Austrian Airlines assessing Ljubljana potential
Austrian Airlines is considering operations between Vienna and Ljubljana, three and a half years since services between the two cities were last maintained. The Austrian capital is one of the destinations the Slovenian government will subsidise for an airline that is willing to launch operations from either Ljubljana, Maribor or Portorož. “We continue to assess Ljubljana as a potential destination within our network. Currently, we offer our Ljubljana passengers an alternative to Vienna through Klagenfurt”, the Austrian carrier said. Following the demise of Adria Airways in September 2019, and the discontinuation of flights to Vienna as a result, Ljubljana Airport said it anticipated for services to the Austrian capital to be restored during the 2020 summer season, however, the pandemic altered those plans.
The Lufthansa Group was quick to respond to the collapse of Adria Airways in 2019 by covering key routes served by the former Slovenian flag carrier and ensuring the continued flow of transfer passengers through its hubs. Lufthansa commenced operations from Munich and Frankfurt, Brussels Airlines from the Belgian capital and Swiss from Zurich. However, Austrian Airlines has notably skipped the opportunity to introduce services between Vienna and Ljubljana, despite passenger figures indicating there is solid demand. Services to the Austrian capital were one of Adria’s better performing routes, with double daily flights maintained over the summer months and an average of around 60.000 passengers per year.
Ljubljana - Vienna route passenger performance
Adria Airways relied on transfer passengers between the two, both those headed or originating from regional markets such as Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as those originating or heading to Ljubljana from other destinations in Europe and North America. However, a sizable number of travellers were still point-to-point. Notably an additional 10.925 people flew indirectly between the two capital cities in 2019, although this was mostly generated in the third and fourth quarters when Adria was cancelling a number of flights before ultimately declaring bankruptcy. Austrian Airlines had previously operated its own flights to Ljubljana, discontinuing its daily service at the end of the 2005 summer season. Adria Airways then increased its operations to the Austrian capital, maintaining four daily rotations until the 2009 global financial crisis. In its final summer season of 2019, Adria Airways served Vienna twice a day.
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