Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is working on increasing the number of flights operated by low cost carriers (LCCs). Speaking to “Bloomberg Adria”, the General Manager of operator Fraport Slovenija, Babett Stapel, said, “We have several objectives, but one of the biggest challenges is that we would like to increase the share of low cost carriers. We have good coverage by full service airlines, but low cost would surely add to our business. That doesn’t mean we want to become a low cost hub”. Ms Stapel added, “Low cost carriers have a share of about 20% at our airport, so we would like that to increase but we are not a hub airport, so our connectivity depends on serving the hubs since low cost carriers do not necessarily serve the main hubs. We need hubs to be served for connectivity. Our goal is to reach a 30% LCC share”.
Commenting on the ongoing support offered to airlines by the Slovenian government to improve the country’s air connectivity, Ms Stapel noted, “Since April 2023, the government has been supporting the launch of new destinations. Thanks to the great work of the Ministry for Infrastructure, we have four new destinations in our portfolio: Luxembourg, Riga, Copenhagen, and Madrid. The Slovenian Tourist Board is also doing an incredible job for inbound traffic. I also must highlight that we [the airport] have an incentive scheme in place, giving heavy discounts. For example, one of these incentives is prolonging the state aid for another three years. It was a request made by airlines participating in the scheme for the support to be extended”.
According to the General Manager, Ljubljana Airport is on track to handle 1.4 million passengers this year. “In 2023, we exceeded the threshold of serving one million passengers. Our medium- to long-term goal is to exceed two million passengers”, Ms Stapel said. Commenting on the potential establishment of a new Slovenian flag carrier to replace Adria Airways, which declared bankruptcy in September 2019, Ms Stapel noted, “It is not my place to comment on whether Slovenia needs a national airline, however, I would note that times have changed, and we are recovering well now. The routes that have potential have already been taken”.
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Last sentence tells all!
ReplyDeleteBut it's 100% true.
DeleteSo you are saying no other route from Ljubljana has any potential because some of the ones that Adria operated have been taken over by other airlines? I am certain there are routes other than Frankfurt and Munich that can be profitable.
DeleteIg the market dropped from 3 to 2 daily London flights in summer overnight huh lmao. Ig the market suddenly lost demand for Berlin and Madrid overnight lol
DeleteWhile low cost are leaving LJU the CEO is being delusional as always. Similar to its fanboys.
ReplyDeleteI don't think LJU has any "fanboys", people are just more realistic than those who desperately want something there is no need for. If anything, Slovenes are their own worst enemy with constantly seeing everything as "the worst".
DeleteLjubljana Airport aims to increase low cost flights - As Slovenians say: dobro jutro.
Bravo Fraport!
ReplyDeleteThere are only 3 LCCs flying and other than Transavia all have decreased flights.
ReplyDeleteBravo Fraport!
DeleteIt is unfortunate especially for easyjet. They had a big presence in LJU, they were the busiest airline after Adria and now they barely have flights. Wizz Air also just one subsidized route from Skopje.
DeleteAnyone know how Norwegian is performing? Are their Copenhagen flights yearround or seasonal?
Delete@9.10
DeleteWell the problem is that there is simply not so much demand. Attracting LCCs alone doesn`t help, if markets like Berlin with 4 million inhabitants or Barcelona do not work (Easyjet flew, Adria flew and Vueling flew)
"Not so much demand" sure it is completely normal for Ljubljana-London market to go from like 250.000 passengers per year to less than 150.000. Also I suppose there is zero demand on LJU-ATH as Aegean flew in the past? Just excuses.
DeleteI wonder where all those London passengers went. Probably using alternative airports around Slovenia which is a shame.
Delete@ Anonymous 9:10 there are 4 LCCs. You forgot Norwegian. For an airpot of Ljubljana's size, that is absolutely fine.
Delete4 LCC routes is fine for an airport that will handle 1.4 million passengers this year? No wonder people fly out of Venice, Trieste, Zagreb...
DeleteAnalitičar says BA will stop flying to LJU.
ReplyDeleteAnd why is that?
DeleteIt is completely false. He claims tickets are not on sale in winter, which, if you go on their website, you will see is false. He often spreads disinformation and false news.
DeleteI commented this news on his page but he did not publish my comment. BA had problems with its web page for a while but Amadeus all the time showed 4 weekly flights during winter. It seems he doesn’t have access to any reservation system, so his "analysis" are without any serious data.
DeleteFor winter they only sell y and c booking class code. All others are zeroed out. That was also for beg to lhr on ba. It's indication that flgitjs will be cxd
DeleteWhat was the LJU record year?
