The Qatari Emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has started a two-day official visit to Slovenia accompanied by a sizeable government delegation, where flights between Doha and Ljubljana are also to be discussed. The outgoing Slovenian Minister for Infrastructure, Jernej Vrtovec, has already held talks with the Qatari Minister for Transport and Telecommunications over the introduction of services between the two capitals. Mr Vrtovec noted that despite being a small country, Slovenia is strategically located in Europe, offering benefits to Qatar Aurways. There have never been nonstop flights between the two countries. The only Gulf carrier serving Ljubljana, Flydubai, plans to increase its operations to the Slovenian capital from five weekly to daily starting June 27, just nine months following the route’s launch.
The Qatari Emir, along with his entourage, arrived in Slovenia over the weekend on Qatar Amiri Flight Boeing 747-8, Airbus A340-200 and an Airbus A320. The delegation includes the ministers of foreign affairs, finance and trade. As part of the visit, an agreement will be signed between the tourism and trade promotion agency Spirit Slovenia and Qatar Holding. Qatar Airways, which is preparing for a major increase in demand due to the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Doha, has launched several new European routes over the past year. In the former Yugoslavia, the carrier serves Belgrade and Zagreb, with flights to Sarajevo to be restored next month. The airline is yet to resume services to Skopje, which were suspended at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Qatar Airways has considered introducing services to Ljubljana in the past. In 2017, the airline's CEO, Akbar al Baker, noted that “Ljubljana is being looked at”. However, ultimately, no flights were launched between the two cities. The following year, the Qatari Minister for Economy and Trade, expressed hope for services between Doha and Ljubljana to be established in “the near future”. Although there is little demand for point-to-point travel between the two capitals, with just over 1.000 passengers travelling indirectly on a single itinerary in the pre-pandemic 2019, a potential Qatar Airways service would be primarily used by transfer passengers, with the Qatari carrier boasting an extensive international network.
No way Jose!
ReplyDeleteNo good company.
DeleteIgnore the staff.
This would be fantastic.
ReplyDeleteIf it's not announced today it never will be!
ReplyDeleteI don't think it will be today but I think soon QR will announce some new routes.
DeleteThey had a few routes to Ukraine which have all been suspended. Odessa they started just a few weeks before the war. So they have the capacity to launch something else with similar flight time. LJU is a possibility.
DeleteI think the biggest problem is that black mamba will now become minister for infrastructure and that's a bull sh**
DeleteI don't even know how is this leggal...
But nevermind, I hope it will become reality and that we see qatar as soon as possible.
Finally!!! If this happens then it will be bad news for TK.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if LJU is being affected by FZ too.
DeleteDon't know about TK but it did affect their Zagreb flights. They reduced planned frequencies and operate fewer flights than in Ljubljana now.
DeleteSame as Aeroflot's flights from Moscow when they started Ljubljana.
DeleteLets hope the Emir will stop by in Skopje on the way back and announce the restoration of flights to Skopje as well
ReplyDeleteDOH-SKP-LJU could be a good option.
DeleteWith fifth freedom rights between SKP-LJU, you would get another issue solved.
DeleteIt would be great but it won't happen because the next Macedonian new route tender being fixed for Wizz Air will likely include SKP-LJU route from what I hear.
DeleteThis gets my vote too
DeleteOr triangle flights DOH-LJU-SKP-DOH
DeleteWho would fly then if have just connectiion flights in doha. I would prefer like to go with tk or to zagreb.
DeleteCan the A320 operate Ljubljana?
ReplyDeleteYes, they operate the A320 to Prague for example.
DeleteDidn't know, thanks
DeleteAlso don't think there would be any restrictions because QR's A320s have generally lower capacity than most A320s out there.
DeleteQR would be a fantastic addition in Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteWhy not? It is an undeserved market with a lot of demand for travel.
ReplyDeleteQatar??
DeleteSlovenia obviously.
DeleteThe outbound market in LJU is quite large. It is also wealthier than most others in the region. Qatar would do well in Ljubljana and these factors would allow them to charge slightly higher fares.
DeleteAhh, what about sth in Europe?
ReplyDeleteWhat?
DeleteSpain, Scandinavia and other countries in north and Baltics, increased frequencies on existing routes, better timeline, Rome...
DeleteThis route is not going to work well
ReplyDeleteSure you know, just like DXB right?
DeleteQR will succeed in Ljubljana
DeleteThat is an impressive number of Qatar planes currently in LJU.
ReplyDeleteEspecially the 747-8 :)
DeleteI saw some photos from LJU. All of the planes look stunning.
DeleteIndeed
Deletehttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/FS0-X_MWYAEEu0P?format=jpg&name=large
Beauty!
DeleteI can only imagine what it looks like inside
DeleteI landed last night from London at the same time as they did. First i saw A320 and then i noticed other two. It was so nice to see big birds in Ljubljana. Delegation is HUGE. There were cca 20 SUV driving to Ljubljana when 747 landed (other two arrived earlier). You can see more pics on slovenian media or https://www.sierra5.net/novice-novo/novice/item/4026-na-brniku-pristala-tri-letala-qatar-amiri-flighta
DeleteThis would be great and I think FZ and QR could work side by side. I believe FZ handles a lot more point to point traffic than transfers, as we've seen with some of the data posted here on other FZ routes in the former Yugoslavia.
ReplyDeletethis route would work wonders in terms of cargo.
ReplyDeleteWould the A320 be able to handle much caego?
