easyJet is to become Slovenia’s largest carrier by seat capacity this year, following the demise of Adria Airways in 2019. The budget airline, which last year had 122.436 departure seats up for sale from Ljubljana, will boost its capacity on the market by launching a new service from London Luton next month. The UK’s capital is central to the airline’s operations from Ljubljana. It will now maintain flights to Slovenia from three out of the four busiest airports in London. In addition, it also links Berlin and Ljubljana. The Stansted - Ljubljana route remains the airline’s busiest, with a total of 130.932 two-way seats offered between the two last year. Overall, Stansted has been Ljubljana’s fourth busiest route in terms of passenger numbers.
easyJet attempted several other destinations out of Ljubljana in the past. In December 2010 the airline was due to commence services from Milan Malpensa but the route was cancelled prior to its launch due to poor ticket sales. The no frills carrier also maintained flights between Paris and Ljubljana from December 2010 until March 2012, but they too were cancelled. Asked if it is considering launching new routes to Slovenia, the airline said, "easyJet is always evaluating new options and opportunities to be more profitable and continue growing in Europe with the primary focus for the short-term to thicken our presence in our core markets".
High refuelling prices, state taxes and other charges, most of which are not set by the airport itself, continue to act as a deterrent for low cost airlines in Ljubljana. The CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, previously said, “If Ljubljana Airport were to lower its taxes Ryanair would surely return to Slovenia”. The airline operated flights from London Stansted to Maribor for some nine months between 2007 and 2008. In addition to easyJet, Transavia and Wizz Air are the remaining two low cost operators serving Ljubljana. Wizz Air has reduced its presence in the Slovenian capital by suspending services from London last October. Its decision to downgrade its Charleroi service from year-round to seasonal summer operations was reversed in December, as a result of Adria’s bankruptcy. On the other hand, Transavia will add an additional weekly flight from Amsterdam this summer for a total of three per week.
It is really surprising that LJU is linked with 5 airports in London. Good job.
ReplyDeleteEven more surprising that the market didn't get saturated.
DeleteMaybe another destination in the UK could also work.
DeleteFive?
DeleteGatwick, Stansted, Luton. That's three.
Sorry I meant to write four. BA flies Heathrow - Ljubljana
Delete+ Heathrow by BA, should be 4
DeleteManchester, Liverpool, and Edinburgh would give northerners a better chance to get to LJU. Those near to Luton and London are really spoiled for choice.
DeleteAgree. LJU needs more and more United Kingdom routes.
DeleteI would like to see more new routes from other European regions as well.
DeleteI'd expect something like a 3pw LJU-EDI on U2 working well. There is a solid contingent of Slovenians in Scotland and it's also far more interesting for LJU-originating tourists than the North of England (MAN/NCL/LPL). I think the nearest airports to LJU with nonstop flights to Scotland are VCE and VIE, plus some seasonal services to the Croatian coast. There is also quite some tourist interest going the other way of course. LIS/BCN/OPO are the other obvious candidates for a 2-3pw service.
DeleteI really hope Wizz Air will also expand its network to Ljubljana. I think there is a lot of potential. Why have they not done more?
ReplyDeleteBecause Wizz Air is preoccupied with loss making Vienna hub. They are putting all planes and effort there right now. Vienna is a battle for dominance and no one is making money right now. That said VIE continued its impressive run, I think passenger numbers are up by 20% in January! I think Wizz Air is bothered by the fact that they are still smaller there than Austrian Airlines and Niki.
DeleteAlso Wizz Air seems to be only thriving in ex-YU in SKP. In all other places they are doing so-so.
I see potential for them to start some routes in Scandinavia and Spain.
DeleteHigh airport charges, high refueling prices, state taxes and other charges are not compatible with W6 or FR's business model.
DeleteI think W6 is currently busy with various reshuffling amongst most of its bases. They are probably concentrated on their future AUH base. They are pulling out completely of FRA, BOD, ODS reducing DWC, were not successful with LYS neither.
DeleteI doubt we see any new move in the region soon.
BOD? From what I know Wizz Air doesn't fly to Bordeaux right now.
DeleteSo an LCC is Slovenia's biggest airline :D I believe only ex-Yu country together with Macedonia where this is the case.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense since they no longer have a national airline and have opened up their market. What's interesting is that in Slovenia that happened naturally without state help or subsidies.
DeleteLJU may be a small airport but it is well connected to Europe's main airports compared to SKP.
DeleteExactly, starting with the fact LJU is served by both Swiss and Lufthansa, combined they have 4 daily flights. Also LJU has Aeroflot, more flights on JU and LO so in terms of connectivity the situation is not as bad as expected or as some have predicted on here.
DeleteLJU also has BA connecting to LHR and from there to pretty much everywhere on the planet.
Delete@Anon from 09:05: Easyjet is also Austria's biggest operator by aircraft registered in the country. I don't know what point you're trying to make.