ReplyDelete2018 - 1,818,229 passengers
DeleteIt will be a long time before that is surpassed.
DeleteI think it will be surpassed in 2026 actually.
DeleteGreat news for Ljubljana Airport. I'm glad things are finally picking up with new airlines and routes, apron expansion and passenger numbers growing.
ReplyDeleteRyanair would be an absolute hit and give a lot of airlines in LJU a run for their money.
ReplyDeleteRyanair said that Ljubljana is too expensive for them. And from the statement of Ljubljana CEO, it does not seem they are very interested in Ljubljana.
DeleteLjubljana is not too expensive for them. Frankfurt is too expensive. And because they like playing petty games, they avoid Fraport everywhere as an extortion tactic in hopes to get a discount at Frankfurt.
DeleteThe only new LCC we might see in Ljubljana will be Eurowings from Luftnasa group. That's about it.
ReplyDeleteMost likely unfortunately.
DeleteLufthansa has a monopoly on transfers via Frankfurt to all Eurowings bases and I doubt they'll just hand one over to an LCC, even if it's theirs
DeleteAttracting more and more LCCs is the best way to compete against Zagreb at the moment. And also the best way too boost passenger numbers.
ReplyDeleteShe says that they don't want LJU to be a low cost hub. Does that basically mean they don't want to have a base by any of the LCCs?
ReplyDeleteThey want to become LH hub.
DeleteI thought ZAG was the LH hub.
DeleteHe says LJU wants to become one.
DeleteWith AZ likely joining LH group soon, even airports in Italy like Venice and Trieste will be LH group airports.
DeleteShare wise, LJU probably is an LH hub with Lufthansa, Swiss and Brussels all having healthy passenger numbers.
DeleteDon't forget LOT and Turkish, both Star Alliance airlines
DeleteGood. LJU's growth is positive, steady and healthy too.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know the busiest unserved routes from Ljubljana?
ReplyDeleteYou have the list here. This is based on 2019 so it definitely changed a bit but I doubt by much
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/09/points-in-europe-await-ljubljana-flights.html
Thank you! Definitely didn't expect Bucharest to be among the busiest.
DeleteBoth diaspora and business travel, so not particularly surprising
DeleteIt would be fantastic to finally get some scheduled flights to Spain again so I'm really hoping for Vueling. The couple of Iberia flights from Madrid really can't be considered as some new flights. They end after just a few flights.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think Spain and Scandinavia are underserved from Ljubljana and there is potential for these two markets.
DeleteNorwegian could launch flights from Stockholm, Oslo, Barcelona, Malaga and Alicante, since they have bases in all of them
DeleteSlovenia is the last EU country that is not served by Ryanair. Hope this changes soon!
ReplyDeleteJudging by this interview, that won't change any time soon.
DeleteMaribor is more suitable for Ryanair as Ljubljana I believe.
DeleteSome suggestions for LJU:
ReplyDelete- Try to get Paris flights upgraded from HOP! to AF
- Try to get Finnair fly year round, not just seasonally
- More LCCs
- End Turkish monopoly on Istanbul route. Try to attract Pegasus
+1
DeleteUnfortunately AF is slowly becoming irrelevant at LJU since they decreased flights.
DeleteGetting Austrian to start flights should also be on that list.
Delete^They are working on it
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/04/slovenia-in-talks-with-austrian.html
DeleteIs there a different between HOP! and AF at the end of the day? Isn't the on boards product the same? Flights are already pretty expensive, so...
DeleteAgree with the rest, though
HOP brand is disappearing and the product is the same, so no difference at all. Better more E90 frequently than AF capacity. Also cabin of E90 will look in a few years exactly the same as new AF A220.
DeleteLJU has a great option and position to develop into a hybrid airport...mix of legacy and LCC
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see some positive news coming from Slovenia
ReplyDeleteI don't see anything positive from this article tbh. To me it reads more like that Fraport does not want a new national airlines, numbers are still way down on 2019 and won't reach them any time soon, there is no real will to bring many new LCC airlines. They want a 10% increase in LCC share which translates in one or maybe two additional LCC routes.
DeleteIf traffic will be 1.5mil this year, it means they'll want an addition 150k of LCC. With an A320, that's between 1 and 2 additional daily LCC flights, depending on LF. Aka, if the routes end up being twice weekly, it could result in 4 new routes
DeleteWhat people usually do is to fly to Zagreb and then take ground transport to LJU as ZAG is cheaper with FR's growing network.
ReplyDeleteExactly, and that's the issue. To Babett, it's preferable that LJU bleeds passengers to other airports rather than the opposite
DeleteManchester/Liverpool?
