Ryanair secures Ljubljana slots
Low cost carrier Ryanair has secured slots to operate flights between London Stansted Airport and Ljubljana, after easyJet terminated the route last year, records from the slot coordinator Airport Coordination Limited show. A total of 488 operations have been allocated to the airline between the two airports. It should be noted that Ryanair is still not obligated to use up the slots for this particular route, meaning the service may not materialise. The budget carrier has been awarded departure and arrival times between the two airports from the fourth week of the 2021 summer season which begins tomorrow, meaning the airline can commence flights to Ljubljana from April 19 onwards. In an effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the United Kingdom is not expected to allow non-essential travel before May 17 at the earliest.
Ryanair has considered launching flights to Ljubljana on several occasions over the past decade and has held talks with Slovenia’s main airport numerous times. In 2011 Ljubljana Airport proposed for Ryanair to operate services out of Dusseldorf, Madrid, Oslo and London to the Slovenian capital, however, the deal never materialised. Ryanair operates services to every European Union-member state with exception to Slovenia. The budget airline briefly maintained flights between London Stansted and Maribor in 2007 and 2008. Despite solid loads, the route was terminated after Ryanair hiked fees for a joint advertising program, which was turned down by local authorities. In 2013, following yet another round of failed talks with Ljubljana Airport, Ryanair requested for the European Commission to act swiftly and conclude its investigation into whether Adria Airways received state aid and benefits from the Slovenian government to the tune of up to 85.5 million euros from 2007 to 2011, contrary to European Union competition laws. In a letter to the Commission, Ryanair said, “State aid was provided to Adria despite its inefficiencies while Ryanair has to develop its own market and is losing revenue”. The Commission subsequently ruled in favour of Adria.
Prior to the pandemic, London was Ljubljana Airport’s busiest route with flights maintained from a number of airports in the UK capital. Stansted was the busiest, with 120.288 passengers flying between Ljubljana and the airport in 2019. It was followed by the Gatwick route with 61.255 travellers and Luton with 45.410 passengers. This summer, easyJet plans to maintain flights between Gatwick and Ljubljana with operations due to resume on May 28. It also intends on launching its new service between Luton and the Slovenian capital which was initially planned for last year. The inaugural date has been constantly pushed back and is now scheduled for June 1. British Airways plans to restore its seasonal Heathrow - Ljubljana service on June 7.
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