NEWS FLASH
airBaltic has announced it is upgrading its planned upcoming seasonal summer service between Riga and Ljubljana to year-round operations, with flights to run through the 2024/25 winter season as well. The carrier is set to launch two weekly rotations between the two capitals on April 25. It will be the beneficiary of state subsidies which will cover 50% of the airline’s fees at Ljubljana Airport. Late last year, the Slovenian government held talks with airBaltic and proposed for the Latvian carrier to open a base in Ljubljana, which the airline has ruled out for the time being.
That's big, looks great
ReplyDeleteGreat
ReplyDeletePraying for this....GO aB!
DeletePlus this winter they are planning north america flights from Riga
ReplyDeleteReally?
Deletethey are not. it's a lame joke
Deletethey applied for permission. It maybe to early to say this winter but definitely soon
DeleteDoes the A223 have enough range to reach JFK or BOS?
DeleteSome roumurs are floating about them ordering XLRs and LRs. If that's the case I can see them opening up some fairly exotic routes in addition to the US ones
DeleteTheoretically it could from maybe London or Dublin, but with very low loads and almost no backup fuel.
DeleteSo realistically, they're either negotiating with a North American carrier or are planning to lease widebodies/longer range aircraft
Sounds cool. I hope Lljubljana will overcome its hardships and have a nice season. :)
ReplyDeleteLjubljana is already having its best times, thanks to the state's financial support in terms of subsidies and Fraport's pressure on LH group to weigh on LJU operations. Though times will start when these start to fade away slowly.
ReplyDelete"Best times" LMAO
DeleteGlad that flights will be all year around. Situation in LJU is far from ideal but the diversity of airlines is amazing, especially when compare it with JP times. What LJU really needs are LCC holiday destinations.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with Ljubljana isn't airline count, it's frequency count
ReplyDeleteLJU will never again have the same frequencies as during JP, because it is simply not sustainable. If the three weekly flights to Skopje have the same number of passengers as the twice daily JP flights, then it is clear why JP went bankrupt. It is similar e.g. with BRU, where it was obvious that JP was often almost empty in one direction, just like e.g. still doing OU.
DeleteJP was is bad shape due to some less or non-economical routes. But JP went bankrupt because a few individuals from Germany stole the money via side contracts, when JP did the work but money never came in. Swiss police opened an investigation into similar behaviour when those same German individuals stole money there.
DeleteJP would have gone bankrupt many time in the past under state ownership as well, if it wasn't for continuous re-capitalisation.
DeleteIt was just a matter of time, and the government sold it to 4K, so they wouldn't have to take the blame themselves.
Exactly. JP didn’t have sustainable business model, very similar to OU today, only that Croatian government is willing to pump enormous money into it all the time, using different strategies to avoid EU regulations, even including huge amount of money allocated to the City of Mostar, which is just another way to pump money into OU.
DeleteActually I believe flights are launching on April 25th already. Anyways great news!
ReplyDeleteWill BT exist in one year from now? What about bonds repayment coming this year? How deep in red they will be, even if they manage to refinance these bonds, but they will have to pay much higher interest on the new bonds than on the bonds issued "in good times"? Will the EC agree to new state aid, given how much BT have already swalled? Is Latvia happy to pay again? Propaganda of success will not solve any problems.
ReplyDeleteTheir Balkan expansion seems to be performing bad. There are many flights in August for 59€ on their website to PRN, SKP, BEG, SOF and even OTP bigger market. They have good prices, but have the feeling they do not offer good connections with large waiting connections and the Scandinavian market is basically covered. Norwegian already fly to many cities in the region. In SKP, the schedule is terrible, but connections good, in BEG, they have a low number of flights. PRN will be interesting after visa free travel, in Bulgaria they already operate to BOJ and added SOF (small market) and not a large diaspora in Scandinavia. SKG also has a horrible schedule and barely ends until the beginning of Sepptember. They opened a temporary base in Gran Canaria and will see if they succeed. Just think many smaller airlines in Europe are on survival mode. The competition is way too high and population in the whole continent just lowering or being replaced, if you know what I mean. But, good for LJU. It is growing good.
ReplyDeletePopulation replaced?
DeleteWell, i am fine with that.
Was for some weeks in Berlin and absolutely enjoyed it there thanks to Turkish and Arabs who were so warm,friendly to me although i am from Serbia.
Mentality is obviously the same ;D
I felt there like at home.
That’s good😄
ReplyDeleteThey should start operations to SJJ soon as well
ReplyDelete