Ljubljana Airport’s General Manager, Zmago Skobir, has said talks are underway with a carrier from the European Union to set up a base in the Slovenian capital. Speaking to the “Sierra5” portal, Mr Skobir said, “It is no secret that we are working on having at least one of the EU airlines set up a smaller base at the airport. We believe this would be the fastest and most effective way to improve our country’s air connectivity”. He added that talks were also being conducted with low cost airlines but ruled out Ryanair, which will set up a base in nearby Zagreb this September.
Although Mr Skobir did not mention the names of any carrier, it is believed LOT Polish Airlines will establish a mini base at the airport. It has filed for slots to operate seasonal one weekly services from Ljubljana to Podgorica, Brač and Olbia from late May, although these plans are preliminary and subject to change. Even though it has not put tickets on sale for its newly planned flights out of Ljubljana, its timetable for services between the Polish and Slovenian capitals change on May 29, indicating that the inbound and outbound service will not be operated by the same aircraft. The Slovenian government recently met with LOT executives in Poland to discuss the country’s air connectivity.
Slovenia has seen one of the biggest declines in passenger numbers in Europe last year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with the trend continuing during the first quarter of 2021. It handled 18.364 passengers during the January – March period, down 90.4% on last year. Commenting on the results, Mr Skobir noted, “Statistics and analysis must be put into context. Air traffic in Slovenia is exclusively international in nature (there are no domestic flights). We are among the countries that had the longest and strictest lockdowns and Slovenia does not have traffic generated by expatriates, nor can it rely on mass tourism”.
Good luck
ReplyDeleteTo me, Croatia Airlines would make most sense
ReplyDeleteWhy would Slovenia tie itself to an airline which might not be around for much longer? We don't know what will happen with OU once FR arrives to ZAG and W6 to BNX. OU did not reform itself and is not showing any signs of doing so.
DeleteIn my opinion, LJU needs to sit put and weather the storm. There is no point in holding talks now when most of the EU is introducing stricter measures.
This, however, could have been the perfect opportunity to get FZ from DXB or W6 from AUH.
Nemjee: absolutely nobody outside of your country can take you seriously anymore for your constant and one-sided either anti-Croatia or anti-ZAG or anti-OU preaching. Take care of your beloved own airport and airline and leave others alone.
DeleteLJU would be very badly counseled if they as the only airport far and near would be totally passive and not try to attract new customers.
The fact that you don't like the prognosis doesn't mean the diagnosis is wrong.
DeleteAnon 11.34
DeleteI am sorry but which part of what I wrote is wrong? OU under these circumstances has no future, they will keep on struggling until they can no longer sell assets to finance their survival.
My point is that LJU should focus on attracting airlines that can bring it long-term brnefit.
As for my home market here in BEG, I don't need to worry much as it does just fine under these circumstances. :)
I don't always agree with Nemjee, sometimes I see him also not too critical about JU and too critical about others, but this time, he is absolutely right :Croatia Airlines like this, and chances for change are close to zero, has absolutely no future, which of course include LJU operations
DeleteThere are objective reasons why LJU will not become a major airport, even though Slovenia is by far the richest ex-Yu country:
Delete- LJU has a lot of competition within 200 km distance: Klagenfurt, Trieste, Rijeka, Graz, Zagreb, Pula, Venice and a lot of this with easy access thanks to very good roads and being in Schengen zone
- a relatively small city (300 thousand people) and en entire population of Slovenia being only 2,1 mln people
- proximity to Western Europe (for example 4h drive to Munich, 5h drive to Milan)
Also aviation simply does not seem to be a priority for Slovenia. Personally, I think that Serbia selling Komercijalna banka to Slovenia to spend this money on aviation is a strategically good move for Slovenia and not so for Serbia, but everybody makes its own judgments and has the right to its own decisions.
Serbia sold it to NLB which was sold to the Americans. NLB is Slovenian in name only.
Deleteanon 15:59:
DeleteIt's totally off-topic, but you are wrong. The biggest shareholder of NLB is the state of Slovenia (25%). Bank of New York Mellon holds shares (58,8%) not on its own account, but on behalf of investors who invest indirectly in NLB by buying on the London Stock Exchange so-called GDRs. None of those other investors holds indirectly more than 10% of shares in NLB.
In order to own something you have to have 50%. Slovenia doesn't. They are a minority owner.
DeleteYou "own" only your shares. You do not "own" the company, even if you have 80%.
DeleteBut a different thing is CONTROL. In a company with shares listed on a stock exchange with dispersed shareholding, typically only a very small part of shareholders appears at general meetings, so with 25% of shares you have a controlling majority at those meetings. Even more so in case of GDRs issued for shares in a company, when a typical thing is that a bank issuing GDRs agrees with the company to vote in favour of whatever the management proposes, unless otherwise instructed specifically by the holder of a GDR.
So in short: yes, Slovenia does not own 100% of NLB, but it is the boss in NLB with full control over it. And yes, Slovenia dumped Adria and it dumped LJU.
Sorry but you are not the boss with 25%. You might have more sway but you don't run the show.
DeleteI made an attempt at explaining to you that having 25% of shares with only around half of votes represented at the general meeting and the only other shareholder present at the general meeting with more than 1% of votes being the bank that issued GDR and that bank agreed to vote the same way as you, unless specifically instructed by the holder of GDR, means you are the boss.
DeleteBut I failed. You are probably one of those guys that think having control over a profitable bank is less important in todays world than having control over ever money losing airline and call the later venture "strategic". Well, I think the first gives you wealth and thus position.
^ seriously man you are the one that started discussing banks in an aviation article. No one was even talking about it.
DeleteComplexes I guess which is why he mentioned money losing airlines.
