Points in Europe await Ljubljana flights

Destinations across Europe, which form the bulk of Ljubljana Airport’s busiest unserved routes, are seeking flights to Ljubljana, as the Slovenian capital looks to improve its flight offering. The airport has had to deal with two major events which impacted its network and connectivity over the past two years, including the collapse of Adria Airways in late September 2019, leaving the city without a handful of destinations, and the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the unserved routes were at some point operated by Adria with varying degrees of success. Since the pandemic struck, only one of the destinations within Ljubljana’s top ten unserved on the continent has been launched - Madrid - which was operated by Iberia during the month of August.

Croatia Airlines this week unveiled it was in talks with Slovenian authorities over improving Ljubljana’s connectivity. Meetings have also been previously held with LOT Polish Airlines, Air Serbia and former Etihad Airways Group CEO, James Hogan, who now leads a consultancy company. This week, city representatives from Vienna met with their Ljubljana counterparts where they discussed improving transport links between the two cities. There have been no flights between the two capitals since Adria’s demise. On the other hand, both Luxembourg’s Luxair and Ukraine’s Windrose Airlines have indicated this year they are looking into introducing flights to Ljubljana in the foreseeable future.

Based on OAG data, Bucharest was Ljubljana’s busiest unserved city both in 2019 and 2020. The 935-kilometre capital connection was previously operated on and off by Adria Airways. The Slovenian carrier initially launched the route at four per week in the summer of 2008 with its CRJ200 jet. However, the service was short-lived and lasted until 2010. The airline made another attempt at the route in 2018 with four weekly rotations but the flights were discontinued just a few months later as the airline’s financial problems began to mount, which ultimately led to its demise. Adria remained the main feeder carrier for services to the Romanian capital, transferring passengers primarily to Vienna who would then connect onto Austrian Airlines flights.

Ryanair, which opened a base in Zagreb last month and continues to expand its operations out of the Croatian capital, will cover some of Ljubljana’s main unserved routes. These include Gothenburg, Oslo (through Sandefjord Airport) and Dublin. The list of the top unserved European routes in 2019 compared to the one in 2020 differ, with many destinations previously operated by Adria Airways now in need of a replacement, particularly those in the region. The list for 2019 represents routes which were not served for the entirety of the year, therefore, they do not include destinations that were no longer operated following the collapse of Adria on September 30 of that same year. It also does not take into account passengers who may have originated from or were destined to Slovenia and travelled through other nearby airports in other countries.

Top twenty unserved European routes to/from Ljubljana in 2019