Delete09:27 you are correct if you consider spending the night at LHR. Check the timetable of BA...
Delete@9.08 but SKP has much more affordable travel.
Delete@09:39 SKP has affordable travel to village airports.
DeleteThere were attempts to link SKP with airports such as MUC or FRA but they failed because ticket sales were abysmally low. So once can't say airlines didnt try. Same with AZ, they lost money hand over fist in SKP and ended up killing the route. It makes me wonder how LO is doing, anyone know?
DeleteDoes anyone know about LH group's schedule for SUTT? At least two daily at srnsible hours to FRA, MUC and ZRH would be nice.
Delete@anon 10:25: Biggest change is morning/evening FRA flight. Other than that just minor timing changes.
Deletesome bunch of experts here ...
DeleteexYu - would you please care to elaborate what are those other "not aiport set" taxes?
ReplyDelete"High refuelling prices, state taxes and other charges, most of which are not set by the airport itself"
Airports have to collect on behalf of the state a number of taxes and charges for security, people with limited mobility assistance, VAT, local and state charges.
DeleteWe call them all "airport taxes" but not all end up to the airport bank account.
Of course this isn't just a Slovenian or even an ExYu practice. It happens all over Europe.
Great news for Slovenia! U2 is quite a decent carrier and has a neat product.
ReplyDeleteFollowing the demise of AB, they took advantage of their TXL slots and aircraft and now beginning to expand even more. Next month they are even launching TIV, SOF, RHO, CHQ. I am assuming we either see more ex-Yu additions in the near future.
They've mostly been focused on Croatia. I do hope they expand in ex-Yu more quickly.
DeleteI think they could have success with a route from Spain actually.
ReplyDeleteI am thinking why flights between Slovenia and Italy are unsuccessful?? Adria used to fly between LJU and Rome, easy jet from Milan. And everything failed.
ReplyDeleteToo close and too small.
DeleteFunnily enough we (JU) have transfers from LJU to FCO, not many but we do. I am sure LH via MUC does as well. There is a market but it's probably not big enough for non stop flights.
DeleteeasyJet is first by seat capacity.
ReplyDeleteIs Air Serbia still the first by frequency?
Yes
DeleteIf you think about it, LH Group lost the most from JP bankruptcy.
DeleteThey weren't prepared. But I also think Slovenia is the least of their worries. It's such a market that it obviously wasn't a priority for them.
DeleteHope to see more LCC flights in Ljubljana soon. But LJU is having a lot of competition: Trieste, Klagenfurt, Graz, Zagreb are the closest. A lot of Slovenians (from central and western part of the country) use Venice airport. it's quite close, 2,5hrs by car from Ljubljana. VCE has very good connections all round Europe, and also with some destinations in US, Dubai...A lot of different companies, also low cost. And nearby is Treviso- Ryanairport. Not to mention Munich and Vienna are only 4 hrs by car from Ljubljana..
ReplyDeleteSure it is close 2.5 hours by car. Vozite se sa DRDom i FlexiBusom 3.5 sata.
DeleteDon't want to sound douchey, but KLU is not that of a competition with those couple of flights per week.
DeleteFinally new LCC route to Ljubljana after a year. Pitty its London AGAIN!
ReplyDeleteLondon is a city with continuous demand. Business, tourism, study, gasto, never ending events. Comes with no surprise that the airport has six airports compared other European capitals.
DeleteLondon has by far the busiest city airport system in the world. It's closest thing there is to the capital of the world.
Delete@anon 9:54: I agree with you. London is attractive for tons of reasons. Additionaly, Britain is an island, therefore it makes sense they have bussiese ariports in the world.
DeleteLJU should support Easyjet to add Madrid and Lisbon to Ljubljana!
ReplyDeleteLJU should not subsidize these low cost carriers.
DeleteThese airliners are much better for users and for Slovenian tourism then adria airways
DeleteI hope Easyjet will evaluate flights out of Ljubljana Dublin,Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon.
Delete@Anon09:46 Seeing Easyjet doesn't fly to DUB at all and only flies to MAD from a handful of select airports, those two are highly unlikely. I agree with BCN and LIS as good options, if probably not daily.
DeleteBCN is unlikely as it's not their base.
DeleteNot surprised.
ReplyDeleteEasyjet is great company (actually together with Norwegian the best European LCC) and LJU could have only benefits from them
Looks like that Brits really like Slovenia
ReplyDeleteI don't know anybody who was in SLO and did not like it.
DeleteSlovenia is great for life and visiting. However, working there is a completely different story.
DeleteHopefully more new routes and airlines are to come. Maybe Wizz Air adds a new destination?
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to Eurowings launch Ljubljana too. They were thinking about it two years ago.
DeleteLJU management identified Spain a few years ago as one of the most undeserved markets. I don't understand why they didn't do anything to attract an airline like Vueling or even get Wizz Air to fly to Madrid or Barcelona
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteAlso LJU could easily get flights to Mallorca.
