PREMIUM
The operator of Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, Fraport Slovenija, has confirmed that hybrid carrier Flydubai plans to commence operations from the United Arab Emirates to Ljubljana on September 29. The route will operate three times per week, each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Tickets are yet to go on sale, although this is expected to occur soon. Fraport Slovenija noted, “For now, the direct connection is planned until the end of the summer timetable, that is, until October 30, 2021, and we expect it to continue in the winter schedule. Demand for this route is very high. We have been striving for it to be established for several years. This is one of the most desirable routes, which will certainly contribute to the growth in the number of passengers at Ljubljana Airport”.
Dubai is Ljubljana Airport’s busiest unserved market, both in the Middle East and the Gulf region. In 2019, 3.762 passengers flew indirectly between the two cities. This does not count Slovenian travellers who reached the UAE’s largest city via alternative nearby airports, particularly Zagreb, and those that began or ended their journey in Ljubljana by transferring through Dubai to reach another point. In 2019, Istanbul was overwhelmingly used as the transfer airport to reach the Emirate with 74% of travellers opting to fly via the Turkish city. Accordingly, Turkish Airlines was the busiest feeder airline.
Top transfer airlines on Ljubljana - Dubai - Ljubljana route in 2019
Top transfer airports on Ljubljana - Dubai - Ljubljana route in 2019
Emirates will codeshare on Flydubai’s service, enabling passengers to easily connect onto its vast network out of the Gulf hub. Until the coronavirus pandemic, Emirates was selling tickets to Ljubljana via Zagreb through the Slovenian shuttle bus company GoOpti. Emirates gave customers the opportunity to book tickets from Ljubljana Airport or Ljubljana's railway station through its website. Passengers were shuttled from either of the two locations to Zagreb Airport, from which they transferred onto Emirates' service to Dubai, which is no longer in operation. As a result, the true potential of the Ljubljana – Dubai market is believed to be considerably greater than the figures above show. Emirates’ Area Manager, Martin Gross, noted Slovenia was one of the company’s biggest business contributors in the former Yugoslavia, despite the lack of nonstop flights.
During 2019, the last normal year in the aviation industry, some 19.483 travellers flew between Ljubljana and the Middle East as origin and destination passengers. Turkish Airlines was the dominant carrier on the Ljubljana - Middle East market, responsible for carrying a whopping 71% of all passengers between the two. With its extensive network in the Middle East, as well as competitive fares and suitable connecting times to and from Ljubljana, the Turkish carrier was a natural choice for many travellers. It was followed by Air Serbia, which in 2019 had a limited presence in the region with flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut, while offering codeshare services to a number of points through Etihad Airways, which, at the time, also maintained operations to Belgrade. Despite their overall dominance in Ljubljana in terms of handling connecting passengers, Lufthansa group carriers fell short of transporting any significant number of travellers between Slovenia and the Middle East.
Busiest Middle East markets to/from Ljubljana in 2019
Busiest Gulf markets to/from Ljubljana in 2019
Top transfer airlines on Ljubljana - Middle East - Ljubljana routes in 2019
