Japan's largest carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) will return to both Ljubljana and Dubrovnik this summer by operating a pair of charter services originating from Tokyo and Osaka, which will be run on behalf of the country's largest tour operator. The carrier has scheduled flight NH1951 from Osaka Kansai International to Ljubljana for August 31, departing at 13.05 and landing in the Slovenian capital at 18.15 that same day. Flight NH1955 from Tokyo to Ljubljana will run on September 14, leaving Narita Airport at 09.00 and arriving in Ljubljana at 14.00. From Dubrovnik, a charter to Tokyo will operate on September 7 and to Osaka on September 21, with flights departing at 20.30 and 20.55 respectively. All of the planned services are scheduled to operate with ANA's wide-body Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which has the capacity to seat between 215 and 395 passengers depending on the cabin layout.
Earlier this year, Slovenia and Japan resumed talks over the introduction of scheduled services between the two countries. The Slovenian State Secretary at the Ministry for Economy and Technological Development, Aleš Cantarutti, hosted Japan's Minister for Economy, Commerce and Industry, Yoshihiro Seki, in June during which the two discussed the necessary steps for the establishment of nonstop flights. It involves the swift conclusion of a bilateral Air Service Agreement, which would pave way for ANA to initially conclude a codeshare agreement with Adria Airways. Last year, ANA noted the two carriers plan to mutually exchange flight numbers and designator codes on services from Japan to Paris, Frankfurt and Brussels, as well as from these European points to Ljubljana.
Croatia and Japan are also set to resume talks over the adoption of an Air Service Agreement, which is a precondition for the establishment of nonstop flights. The first round of negotiations were held last November in Tokyo. The Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs said, "Discussions between the aeronautical authorities of Japan and the Republic of Croatia are continuing. A tentative framework has been reached until the conclusion of an Air Services Agreement between the two countries. Considering the possibility and forecasts, there is sufficient air traffic demand for scheduled air services between Japan and the Republic of Croatia in the future".
Impressive efforts by LJU.
ReplyDeleteLJU is not all about JP and the numbers have shown it.
ANA is a great airline and so is the Japanese aviation. Kudos Slovenija!!
Two charter flights to LJU is hardly a reason to congratulate the operators of LJU. If anyone, kudos to the gov of SLO.
DeleteIs it just me or were there more of these flights in the past? Usually 4 or even 5?
ReplyDeleteYes I think so too.
DeleteThere there were five to LJU so this is quite a reduction.
DeleteLucky LJU and DBV to get the Dreamliner :)
ReplyDeleteZAG will get it all winter long :) with Korean
DeleteIt's a shame ANA does not organise one charter a year for Slovenian tourists going to Japan. I'm sure they would be able to fill the aircraft.
ReplyDeleteWould they?
DeleteReally?
DeleteAre the DBV only one way? Originating from Dubrovnik?
ReplyDeleteI think this is the case each year. They do a ferry flight from somewhere. Because the Japanese tourists arrive first to another country and then come by bus to Dubrovnik.
DeleteDo they ferry the plane between LJU and DBV?
DeleteObviously not. The dates of the flights are different.
DeleteTime for these flights to become scheduled.
ReplyDeleteCould their really be enough traffic to sustain scheduled seasonal flights to either LJU or DBV?
DeleteNo.
DeleteI think charters are enough for now.
DeleteOne thing which remains a challange is that all of these flights would be used primarily by people living in those countries and in 98% of the case for tourism purposes. To make a route sustainable there needs to be two way traffic which in not purely based on tourism flow.
DeleteANA is a Star Alliance airline like Adria and Croatia. If I were Adria or Croatia I would lobby the government to seal this deal. It could provide a great feed to their respective networks.
DeleteMore and more japanese companies are investing in Slovenia, so maybe there will soon be demand for scheduled flights (tourism+business)
DeleteZAG or DBV can sustain scheduled seasonal flights, 2pw
DeleteIt's much safer for them to operate charter flights where seats are sold by tour operators. I guess tourist numbers are not enough to warrant schedule flights.
DeleteWho has more Japanese tourists? Croatia or Slovenia?
ReplyDeleteCroatia without doubt.
DeleteOver 32.000 Japanese travellers visited Slovenia last year
DeleteIn 2018, a total of 159,574 Japanese visited Croatia
Slovenia gets considerably more tourists from South Korea (146,000 arrivals in 2018).
DeleteThe Croatia visitor numbers are getting into the territory where they could sustain flights.
