Slovenia fails to reach deal with Wizz Air, Ryanair

The Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure has said that no agreement has been reached with either Wizz Air or Ryanair over the introduction of new flights to the country. It noted that preliminary talks took place with both airlines, however, no arrangement was made with either of the two budget carriers. "At these meetings, there was no talk of specific routes, but we offered them the possibility of flying to Maribor Airport, which has lower fees than Ljubljana", it said. Both carriers have shown interest in concluding cooperation agreements with the country’s Ministry for Infrastructure and the Ministry for Economic Development and Technology concerning the launch of new routes. Wizz Air currently operates a single year-round service to Ljubljana along with one seasonal summer route, while Slovenia is the only European Union member state not to be served by Ryanair.

The Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure has said it is preparing a long-term solution to improve the country’s air connectivity which has suffered since the demise of former national carrier Adria Airways in 2019 and the subsequent coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Slovenia’s aviation sector is still one of the slowest recovering markets in Europe from the Covid-19 crisis. “For a long-term solution to the aforementioned problem, we are preparing to undertake an air connectivity analysis, both from a traffic and economic point of view, which will form the basis to determining the long-term goals for ensuring adequate aviation connectivity", the Ministry for Infrastructure said. It conceded that subsidies, which have been offered to carriers already serving Ljubljana in order to maintain their services to Slovenia, have only been partially successful. “To some extent, we did manage to preserve routes operated by foreign airlines, encourage the re-establishment of scheduled flights that were suspended due to the pandemic, and encourage new airlines to fly to Slovenia as well”.

The Ministry said it was important to improve the country’s air connectivity. "It is of vital importance for Slovenia to be included in global trends. As an export-oriented economy, we can only compete by being physically present on global markets, which is precisely what regular and reliable airlines provide. Solid air connections are even more important for the tourism sector, as we want to attract as many foreign guests from more distant markets to Slovenia as possible. This segment is also of great importance for congress tourism". It added, “Additional short-term measures need to be implemented, namely subsidising additional new routes and incentivising an increase in frequencies to the most important destinations for our economy and tourism”. 

Data shows that with exception to flights to Istanbul, frequencies on all other existing routes out of Ljubljana are lower than prior to the pandemic. The Ministry said it is unlikely the majority of flights operated by Adria Airways to the former Yugoslavia and the Balkans will be re-established, as these routes primarily catered for transfer passengers. However, it also noted that frequencies and schedules to many points in Central and Western Europe are still unsatisfactory. The Association for Transport at the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce estimates that Ljubljana Airport will reach its 2019 passenger levels in 2026. The airport’s operator, Fraport Slovenija, has previously given the same forecast.