. Adria has a monopoly on 80% of the routes. That's your main reason why no one wants to fly from Ljubljana but use other airports instead.
ReplyDeleteWith them increasing fees lately that ain't gonna happen.
DeleteThey said last year how Wizz and Easy Jet would open more new route from Slovenia but that obviously didn't happen.
DeleteLjubljana is expensive. 6 days parking 74 euro. That's why people fly from Venice, Trieste, Graz, Klagenfurt and Zagreb.
ReplyDeletePlease, let's stick to the facts. Ljubljana airport garage is extremely expensive. But when you compare the cheapest parking from tomorrow for the next 6 consecutive days (just airport parkings and not the ones, where you need a shuttle from the private parkings around) you will get:
DeleteLjubljana: 43,50 EUR
Venice Marco Polo: 49,00 (prepaid 41,00) EUR
Zagreb: 59,45 EUR
Trieste: 61,00 EUR
So, this can not be the main reason, probably not even a reason.
Even the garage is not that expensive: 58 EUR for 6 days. So even the garage is less expensive than the cheapest parking in Zagreb or Trieste.
DeleteWhy don't they attract new carriers? Like Norwegian, Vueling, Airbaltic and so on.
ReplyDeleteRegarding charters from Asia, maybe they should ask Zadar Airport to give them some tips :D
ReplyDeletelol
DeleteIf it's about lying and giving false promises, Aleksandar Vucic is a much better choice!
DeleteWill JAL be flying charters to Ljubljana this year?
ReplyDeleteThey usually announce those later on but there will probably be charters to Ljubljana and Dubrovnik this year as well
DeleteThere won't be JAL charters this year, JAL has shed many routes in 2013, 2014 and 2015 to cut the costs down.
DeleteOT:
They're going through restructuring. ANA is talking to Zagreb airport over charters this or following year with similar schedule JAL had in 2012, No idea if Dubrovnik will be part of the package. ANA flights if they materialize won't happen before October this year, or most likely next year, 8-12 charter flights are being discussed.
However, Zagreb is also talking to major Chinese carrier in bringing flights to Zagreb, Shanghai and Beijing are being mentioned as potential routes, again only charters, perhaps up to 30 charter flights between the 3 cities.
I was asking about Ljubljana not Zagreb. Last year there were JAL flights to Ljubljana despite Zagreb suspension.
DeleteLjubljana has to get rid of its dependence on Adria. The reason numbers fell so drastically the last few years is only because Adria cut half of its flights. And that is a good warning for airports like Belgrade which is increasingly tying itself to Air Serbia monopol.
ReplyDeleteWhat cave have you been living in ???? Haven't you read the record profits and results that BEG just announced on the back of Air Serbia's "monopoly" (by the way, that's the correct way to spell the word) ??
DeleteBEG airport was going nowhere until Air Serbia came along.
The prime difference is that Air Serbia is growing, while Adria isn't - and thats the crux of the problem.
And to put your assertion into some perspective, Air Serbia's share of traffic at BEG airport is just over 50% - which is significantly less that what LH has at FRA or MUC; oe what AF has at CDG; or what LX has at ZRH: or what KL has at AMS; or what OS has at VIE.
i could go on, but the facts speak for themselves ....
BEG profit on the back of Air Serbia ? The best joke ever published on this blog !
DeleteOk Eistein - so where did the airport's record results come from if it wasn't on the back of a rejuvenated Air Serbia ? i can't wait to hear the reply on this one ....
DeleteCreative accounting anyone ?
DeleteLjubljana i Beograd su dva potpuno različita slučaja i glupo ih je porediti.
ReplyDeleteVerovatno je iz Tehnike pa pljuje ASL.
DeleteTvojom profilom slikom veoma vređaš nacionalno carriera Republike Srbije... Oni nemaju A380 i nikada ga neće ni nabaviti i nije lepo ismevati ih zbog toga
DeletePostovani Gospodine nikoga ja ne ismevam a ako bog da imace ga mozda za 20 godina.