They did attract Iberia if that counts...
DeleteDublin could work with tourists like London. Is there a Slovenian diaspora over there?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the U2 numbers. Any idea how Wizz Air is performing?
ReplyDeleteWhat are the chances of seeing British Airways flying Heathrow year round?
ReplyDeleteIf they will be doing well this summer I think it's realistic to expect year round flights next year.
DeleteI feel sorry for the Fraport. Not only have they lost their based legacy carrier, they have ended up with LCCs being the main customer. Together with the passenger numbers, yields drop too. That really must have hurt.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to feel sorry for Fraport. It's big difference between having the most seat capacity and being the main customer. Now LJU finally has a good mix of legacy and LCC airlines, all are important but none of them being existentialy crucial for the airport. Fraport can in the long run only benefit from this situation.
DeleteI would bet Fraport got more money (as in cash, not revenue on paper) from passenger tax in January 2020 than August 2019.
DeleteInteresting. Who would have thought easy would have emerged as no. 1.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes them think Luton will work if it didn't for Wizz Air?
ReplyDeleteWhat makes you think LTN didn't work for Wizz? They obviously stopped LTN for other reasons (read capacity, their other battles ie. VIE and so on). I can tell you first hand that Wizz to LTN had very good LF and of course Easy didn't want to miss this opportunity. Remember they also stopped CRL for the same reasons, but then changed their mind and now again CRL has very good LF from LJU. Things are usually not so straight-forward in aviation anymore.
DeletePerhaps Paris could work for easyjet now that Adria is out of the picture.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Paris 2 daily with AF?
DeleteVery nice development
ReplyDeleteWon’t the market become a bit saturated?
ReplyDeleteObviously not.
DeleteIf there would not be demand there would not be such offer. Looks like that Brits like Slovenia
DeleteMaybe a lot of people from ZAG use these flights if they are cheaper.
DeleteThe flights to London from Ljubljana are used by quite a lot of people from nearby cities, not just Zagreb.
DeleteYes, that is true. In such a small region it is normal.
DeleteWould have preferred a different destination to be honest.
ReplyDeleteExcellent news. This will at least compensate for the loss of Wizz's Luton-Ljubljana flights at least.
ReplyDeleteHow many weekly flights did Wizz Air have from Luton to Ljubljana?
Delete3 weekly
DeleteThings are finally starting to move at LJU. Next up should be Fly Dubai announcing new flights.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't hold my breath about FZ.
DeleteLjubljana should be connected with Dubai and Doha soon.Why are they waiting for]?Slovenians travel a lot. And of course Slovenia is a perfect getaway for Arab tourists.Turkish airlines flies twice per day, there is definitely space for some gulf carrier.
DeleteThere's not enough demand for DOH/DXB to fill A320/B738 for a daily flight, which you need for onward connections.
DeleteAnd that's before considering that EK flies to ZAG, VCE and VIE.
If their is market they would for sure start to fly to Ljubljana at least before Skopje, Sarajevo and Pristina. But as we can see they do fly there but not to Ljubljana.
Delete@anon 10:46: But there's enough demand to fill 2 daily A321 to IST with the same customers? Don't you think most Slovenes would rather fly from LJU instead of ZAG,VCE,VIE if there was good priced option?
DeleteYou are too small got it? From IST they travel to Asia and Africa and US not only to Gulf.
DeleteAnonymous27 February 2020 at 12:20
DeleteI believe you are mistaken. Gulf carriers are already serving many Slovenian passangers to Asia, Africa and Indian subcontinent from VCE, VIE or ZAG. By flying from LJU they would canibalize their own flights from ZAG, VCE and VIE.
The only reason why a lot of us use TK is the fact, they fly from LJU.
You guys are also forgetting SU, they carry a lot of the same passengers TK does and EK or QR would as well in LJU.
DeleteWell it's at least something. I see this as a beginning with more routes to be added in the future, maybe two, maximum three.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed
DeleteIs this seasonal just for the winter or will it fly through the whole year?
ReplyDeleteYear round.
DeleteOk I would have been more excited if they launched a new destination rather than just a different airport from a city they already serve but I will take it. Better something than nothing.
ReplyDeleteLJU to Manchester or Birmingham would be perfect, not everyone wants to visit London.
ReplyDeleteYou can get from most London airports to Birmingham in about 2.5h. And there's much more to see for an average tourist in London than in Birmingham.
DeleteInteresting that today AF sent the A318 to LJU! Market seems to be recovering quite nicely.
ReplyDelete+100
Deletewhat about LJU-SEN=? MAD,BCN and charters to PMI and LPA? LED (pobeda)? FCO/TLV/MIL? LJU still has place to improve and maybe to restart organized transfers from Europe to LJU and then with planes that lands on the see that have been in use in Croatia for some destinations as POZ, LSZ?
ReplyDelete