Slovenia with slowest rate of air traffic recovery
Slovenia is emerging out of a long lockdown which has significantly impacted Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport’s performance. Traffic is slowly beginning to recover, however, the country still lags behind the majority of the continent. This May, the number of offered seats on the market is at just 10.3% of 2019 levels, one of the lowest in Europe. During the January - April period, Ljubljana Airport handled 27.115 passengers, down 85.9% on the same period last year. Aircraft movements decreased 22.8% to 3.840. During the first quarter, the airport registered a loss of 2.4 million euros. It is currently served by Lufthansa, Air Serbia, Turkish Airlines, Air France, Aeroflot and LOT, with Transavia restoring operations last week, while easyJet is set to follow this Friday.
Commenting on the current state of the country’s air travel market, the President of the Association of Slovenian Travel Agencies, Mišo Mrvaljevič, said, “The season from October until mid-April was non-existent in our country, as restrictions were such that almost nothing could be sold. The only bright exceptions were two charters during the winter school holidays, which coincided with the planned short reopening of the country. Three large agencies managed to get organised quickly at the time, but shortly after everything closed again. We organised a business trip here and there and sold tickets to business passengers. I won't mention percentages at all because the numbers are so sad, so it's fair to say that we didn't do anything all winter”. However, when the partial closure of the country ended on April 11, agencies took a breather.
This May, Lufthansa is offering the most flights out of Ljubljana, followed by Air Serbia, Turkish Airlines and Air France. In terms of capacity, Lufthansa has 2.890 seats on offer, followed by Turkish Airlines with 1.800 seats, Aeroflot with 1.260 seats and Air Serbia with 1.122 seats. Ljubljana Airport’s General Manager, Zmago Skobir, recently said that talks were underway with a carrier from the European Union to set up a base in the Slovenian capital. “It is no secret that we are working on having at least one of the EU airlines set up a smaller base at the airport. We believe this would be the fastest and most effective way to improve our country’s air connectivity”, Mr Skobir said. He added that talks were also taking place with low cost airlines but ruled out Ryanair, which will set up a base in nearby Zagreb this September.
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