Wizz Air to temporarily pull out of Slovenian market

Low cost carrier Wizz Air will be discontinuing its operations to Ljubljana from early February until mid-March at the earliest. Following the suspension of its Charleroi - Ljubljana route last week, the carrier will halt flights on its recently launched London Luton service starting February 4. Wizz Air’s service to the British capital will be restored at the start of the 2022 summer season on March 29, while operations to the Belgian city of Charleroi are due to resume earlier, on March 11, although this is subject to change. The budget airline commenced operations between London and Ljubljana in mid-December 2021 after previously terminating flights in 2019. easyJet will continue to link the two cities, with services to Gatwick Airport, however, frequencies have been reduced to just one per week.

Prior to Covid-19, London was Ljubljana Airport’s busiest route with Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted all being served from the Slovenian capital. In 2019, almost 227.000 passengers flew on nonstop flights between Ljubljana and London, while a further 9.672 travellers made their way indirectly via other points in Europe. Stansted was the busiest, with 45% of all of Ljubljana’s London passengers flying to and from the airport. The route was served by easyJet and has since been terminated due to the closure of the airline’s base at Stansted. Luton was Ljubljana’s second busiest London airport until Wizz Air terminated the route in 2019.

Wizz Air performance on London Luton - Ljubljana route

* Service suspended in October 2019

Wizz Air is the second airline to withdraw from the Slovenian market on a temporary basis due to surging Covid-19 cases across the continent and plummeting demand. Brussels Airlines pulled out earlier this month as well, while a number of other carriers, including Lufthansa and Swiss reduced their frequencies. On the other hand, Aeroflot’s subsidiary Rossiya Airlines will commence a one weekly service from St Petersburg next week, while Nordwind Airlines is expected to introduce flights from Moscow in early February. Ljubljana Airport estimates it will handle some 900.000 passengers this year, while pre-covid traffic figures could be reached in 2025.

EX-YU Aviation News

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