The Slovenian Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, has held talks with both Etihad Airways and Emirates over potential services between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ljubljana, with the latter showing greater interest. Following discussions with Etihad in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, Mr Počivalšek said the carrier was more interested in serving Ljubljana indirectly through its partners, primarily Air Serbia with which it has a codeshare agreement in place on services between Belgrade and the Slovenian capital. However, the national carrier of the UAE was also interested in exploring possibilities of maintaining links to Ljubljana through Alitalia and Air Berlin which do not operate to Slovenia.
Following talks with Emirates yesterday, Mr Počivalšek said that the airline has shown interest in serving Ljubljana through Flydubai. The carrier plans to terminate services to Zagreb this winter season through which it offered bus shuttle services to and from the Slovenian capital. On Wednesday, a manager from Ljubljana Airport told the “Siol” portal that links to the UAE are currently being actively pursued but noted that bringing in new carriers did not depend solely on the airport or its operator but also on the route’s competitiveness. In June, Ljubljana Airport held talks with representatives from Etihad, Flydubai and Air Arabia over potential services. According to an earlier report by the "Sierra5" portal, Flydubai has shown the greatest interest in introducing services to Ljubljana based on "unofficial but reliable" sources.
Last November, Slovenia and the UAE signed a Civil Aviation Agreement, which enables flexibility on routes, capacity, number of frequencies and types of aircraft between the two countries, for both passenger and cargo flights. The agreement also foresees the implementation of fifth freedom traffic rights, permitting carriers from the UAE to operate services to any airport in Slovenia and then onwards to a third country. The Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure noted, "Passengers travelling from Ljubljana Airport should benefit from better connections to the UAE, which will play a significant role in promoting cooperation, especially in the tourism sector, which is of great importance to Slovenia". Last year, Slovenia and the UAE signed an economic cooperation agreement which the two countries see as an opportunity to boost ties in various fields, particularly in tourism.
Flydubai’s Zagreb suspension is definitely a good chance for Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteSo it seems some people correctly predicted that FZ might move to LJU. If this happen then Zagreb would be the only ex-YU capital without flights to Dubai.
ReplyDeleteI think FZ could have a lot of success in LJU. The catchment area is much wealthier than the one in ZAG as they could attract passengers from neighboring Slovenia, Croatia and Italy.
All in all these are some really positive news.
And Podgorica
DeleteApparently Podgorica will launch next year too.
DeleteI still can not understand that LJU does not take advantage of it's catchment area. It is true that areound LJU exist so many airports (range of 2 h driving) but still-potential is about 5 mio inhabitants and the road infrastructure is great.
DeleteWasn't it reported on here that TGD will be getting the flights?
DeleteImagine it is now the pax from ZAG that will be bussed to LJU or BEG to take a FlyDubai's flight. What a turn of events. Good news for LJU.
DeleteI can see LJU making FZ work, they seem to be far more successful in running a business than their neighbors to the south. I hope ZAG management wakes up!!
Delete@AnonymousSeptember 23, 2016 at 12:58 PM
Deletevery few people fly to Dubai, reason why FlyDubai perhaps stopped flying to Zagreb.
Ljubljana is only 90 min by train and 80 min by Car to Brnik airport out of Zagreb, so shouldn't be the problem.
However far more important is that Qatar if flying to Zagreb, keeping strong prescience in Croatia. FlyFubia had its run, didn't go well, perhaps Ljubljana might prove more successful.
AnonymousSeptember 23, 2016 at 1:49 PM
You're a troll. Zagreb management is awake and knows what it is doing, they're in fact doing a fine job, new terminal is on time and on budget.
Loss of FlyDubai isn't a bit deal, however you're trying to make a big drama out of it, it is not, airlines come and go, end off.
TAP and Swiss are coming back in April of 2017 and management announced they are negotiating with a dozen new airlines to start flights to Zagreb in 2017 and 2018, however current small terminal isn't able to accommodate projected growth. Once new terminal opens new airlines will be invited to come in.
However even though this blog already reported this fact few times you still trumpet your nonsense and lies. U*'re truly some sick charter.