DeleteSure sure you are Skobir, sure you are...
ReplyDeleteThey have been talking about this for ages now.
ReplyDeleteTime to seal the deal.
DeleteTime to put words into action.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if something they said finally became a reality.
ReplyDeleteWhoever they are, they would be a lifesaver for Ljubljana at this moment.
ReplyDeleteThose numbers are really worrying. Tuzla now has better passenger numbers than Ljubljana.
ReplyDeletethis is quite depressing, it’s a classic example what happens to the airport when national carrier is gone
DeleteAnd dont forget about incompetent LJU managers
DeleteWell it's not as if Bosnia has a national airline.
Delete@ 9.35 yeah right. it's adria, not corona and associated travel bans and layoffs in companies.
DeleteWell it's without doubt that shutting down Adria has proven to be the worst decision for Slovenia's aviation industry.
DeleteI think they should do everything they can to get Wizz Air to open a base in LJU.
ReplyDeleteNo chance. There is not a single route which would be profitable with 180+ seater from LJU except London.
DeleteAnon 10:28 please run to easyjet, british airways, wizzair, finnair, aeroflot, transavia, turkish, sunexpress and say they should immediatly stop flying to LJU
DeleteSorry I meant LCC route
DeleteI don't think LJU can sustain an LCC base. They require maximum use of their aircraft with short turnaround times, which means that they should have multiple flights everyday, meaning also multiple destinations. And I don't think there are enough secondary destinations (because that's what most LCCs fly to) that can work for LJU at the required frequencies. So LCCs will serve LJU from other bases where the market is big enough to include thinner, low-frequency destinations such as LJU.
DeleteThings will remain bleak for a very long time if they don't manage to strike a deal with someone soon.
ReplyDeleteThe planned LOT flights are really minor. It's just an extra 3 weekly flights per week during the summer which is really nothing.
ReplyDeleteI would like LJU to be much more proactive. They were aware a year ago that JP would go bankrupt. They said how they have everything ready when that happens and what have they done?
ReplyDeleteThey did a lot, like.. um...
DeleteThey could not predict a global pandemic.
DeleteLJU airport is always "negotiating". Nothing comes of it, ever.
ReplyDelete+1
Deletewon't believe it till the plane is on tarmac
This is true. This management has "been in talks" for ages with all sorts of companies.
DeleteGood luck
ReplyDeleteIt will be more difficult to attract new airlines in the covid era, especially to smaller markets such as LJU where it was never easy to attract airlines in the first place.
ReplyDeletePlease let it be an LCC!
ReplyDeleteIt's LOT.
DeleteJust promises and talk from LJU, as usual.
ReplyDeleteBTW what is LJU going to do with the new terminal?
ReplyDeleteart gallery
DeleteAviation Museum.
DeleteVery funny boysi.
DeleteI miss at some big changes like Air Dolomiti or Volotea to connect south of Europe especially
ReplyDeleteVolotea phasing out 717, with 319 only, is too much capacity, especially Italy being close, France not too much tied with Slovenia, and Spain and Greece usually covered by charters. Dolomiti, as Star feeder, and with 100 seaters, seems more logical choice for connecting to FRA, MUC, VIE, ZRH with more convenient timings. But LOT with lower costs and prices than Dolomiti, is what I think will happen, and might represent logical step in LOT becoming joint carrier of Central Europe, similar to SAS in Scandinavia, which might, after WAW, KRK, BUD and LJU, spread to PRG and ZAG, as soon as CSA and Croatia cease operations, which I see happening within next 3 years
DeleteThey could include LJU as a destination, but they could not sustain a base at LJU.
DeleteDidn't they also announce that they were in talks with Air Serbia?
ReplyDeleteThe government held talks with Air Serbia but the airport never said anything about it.
DeleteI also think they're in talks with LOT. Especially since Janša is back, they have been cooperating with the Višegrad countries, which already led to a LOT base in Budapest and Ostrava, so Ljubljana will be next, if an agreement is reached.
ReplyDeleteLOT Polish Airlines will operate seasonal one weekly services from Ljubljana to Podgorica, Brač and Olbia. That's it? Wow!
ReplyDeleteAccording to rumors LOT holiday flights and "established airline base" are two different stories.
DeleteAnd what are the rumours about the base?
DeleteA regional airliner from LH family.
DeleteSo if it's a LH regional, probably is AirDolomiti.
DeleteLOT and OU would be great results as Star Alliance carriers and could allow some sort of hub activity again code sharing with eg LH from Frankfurt. Their regional aircraft fit perfectly in terms of filling holes post Adria
ReplyDeleteMiss Adria :‘(
ReplyDeleteWe have finaly come to reality check I wrote so many times: it has become bluntly clear, that LJU and Slovenian market (including pool of surrounding countries) can sustain only combination of state owned small airline with regional-type fleet (CRJ900/1000, ERJ190+ etc) and many daily frequencies to all parts of Europe, clever system of code-share and no membership in alliances, co-operation with larger companies rather than competition (on routes where A319 type of aircraft are overkill in regards to demand) and streamlined conduct of business (free of leechers if all kinds) and LCC where small aircraft can’t compete, like London and some other routes. It is obvious, that frequencies, thus connectivity from LJU is far more important than bigger airplane with two or even three weekly flights toward most desired destinations. New Adria should have been a conglomerate, owned by the state, consortium of tourism companies and airport of Ljubljana. Otherwise we will never again see the passenger numbers from 2019 and new terminal will be empty. Don’t forget, a large chunk of LJU passenger numbers were generated by connecting fligths from Macedonia, Bosnia and Kosovo and those flights are list forever.
ReplyDeleteIberia
ReplyDelete