Delete* cargo
Delete7 cargo containers can fit in the A320.
DeleteGreat
DeleteA320, three times per week to Ljubljana would be a good start.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI am sure three weekly on QR will represent a natural progression of Flydubai's daily flights.
DeleteI hope that Qatar starts Ljubljana. I know Ljubljana is close to bigger hubs but it can also attract passengers from smaller cities like Graz and Slovenians would travel from LJU if there were options.
ReplyDeleteEX-YU may I ask why does this comment always apear on news about LJU flights to Middle east?
DeleteOn my flight to London there were many austrians (i guess Villach and Klagenfurt) ... i think Ljubljana airport should focus on them more ...
DeleteThey are. LJU airport is a gateway for part of SLO, Kärnten, Osttirol and Tarvisio/Tolmezzo area. But of course it all depends on flight and price availabilities. It wld be interesting to know, how much Kärtnen Airtravel departs via LJU. My guess is around 10-15% as I see Austrian plate nbrs around the airport, u hear German language on the planes, but definitely not in larger numbers.
DeleteGood luck Ljubljana!
ReplyDeleteFrom a cargo perspective, this would be a nice addition to the airport and would directly compete vs TK, due to A320 having better cargo capacity then B737 and due to both airlines offering lots of connections onwards. There's a lot of demand for smaller shipments that would fit into belly of the airbus. Currently for QR all shipments go to BUD and get exported from there. You eliminate 2-3 transit days because of that and lower the cost due to no trucking needed between LJU and BUD. Overall it would be a win for the airport in terms of cargo.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's an important aspect for each airline, especially on longer routes like this. Good to know.
DeleteTK is flying A321 to LJU.
DeleteMy bad anon 10:22. The A320 vs B737 comparrison was targeted at FZ, I should specify that.
DeleteThat is why I think it's going to be direct competition to TK due to both having Airbus planes.
LJU is taking them ages.
ReplyDeleteHope we see more of them in the region.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened with their planned Dubrovnik flights?
DeleteIt didn't launch because of Covid in 2020 and they never restored plans to launch it. At least not for the time being.
DeleteGreat news. With world cup being hosted in qatar in a few months numbers will continue to go up. Good luck to QR.
ReplyDeleteI doubt this route will launch before the World Cup. Possibly next year.
DeleteThey fly to most neighboring airports with widebodies
ReplyDeleteAre you suggesting they should do the same with LJU?
DeleteNo, just noting that they have already developed in neighboring regions.
DeleteGood to see gulf airlines paying more attention to Slovenian market.
ReplyDeleteIt would make them the only One World airline in Ljubljana right?
ReplyDeleteIt would be the fourth. BA, Finnair and Iberia but the later two for some reason terminated LJU.
DeleteFinnair because of lack of Asian tourists, Iberia because of lack of aircraft.
DeleteHEL is number 1 unserved route from LJU, and Iberia is getting like 5 A320Neos this year so I don't think lack of aircraft is the right excuse.
DeleteHow long would this flight last for?
ReplyDeleteDoha - Ljubljana - 5h50min
DeleteLjubljana-Doha - 4h50min
Ok, what is the realistic timeframe when these flights could launch?
ReplyDeleteThey could launch any time, especially considering QR had to discontinue Kyiv and Odessa because of the war (and I doubt they will come back any time soon). So they have aircraft available.
DeleteQatar will come to Ljubljana sooner or later
DeleteWith QR no longer under blockade and able to fly to other Gulf market, I think these flights could work well.
ReplyDeleteOther than Dubai (if they offer competitive fares compared to Flydubai), I don't see a lot of transfers for elsewhere in the Gulf.
DeleteThey have been hiring a lot of Slovenian crew lately.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't mean much.
DeleteHow many times do they currently fly to ZAG and BEG?
ReplyDelete5 per week for each. Increasing to 7 in July.
DeleteConsidering that there were 1000 passengers between the two cities and LJU having less than 1M annual pax, it sounds like wet dreams
ReplyDeleteThere isn't much P2P traffic from most European cities to Doha. QR is primarily a transfer airline.
DeleteAdd people who travel from Ljubljana to VCE, ZAG, VIE to catch QR and the number is much bigger
DeleteI really hope this materializes.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI remember back when Pahor was begging QR to buy Adria. Shame it didn't happen. Maybe they would still be around.
ReplyDeleteThey have nothing to do there.
ReplyDelete?
Delete?
DeleteWould love to see their bird parked in LJU.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed.
DeleteLogical. Only ex-yu market for Qatar left to launch which makes sense.
ReplyDeleteJust in from Qatar:
ReplyDelete"As for the air connectivity between Ljubljana and Doha, HE Sultan bin Salmeen said that Qatar Airways is very interested in the European market, but opening a new route requires time to study the market and operate it, and once completed, the air route will be opened.
He said Slovenia is a tourist country that relies on this sector as a main resource in the economy and has attractive facilities, adding that the tourism component between the two countries could constitute a leap during the coming period. He pointed out that the Slovenian President presented the tourism file during his recent visit to Doha and found Qatari welcome in this cooperation."
They have been studying it for several years. I hope flights begin soon.
DeleteI thought that in Slovenia we are against carriers which receives millions from their government? Double standards!?!?
ReplyDeleteIt's different when someone else pays for it.
DeleteNothing is for free, in fact most expensive are normally things which you get for free! One way or another..
DeleteUnexpected but good to see.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait
ReplyDelete