ReplyDeleteEasyJet could probs make Manchester work twice weekly. Quite a bit of demand for skiing tourists in winter
DeleteYes, even in JAT days, there was a JAT Vlak/Voz from Ljubljana to Zagreb. The airports are just too close and with Croatia now in Schengen, LJU will slowly drift into irrelevance.
ReplyDeleteI recently travelled between Croatia and Slovenia (from Rijeka on my way to Trieste) and I didn't see any difference compared to pre-Schengen. Everyone was stopped at the border with Slovenia.
DeleteThe checks are meant to be random so as not to impede the free movement of citizens required under EU law.
DeleteYou're saying this as if LJU airport was ever relevant.
Delete10 years ago it was third busiest airport in EX-YU.
DeleteAnonymous 10:20 that is because Slovenes want always to be "bolj papeski od papeza". Italy introduced random controls at the Slovene border to prevent illegal immigration (completely pointless, since they cross the border through the woods), but it is really random. And then Slovenes decided to introduce controls on their Croatian border. Not random at all. End of the sad story.
DeleteThanks for the explanation. I didn't know that. Like you said, we also had control on Slovene-Italian boarder but it was rather quick compared to the one on Croatia-Slovenia boarder. Since I didn't now that I was asking myself how is this Schengen but it makes sense now.
DeleteWhat’s the point of Schengen then?
DeleteThere is no border control when you are going from Slovenia to Croatia.
DeleteYes! We need more LCCs please
ReplyDeleteCyprus still in the picture?
ReplyDeleteIt has been dragging out for a fair bit.
DeleteCould be that they'll start with flights in November?
DeleteThat's my only explanation now
I really hope so. Regardless if they set up a base, I think LCA-LJU on its own could work well.
DeleteNovember is a terrible time to start new routes. You always want to start them for the high season. So I wouldn't be surprised if this drags out for another year.
DeleteI highly doubt Cyprus Airways is in a position to launch anything at the moment. They are having major issues with the A220.
DeleteNovember is good to start new business routes on, since they're the least seasonal and arguably have more traffic outside of summer.
DeleteLeisure routes shouldn't be launched out of season, I agree
Cyprus is getting 2 more A220 this year
DeleteThem matching the state incentive for another 3 years is quite good in my opinion. It will keep airlines flying.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't they introduce the incentives that state is giving in the first place? Why is the state forced to offer incentives to an airport that is not under concession but fully privatized?
DeleteWell I would go for SEN, OSL, ARN, DUB and BCN. MAD should be 4 times a week for the whole summer timetable.
ReplyDeleteBCN and MAD, but especially BCN would be a hit. I can't believe no one is using the opportunity to launch these routes.
DeleteRyanair did, from Trieste. They saw the opportunity, knew LJU was too expensive, and had a decent alternative. And, as many times before, LJU lost out on a potential route
DeleteThe region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia pays a lot for cheap tickets for many Slovenians as well.
Deletethat's true, in a way
DeleteAny chance that Transavia extends its Orly flights to year round?
ReplyDeleteThat would be nice, yeah. And maybe expand them during next summer, wheb they'll have more leftover capacity from the Olympics
DeleteHopefully. I think the Orly alternative is good to Air France's CDG operations.
DeleteI got to say I completely disagree with their strategy. For an airport that has issues developing any new routes (without subsidies) and is bleeding passengers left, right and center the wisest decision would be to turn it into an LCC hub. Give Ryanair what they want and you would see immediate benefits with lots of new routes, lots of new incoming tourists which benefits the entire economy and the airport would have to expand too. More people spending money in the duty free, more workers needed who will pay their taxes to the state. But I guess the goal is for the money to go back to Germany.
ReplyDelete+++
DeleteSo what has been the success of the state aid subsidies? New route to Riga and Luxembourg? Copenhagen is seasonal, Madrid is even funny to mention since Iberia will have something like 4 flights for the entire year.
ReplyDelete10 flights on a 100-capacity plane. Supposedly, the sales are pretty decent, but the route still has only 2k or so capacity lol
Deleteisnt cph year-round?
DeleteNo, last flight is scheduled on 26.10 and there are no tickets on sale afterwards.
DeleteWith increasingly hot planet, and on the route to Dune scenario, LC should be the first to kill. We as global society need to start taking some serious steps, which include sacrifices to our way of life, or we will have year round Saudi Arabia summer
ReplyDeleteLooks like those guys at LJU want to loose money and be in red for years offering huge discounts to those who simply looks for such airport where from get free money to have good financial standing... and be in green.
ReplyDeleteFR or W6 will open you any route if only you pay them or offer huge discounts and service for free.