This is such a missed opportunity for Adria. They could have launched LJU-DXB years back when they were an actual player on the ex-Yu market with good connections in the region. Now it would probably be a lost cause but if the management is genuinely interested it turning LJU into a transfer hub like they have said then this was the market they should have gone for.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that if JP approached QR today and offered to feed their flights they would have accepted it. The issue is that they don't as they are too busy expanding all throughout the Polish countryside so to feed their master's hub in Munich.
DeleteAgree. A completely misguided strategy. Let's hope something changes but I'm not holding my breath.
DeleteI do not belive that JP will ever fly there. Locals are to strong and well connected
DeleteFZ’s ZAG flights had quite a lot of Slovenians on them so I hope they do come to Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteDubai- Ljubljana - New York by Emirates would be great.
ReplyDeletelol I think you are getting a bit ahead of yourself.
Delete@anon 9.22. Unfortunately that is not likely to happen from anywhere in the ex-Yu.
DeleteBoth Serbia and Croatia have open sky agreements with the UAE and would make much more sense to fly DXB-ZAG-JFK if they were ever interested in something like that - which they are not.
DeleteAnon. 11.04 I think USA has the most important say there, not Serbia, Croatia or UAE.
DeleteWell, the US did allow EK to fly between MXP and JFK so I don't see why they would make an issue in this region which has far less potential and is actually not on any US airline's radar.
DeleteThat said, I don't think we'll ever see something like that happen here.
It is very questionable why FZ leaves ZAG.
ReplyDeleteMaybe EK comes instead through some other city, like OTP
DeleteFZ had poorer performance on flights to Zagreb then other cities in their ex-Yu network. Emirates is not coming but lets say they hypothetically were to come, do you see the logic of them completely pulling out of the Zagreb market by letting others like QR take the cake?
DeleteIf Emirates were to come Flydubai would have been serving ZAG to the very last day before EK started operations.
Any official data about FZ loads in ZAG? Still think, its really strange that FZ cancels, Zagreb is enough big market for 2-3 gulf carriers, especially that there is no flights to Slovenia.
DeleteSeems like the market is not big enough to handle them all. In the end we can see that double daily flights to the Persian Gulf is more than enough. QR will have 10 and TK will take care of the rest from their base in IST.
DeleteWhat were the fares like on DXB-ZAG flights? That could give you a good indication of how they were performing.
DeleteFrom what can I see in Google Flights (they have data like FZ won't stop flights tho), the lowest return fare is 240usd (end of sep, oct, 2 days trip), while highest is 896usd, (end of dec, 2 days trip)
Deletehttps://www.google.com/flights/?f=0#search;f=ZAG;t=DXB;d=2016-10-04;r=2016-10-06;s=0
just to copare, lowest fares to other ex-yu, regional cities: BEG 329$, SJJ 335$, SKP 380$ and SOF 213$, OTP 369$! I also found intersting that FZ starts flights from DXB to BKK
DeleteSo SKP is doing well for them if they are having it more expensive than SOF.
DeleteFlights to the Middle East are way overdue. They have been talking about this for months. Time to the money where their mouth is.
ReplyDeleteThey should focus on getting some more European LCC first.
ReplyDeleteIt is the MUST to get pax from its surrounding...more offer means more demand
DeleteStep by step...I belive that they (read Fraport) tried to do somthing out of Adria..but soon or latter they will bounce back. For sure.
ReplyDeleteI think Fraport gave Adria a chance. Now they are looking elsewhere and they started with Easy jet adding new flights. Hopefully FZ will join soon.
DeleteAgree wit u. For sure there was a hidden agenda berween LJU & JP. Looks like that the fary tail is over. And so must be.
DeleteThe fact that they didn't find a solution for Adria to pay its debt to the airport could have played a role too,
DeleteIs Adria paying other airports for their services? They should be careful. Malev's demise started when TLV airport refused to allow their plane to depart due to unpaid bills.
DeleteInternational suppliers are paid on time. The issue is local ones such as petroleum and the airport. Since Adria is no longer state owned they are no longer willing to look the other way.
DeleteInteresting. I wonder how long they will wait before applying for a court order to block JP's accounts.
DeleteSpeaking of Adria, I have heard the new owners are interested in flying to the Middle East so it is an option. They are genuinely interested in taking the company to a completely new direction.