DeleteA ne znam sto vam smeta slika.
Naravno da ismevas i vređaš ih pri tome... Za 20 godina ćemo imati i nešto što će prevazići A380... Sta treba da postanu? Brend kao Jat sa 733?
DeleteAir Serbia ima puno lepih aviona... Atr ovi su naroxito lepi i mogli bi staviti jednu njihovu sliku... Ili sliku Airbusa. A ne da ismevate jednu malu kompaniju koja pokušava da se razvije
Vas bode ta slika pa vam smeta.. A kao drugu ja ovde branim ASL
DeleteLJU and JP used to have the same mamma. Situation has changed. Results will be seen very soon. That is why JP is constantly looking for new markets what is the best strategy for them now
ReplyDeleteNadam se uskorom dolasku AY u BEG sto bi bilo odlicno.
ReplyDeleteOdakle ti ta informacija?
DeleteKaže dete: "nadam se"....
DeleteSome ideas for new routes from LJU:
ReplyDelete1) SHJ with AirArabia - since the market around LJU is filled with QR, FZ and EY, AirArabia makes sense to stir up the competition a little. AirArabia also has excellent connections to India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the likes and could compete with Turkish on some sectors. Also, Sharjah is the second closest airport to Dubai.
2) CGN with Germanwings/Eurowings - CGN is a big cargo hub and the demand to travel to CGN is quite high with Slovenian business travellers. Germanwings recently withdrew it's presence out of KLU and ZAG so LJU could take a certain share of this market.
3) FCO with EasyJet - There is a demand for this line but due to certain "misunderstandings" between Alitalia and LJU management a few years ago, Alitalia is hesitant to fly to LJU and flies to TRS instead. U2 could fill this void.
I would see DUS i/o CGN
Deletegood ideas
DeleteSHJ, are you high dude? There are no connections from there (minimal ones really). Only viable option could be FZ or QR.
DeleteI was not being precise, what I meant is there is no long haul from Sharjah. There are good options when it comes to Middle East, but no destinations to Far East. Africa is poorly covered, and the only other non Muslim destination is India. Of course I am not counting that somebody will go to Yekaterinburg via Sharjah.
DeleteLJU needs some serious restructuring. First of all it needs to minimise its dependence on Adria by attracting new carriers to popular routes. It also needs to attract more low-cost carriers as people are fleeing to Venice and Milano, so many lost opportunities there (maybe get Easyjet or Wizz to base an aircraft there?). It also desperately needs routes to Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, seasonal Canary islands), Portugal (Lisbon) and Germany (Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Koln). Then a connection to the Middle East, however I think the chances are very small here, as Zagreb has both Qatar Airways and Flydubai now.
ReplyDeleteLow cost airlines are the right solution.
ReplyDeleteReduce the feesc for new operators and make it happen.
Endo of Adria-Ljubljana mafia connection ... please.
Low cost airlines are flying to less attractive destinations then Ljubljana without any problem. Why not Ljubljana?
Plus... Slovenians themselves are travelling obsessed (last years) but without many money to spend. Currently they are travelling as far as Bergamo (italy) just to get a low cost flight. Go figure!
Why don't LCCs look at Maribor ??? That is a secondary airport that would fit into their business model and cause LJU to hopefully wake up. And if they don't, then Slovenians will flock to another airport in their country as opposed to travelling outside of their country to avail themselves of LCC options ....
Deleteanonymous at 2:49,
ReplyDeleteGermanwings withdrew no flights out of Zagreb, where did you get this information ...?
Out of ZAG you have 6 x weekly flights to Cologne, 5x weekly to Stuttgart, 3 x weekly to Berlin and 1-month long 1x weekly connection to Hamburg in the summer...nothing has changed here for years, ZAG and Croatia are significant markets for 4U.
It is interesting to see that LJU in general sees better loads than Zagreb on ASL.
