Slovenia Air plans late 2024 launch with A330s

Dragon Fly and Anisos Holding, which aim to establish a new Slovenian carrier catering for travellers between Europe and Asia, held their third meeting with the Slovenian government, revealing further details for their planned start-up. The Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure said, “The meeting was held at the suggestion of representatives from Dragon Fly and Anisos Inc, who wanted to present their idea of establishing a company in Slovenia in more detail. In their opinion, Slovenia has a favourable geographical location for transfer traffic from the European Union via Ljubljana to the Far East, which represents a good business opportunity that would enable connections with Hong Kong. At the same time, air transport from Slovenia would also benefit from this connectivity”.

The Ministry noted the planned airline intends to launch by the end of next year with three Airbus A330-200 aircraft and obtain an EU Air Operator’s Certificate. Based on data from 2019, which was the busiest to date for travel between Europe and Asia, Tokyo was Ljubljana’s busiest unserved Asian destination (excluding the Middle East), followed by Shanghai. Hong Kong positioned itself in fifth place. That year, Turkish Airlines dominated the Slovenian market in terms of Asian transfer traffic, holding a 41% share of all transfer passengers, followed by Aeroflot with 24% and Finnair with 8% of the market.

The Anisos Holding Company is registered in the British Virgin Islands, with investments in aviation and aviation technology. Apart from the Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure, it had previously conducted talks with the country’s Finance Ministry and enquired about potential or existing tax incentives for foreign companies or so-called greenfield investments. On the other hand, the Slovenian government is still considering the possibility of establishing a new national carrier through a Public Private Partnership model. So far, it has held talks on the matter with a number of carriers. It had previously said further information about the national airline’s potential launch would be provided this autumn, however, it is believed the cabinet is split on whether to proceed with the project and the government is having difficulty securing interest from potential private investors.