DeleteWill be interesting to see what becomes of this. That said, I wonder if QR in ZAG gets some passengers from neighbouring Slovenia.
DeleteFlyDubai maybe, Emirates and Etihad no way.
ReplyDeleteLess words more action. They have been talking about UAE airlines coming to Ljubljana for almost a year. Let's finally see it happen and not just commitments and nice words.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI will believe it when I see it.
Air Serbia's morning flights to Ljubljana are mainly filled with transfers from Etihad's flights from Abu Dhabi (and I presume most are coming from a third destination). Slovenian's are quite big travelers. Flydubai would be the best fit for Ljubljana for the time being.
ReplyDeleteTrue.coming from third destinations. Etihad flighs ex Ljubljana have excellent price. Abu Dhabi and UAE in general it,s just transit.Slovenian's are currently obsessed to fly as far as possible for the lowest price as possible and as much as possible.
DeleteTrue.coming from third destinations. Etihad flighs ex Ljubljana have excellent price. Abu Dhabi and UAE in general it,s just transit.Slovenian's are currently obsessed to fly as far as possible for the lowest price as possible and as much as possible.
DeleteBoth EY and JU see alot of Slovene and Croat pax on BEG-AUH, however EK also has a fair amount of Slovenes on VCE-DXB. Speaking of BEG-AUH, I notice a fair amount of Croatian passports in the gate area when travelling on the JU flight to AUH.
DeleteFlydubai will fly 4x weekly during winter and spring Sarajevo-Dubai.From July 01.2017 to October 15.2017. Flydubai will fly double daily between Dubai and Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteAir Arabia will resume flights Sharjah-Sarajevo on 16.03.2017. with 3 weekly flights. Flights will increase do daily from 01.07.2017 to 30.09.2017.
Qatar Airways will start Sarajevo flights at the end of March 2017. with 3 weekly flights Doha-Sarajevo.
Summer 2017. looks very promising, again, when comes to Sarajevo and air companies from Persian Gulf.
Kuwait Airways is considering flights to Sarajevo as well.
From all EX YU airports Sarajevo has most connections to Persian Gulf, and trend will increase more and more every year with huge investment in Bosnians hotels and tourism from UAE!
Summer 2017 is still a long way ahead of us. Until then BEG will remain as the ex-YU city with the most frequencies to the Persian Gulf.
DeleteAUH x14
DXB x4
DOH x4
Qatar was supposed to increase BEG to daily but they decided against it given their fleet issues. If they do end up increasing BEG then we might have a total of 25 weekly flights. We should still wait and see what FZ does next summer. This winter they will have an extra weekly departure which is great news.
Plus from next year Air Serbia will serve IKA. Iran is a Persian Gulf country too :)
DeleteIt would be great if JU launched IKA but I'll believe it when I see it. I think Iran could be a great market for their JFK flights.
DeleteNo wonder there is so many flights considering the amount of Arabs who bought properties around Sarajevo and decided to move there. # of flights can only increase with time. I heard there is a $2B investment in place to build a small city for 20K people in Trnovo area catering mainly to this group.
DeleteHope it happens but not getting my hopes up.
ReplyDeleteAbout time. Every single country Slovenia boarders has flights to the UAE.
ReplyDeleteWell Croatia not for long...
DeleteUnless EK comes. ;-)
DeleteGood news for Slovenia. Let's hope it happens.
ReplyDeleteOT: Third company will be flying from Niš soon. More details in 20 days.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.juznevesti.com/Drushtvo/I-treci-avio-prevoznik-uskoro-leti-sa-niskog-aerodroma.sr.html
Could it be easyJet Switzerland?!
DeleteWOW! Go INI go go! Shine like a star and start competing with BEG so we see more routes in Serbia.
DeleteAnon @ 3:58 Radovan Marinkovic incognito. ;-)
DeleteNo, English is too good to be his. ;-)
DeleteAnd he didn't mention Kraljevo - Morava.
DeleteThe arrival and departure of airlines is quite normal in ex YU. Remember BEG a couple of years ago? Had so many newcomers and a big percentage left: AF, BA, BT, TP, U6, VV (now PS or Z6), 4U so now it's normal this happens to ZAG too.
