Ljubljana Airport to study potential of becoming charter hub
Charter flights to holiday hotspots are becoming an important source of passengers for Ljubljana Airport as it continues its slow recovery from both the demise of former national carrier Adria Airways and the coronavirus pandemic. During the first half of the year, 9.3% of all passengers using Ljubljana Airport flew on charters. This is up from 5.2% over the same period in 2019. In the first six months of this year, a total of 35.709 travellers flew on charters with the bulk being handled in June. The figure is set to significantly grow in the second half of the year with the majority using charters during the peak summer months of July and August.
Earlier this year, the General Manager of operator Fraport Slovenija, Babett Stapel, said there is potential to turn the airport into a hub for charter flights. They accounted for over 20% of Ljubljana’s passenger traffic in 2021, with the figure to be exceeded this year. “I would like to review and evaluate with our employees some old ideas that have not been effective in the past. I have one specific thing in mind. I would like to create a hub for charters at Ljubljana Airport. We are already talking about it and this year we will analyse whether this is a potential that could differentiate us from others. Last year, we handled a fifth of all passengers on charters, compared to 11% the year before. This year we can further increase these numbers”.
During the first half of the year, Ljubljana’s busiest charter market was Egypt with 10.214 passengers travelling to and from the country. The strong figures have resulted in Air Cairo announcing a new scheduled one weekly service between Hurghada and Ljubljana from October 1, with the outbound flight to run via Skopje. Other charter markets in demand included Greece and Turkey. Croatia’s Trade Air operates the bulk of Slovenia's charter traffic, although other carriers also contribute. This summer, tour operators have been running leisure flights from Ljubljana to Turkey, Spain, the Greek islands, Jordan, Portugal, Egypt, Tunisia, Malta, Albania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Italy, Iceland and Latvia. Last year, several tour operators joined forces to organise a charter flight from Ljubljana to Zanzibar.
Ljubljana Airport's busiest charter markets, H1 2022
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