ReplyDeleteMuch more point to point travel on top of transit travel. Many Serbs live in Slovenia and by that I mean Serbs that will use a plane to go back home. Plus lots of Slovenian investment in Serbia so Slovenes living in Belgrade as well. As for transits the route is very popular with Greeks. I think it will be interesting to see the loads for ZAG during the peak summer.
DeleteTalking of Ljubljana:
Deletehttp://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/3/9/7/2617793.jpg
Kotil is a douche. On another note, concerning Belgrade, i am surprised Wizz Air doesn't open TLV, prices are outrageous.
ReplyDeleteYou think Civil Aviation Directorate would allow it? I mean, we all know who do they care about the most.
DeleteSorry, i forgot to sign myself. At 300$ one-way i don't see how Air Serbia will profit in any way if i fly to Budapest or decide to make a stroll to Kiev.
DeleteYeah. It is crazy what they do. And I don't get their policy.
DeleteKod sve i jedne full service kompanije je karta u jednom pravcu skoro skuplja nego povratna, ajde ako je karta 400 eur neka u jednom pravcu bude 260
DeleteWizz Air needs the Serbian AOC for that route, same with Moscow.
DeletePlease, write in English, so everybody can understand you.
Delete@INN-NSApril 19, 2015 at 10:07 PM
DeleteIf it was 200$ i'd go for it. Like this i'd rather pay about a third of their price and fly to Budapest or make a visit in Kiev.
Interestingly enough, in the case of UIA that i'm considering as an option (which is a full-service carrier), o-w tickets are often the half of the round-trip ones. Unless Air Serbia's planes to TLV are 90% full two months in advance, i really don't get their logic by overcharging (almost discriminating) O&D passengers, while giving ridiculously cheap fares for let's say TLV-BEG-AMS. Anyway, that was to be expected as i was telling to Nemjee over a year ago.
To je malo cudna politika kod vecine Aviokompanija koju ne razumem.
DeleteMeni je jako drago sto se LF na mnogim linijama poboljsao u poslednjia 2 meseca.
Sta mislite koju ce destinacoju ASL izabrati u USA ORD ili JFK .
INN-NS
I'm not sure that TLV is one of them.
DeleteIt is, it is cheaper to fly from AMS or CDG to TLV than from BEG.
DeleteI meant, answering to INN, that i doubt that TLV is one of those routes suddenly seeing excellent loads in order to justify such a price.
DeleteI traveled last year in August to TLV and the flight there had around 35-40 pax while the flight back had around 75-80 pax ( I already reported once on here about this but I will say it again). I do not know how many transfer pax were there on the first flight, but on the way back only myself and 6 other pax were heading to customs. Also it is worth mentioning that I payed a lot in my opinion for such a short route. The only alternative was TK which was cheaper by 15 euros but did not want to go through hassle of transferring due to that sum.
DeleteAdria and Vueling were flying to Spain. There must be a reason why the flts were not coming back
ReplyDeleteMiddle East is well covered with TK
Rome JP did not work out years ago
I think for its size LJU has some good mix of destinations. Def it wld be cool to hve MAD or BCN back.
Before MBX gets additional routes it should keep pay free parkings nr. 1! Adria has to add at least 2 additional routes with a minimum frequency 3 to 4 times per week. Additional would be interesting to get some truckers from Perpignan or Marseilles as Maribor is also having a logistic center that can develop. Not to forget Flixbus driving from Vienna-Graz-Maribor-Ljubljana-Trieste should stop on Maribor airport on those days when flights are scheduled! Thank you for understanding. Not to forget Easyjet or Vueling or even better Volotea to the northen part of Spain or Portugal like 2 to 3 times per week....
ReplyDelete@Despite its close proximity to larger airports such as Graz, Venice and Zagreb, Mr. Skobir says Ljubljana handled roughly the same number of passengers on international flights as Zagreb in 2014.@
ReplyDeleteHm that is a bit of a overstatement, Zagreb handled 420 000 domestic passengers and 2 010 000 foreign passengers, unless Adria's boss refers to domestic traffic, in that case Zagreb had additional 370000 pax on domestic flights, no idea what percentage were foreign passengers.