ReplyDeleteThe only good performers in not losing routes are DBV, SPU, PRN, LJU and SKP.
Truth be told, not all of those carriers left because of poor loads.
DeleteAgree, but LF is not always the most important factor. You may have LF 40% but selling a lot of business class or higher flex rates. Don't you think?
DeleteOf course. Look at BA and their flights to Luanda. They have around 80 passengers on the B772 but they still manage to make crazy money.
DeleteBA had around 66% LF when they flew to BEG. I doubt they were losing money but equally so they weren't making a lot of it. Given that they are based in LHR they probably decided to use their precious slots for another route.
AF's loads were phenomenal on the A318. We are talking 90+. Unfortunately due to a mix of incompetence and syndicate parasites they couldn't make the route work (cost). I highly doubt they'll be back with Air Serbia and Wizz Air flying between the two cities.
BT did well in summer, loads were in the mid-70s. Unfortunately this wasn't the case during the slower months when they had around 50%. Add to this low fares and a relatively long flight and voila.
In the end I am sure more airlines will return to BEG but not before the economic situation improves.
If I had to guess, I don't think many new airlines will come. Maybe up to three. What we might see is current ones adding more flights.
That said, I am more than confident Eurowings will launch several BEG flights in the near future.
Good points you noted there. You know that people are always obsessed about LF thinking that full flights mean more money.
DeleteYou might be right about Eurowings (as the germanwings brand no longer is promoted) and resume flights from CGN/STR or HAJ.
Lets wait and see.
I am sure Eurowings will launch a few destinations out of Germany. They are still regrouping and trying to consolidate their position in more important markets.
DeleteHowever, they won't hand over the Serbian market to Ryanair and Wizz Air, especially not to the latter. Like you said, CGN and STR are likely candidates but I would also add Dusseldorf and Berlin.
word on a.net is the RV will launch YYZ-BEG next year as they imcrease their B767 fleet by 25%.
Delete@ nemjee
couldnt agree more on your comments on eurowings. Will be interesting to watch when this will happen.
LH takodje planira da HG i EW imaju istu saradnju u Austriji kao EW i AB u nemackoj .
DeleteJATBEGMEL
Jel imate link mozda .
Hvala unapred.
INN-NS
JATBEGMEL
DeleteI hope that plan doesn't pan out eventhough it seems very logical. I had a chance to fly with them once to Caribian and said never again.
@JATBEGMEL Imagine the view at BEG: JU A330 to JFK, second JU A330 to PEK and Air Canada Rouge B767 to YYZ all at the same time at Belgrade airport.
Deletehttp://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1343615
Delete@ anonymous 7,46am
It will depend on how JU will use the ac, as well what days RV will fly to BEG. All 3 in BEG using air bridges isn't something Im looking forward to, considering the amount of space needed currently for 1 A330 and that lack of gates at BEG.
Najvece sanse da bilo gde dodje EK to je BEG zbog toliko letova za Bliski istok .
ReplyDeleteA nadam se da ce poceti EY da salje za BEG wide-body avione.
INN-NS
To bi bio dobar potez uvazavajuci Vase misljenje postovani Anon 4:32 PM. U zimskom period realnije je A 320, I u period Bozica ne manji od A 321. Iz prolecnog Sidneja veliki pozdrav. Rod & Srbi Sidneja.
DeletePa kako bi Etihad reagovao na to?.... prazne slame.
DeleteDubai-Ljubljana and Doha-Ljubljana in 2017
ReplyDeleteA kako ce da boli kad za koji dan EK objavi da pocinje da leti za ZAG
ReplyDeleteUuuuuuuu... don't go there.
DeleteDa da, evo već sada boli. Da li si ti realan? Misliš da nekog stvarno interesuje da li će EK da otvori liniju za ZAG, BEG ili gde već? Otvoriće tamo gde ima tržišta. U Beogradu sigurno neće jer je ponuda ogromna, Etihad, Air Serbia, Qatar Airways i Fly Dubai lete iz Beograda na Bliski istok. EK sa velikim avionom bi bilo previše.
DeleteCekanje ce da boli vecno...
DeleteOnly time will tell, but why FZ didnt hold the route then until EK starts?
DeleteTrue dat.
Delete