Iberia terminates Ljubljana service
Spanish national carrier Iberia will not restore its seasonal summer flights between Madrid and Ljubljana this year, despite initially scheduling the service. Flights were due to resume on August 1 and operate twice per week, each Monday and Friday, for the duration of the month. However, the airline has discontinued ticket sales on the route. Iberia commenced services between the two capital cities last summer but scaled down its initial plan of four weekly rotations due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ljubljana Airport’s management expressed confidence the route would resume this year with additional weekly departures and a longer season, however, this did not materialise.
Iberia handled 2.215 passengers on its Ljubljana flights in 2021, recording an average cabin load factor of 69%. Despite the introduction of the Madrid service, data indicates that Barcelona had the most indirect traffic from the Slovenian capital to Spain during the pre-pandemic 2019. It was followed by Madrid, Valencia, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca, Both Madrid and Barcelona were previously served by the now defunct Adria Airways. The two cities were maintained off and on throughout the last troubled decade of the Slovenian carrier’s existence, primarily on a seasonal basis. On the other hand, low cost carrier Vueling maintained seasonal flights between Barcelona and Ljubljana in 2010, but the service was later discontinued. Profiting the most from the lack of flights between Slovenia and Spain are Lufthansa, Air France and Turkish Airlines, jointly handling over 70% of traffic between the two countries.
Iberia’s absence in Ljubljana will be the second high-profile carrier that will not be operating to the Slovenian market this summer after the country closed its airspace to Russian carriers and banned Aeroflot from using its airports. Furthermore, Ukraine’s Windrose Airlines, which was to introduce services to Ljubljana this coming summer has shelved such plans as war continues to rage in the country. At this point, seasonal operations by British Airways, Finnair and Israir are set to resume during the summer, while Transavia will introduce its new service from Paris Orly in April. Furthermore, Lufthansa is expected to restore flights between Munich and Ljubljana after over two years this May.
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