Ljubljana Airport eases reliance on Adria
Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, whose traffic trends and business has been heavily dependent on Adria Airways, has eased its reliance on the national carrier, with foreign airlines having an increasing impact. Adria's passenger share at its home base in Ljubljana stood at 56% in 2018, down from a high of over 77% in 2010. This year, the Slovenian carrier is estimated to account for around 50% of Ljubljana's traffic. "The share of travellers carried by Adria Airways has been declining for several years and currently accounts for more than half of our passenger traffic. The decrease in the number of travellers handled by Adria is being replaced by foreign carriers, which are introducing new services and increasing capacity on existing ones", Ljubljana Airport said.
This summer season, foreign carriers are boosting their presence in Ljubljana. British Airways will launch operations from London Heathrow Airport with its Airbus A321 jet, while Air France HOP! will add an extra weekly flight for a total of ten and increase capacity from the Embraer E170 to the E190 jet. Furthermore, Aeroflot has upped capacity from the Sukhoi Superjet 100 to the Airbus A320, while LOT Polish Airlines is maintaining all of its services from Warsaw to Ljubljana with its Embraer jet-engine fleet instead of the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop. Despite the growing number of foreign airlines in Ljubljana, the airport's General Manager, Zmago Skobir, recently said that Adria remains an important partner. "We are pleased that, despite numerous issues the national carrier has faced over the past ten years, things have started to improve. We will see the future outcome but, for the time being, our cooperation with Adria is exemplary and we expect its future plans to have a further positive effect. Of course, it wouldn't be the end of the world for the airport or Slovenia's connectivity if things didn't go according to plan", Mr Skobir said.
The Slovenian government recently adopted plans to subsidise airlines for the launch of new routes to and from Ljubljana Airport in an attempt to improve the country's air connectivity by 2021. The Slovenian Tourist Board recently launched tender procedures aimed at advertising and marketing services which will be provided on behalf of airlines establishing new flights to Ljubljana from markets deemed to be "of strategic importance for Slovenian tourism". This will also include subsidies for airlines increasing frequencies on existing services. "We are very keen to connect with the Iberian peninsula, as well as Scandinavia and northern Germany, and we are in constant contact with airlines. We are Slovenia's ambassadors, because we promote the state's development in order to convince carriers to launch flights. Our market's small size can be discouraging to major airlines so we put a lot of effort into these talks", Mr Skobir noted.
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