Ljubljana sees Africa leisure flights as demand grows
Trade Air will run a charter flight from Ljubljana to the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar tomorrow, carrying holidaymakers ahead of the autumn break. The flight, which is scheduled to depart at 07.00 local time on Sunday, will operate via Luxor in Egypt with the carrier’s 180-seat Airbus A320 aircraft on behalf of Slovenian tour operators. In addition to Zanzibar, charters to Crete, Rhodes, Antalya, Hurghada, Madeira, Tenerife and Dubai are all planned in the coming days, tour operator Kompas said. Demand for Zanzibar among Slovenian travellers has been strong in recent months as it was one of the few destinations to have been open for tourists throughout the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The African market represents a small share of Ljubljana Airport’s passenger traffic with 14.401 travellers flying between the Slovenian capital and the continent via other points in the pre-pandemic 2019. There are no scheduled flights between Africa and Slovenia. In 2019, Cairo had the largest number of indirect passengers to and from Ljubljana. According to OAG, a total of 2.663 travellers flew between the two cities on a single itinerary. It was followed by destinations in South Africa, as well as leisure points in the Indian Ocean such as Mauritius, Seychelles and Zanzibar. Turkish Airlines benefited the most from Ljubljana’s lack of flights to Africa. With an expansive network to the continent, the Turkish carrier accounted for a whopping 60% of all passengers travelling between the two. It was followed by Air France.
Ljubljana Airport's busiest unserved destinations in Africa in 2019
Through its history, Ljubljana Airport used to be linked to Africa by both JAT Yugoslav Airlines and Adria Airways. After purchasing four used DC-6Bs in 1961, Adria initiated flights to Tunis, Conakry and Leopoldville, today known as Kinshasa. The Slovenian carrier also used to operate services to the Seychelles in the late 1980s, which ran via Athens and Djibouti. In 1990, an Adria A320 flew nonstop from the Seychelles to Athens setting a new record for the longest flight ever made by the aircraft type at that time. Ljubljana Airport is hopeful the upcoming holidays will boost traffic. “We are looking forward to a busy end to October, which will mark a turning point as the number of passengers served in 2021 will exceed the total number of travellers handled for the whole of 2020”, Ljubljana Airport said.
0 Response to "Ljubljana sees Africa leisure flights as demand grows"
Post a Comment