DeleteSlovenian numbers are tiny, I guess Slovenia is still undiscovered for them which is why there is such growing interest. There is a lot of what we can offer for them starting with clean air which they don't have at home. XD
DeleteSlovenia is one of the most eco-friendly countries in Europe.
There is definitely potential.
DeleteOne of the fastest growth sectors in Croatian tourism is from East Asia and it is also less seasonal than many European destinations
DeleteActually, Slovenia and Croatia advertise themselves as one market on tourism fairs (in Japan, China and south Korea).
DeleteI think our travel agencies and national tourist boards could do more on promoting the area in countries such as Japan. We have to compete for the new markets and not be focusing on the tourists from the West only.
ReplyDeleteWohoo very good for Dubrovnik and Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteANA converting their charter flights into seasonal scheduled ones might happen down the road.
ReplyDeleteI really do hope that scheduled flights eventually materialize out of these charters.
ReplyDeleteCroatian government has done nothing to get scheduled flights to Japan. They have a "draft" bilateral but haven't actually finalized anything or adopted in parliament. I don't know what exactly they are waiting for.
DeleteWhy does it seem that the ASA's are taking so long to conclude with Japan? Same thing with Slovenia-Japan. Talks have been going on for over a year.
DeleteI always thought that air agreements were regulated by the EU and is applicable to all EU states. Obviously I was mistaken.
DeleteSome are negotiated as a bloc, like the one with the US but almost all are on a country to country basis.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteWhat I reckon is:
ReplyDelete31.8. Flight from Japan to LJU.
Japanese tourists start 8 day bus tour of Slovenia/Croatia ending in DBV and flying back home on 7 Sept.
On 7 th Sept on that same charter from Japan to DBV another group of tourists for Croatia/Slovenia 8 day bus tour starting in DBV and ending in LJU and leaving for Japan on flight on 14th Sept.
And then again the same story from LJU to DBV.
I think you may be right.
DeleteThere was a good trip report about these flights
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2019/03/trip-report-ana-tokyo-ljubljana.html
Fantastic
ReplyDeleteThank you for the schedule. Good spotting opportunities.
ReplyDeleteI hope they send the Star Wars livery to LJU like last year :D
DeleteAre these flights only for Japanese people or can anyone book those flights outside of Japan?
ReplyDeleteYou can only book them from Japan through Japan's largest tour operator.
DeleteNo ExYu country can sustain scheduled Japan flights. If BUD, PRG or OTP can not support them then definitely neither can ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteThat is true.
DeleteSorry I don\t agree. None of those places you listed have charters to Japan yet LJU and DBV do.
DeleteBUD airport is growing insanely. With at least 20 new routes between Autumn and next spring, I would not be surprised to see ANA or JAL launching routes to BUD.
DeleteThe airport now will be connected to US, Canada, China, South Korea, Caucasus has many new destinations and will sure even surpass PRG very soon.
Growth was 13,5% last year and I think the situation will be absolutely the same in 2020.
BUD has shown it can sustain daily EK 773 and W6 is likely to launch Hungary-US flights with the new A321XLR orders.
I wasn't questioning Budapest's success but I was saying that just because Budapest doesn't have a certain route doesn't mean anyone in the rest of the region can't.
DeleteWill JAL operate charters this year too?
ReplyDeleteNo, they haven't been operating charters to this region for a while.
DeletePity. Remember them in Zagreb back in the day.
DeleteThey used to fly to LJU too with B747.
Deletehttps://www.airplane-pictures.net/photo/120495/ja8079-jal-japan-airlines-boeing-747-400/
DeleteLjubljana needs those flights and Fraport will most likely negotiate for more Japanese routes or a new route to either Haneda or Narita.
ReplyDeleteJapanese love the Balkans and you will be surprised they don't like touristic places.
They will visit smaller, cheaper places and not so popular.
Slovenia is a developed country and deserves airlines like ANA landing on its soil.
Singapore Airlines are next.
Are you for real? Singapore Airlines in Ljubljana?? They have been struggling to get Flydubai to Ljubljana for five years already.
DeleteYaaasss. And we in PUY deserve Cathay Pacific. We deserve it.
DeleteFor how many years have these charters been going on?
ReplyDeleteDBV najmanje od 2009.g. Kad sam ja radio u Babinom kuku već su bili.
DeleteFly Dubai has nothing to do with possible SIA flights.There would be rather charter flights similar to ANA & JAL bringing torists from Asia to Slovenia and not transfering tourists from LJU to the Dubai hub and forward.These are two different things.
ReplyDelete