According to the Aviation News page "Simple Flying" - Six airlines were interested in basing aircraft in Ljubljana to replace some of the capacity that Slovenia lost when Adria Airways went bankrupt after 58 years of operations. The government has reportedly turned down all six.
Some of these six airlines approached Slovenia with an offer to set up a brand new national airline in the country, while others were in touch with the Ministry, hoping to strike a deal to base some of their own capacity there. All six were rejected.
Concerning more than half of these six airlines that expressed some degree of interest in basing their aircraft in Slovenia, this news does not come as a surprise.
Previously we informed you that that Solinair, a Slovenian cargo airline was interested in launching a new flag carrier which had to be called Air Slovenia.
Among Solinair, Croatia Airlines was also interested in opening a base at Ljubljana. The airline held talks with Ljubljana Airport previously for launching some routes from the Slovenian capital. They also planned to introduce Zagreb - Skopje - Ljubljana - Zagreb service, however nothing has happen till now.
With Ljubljana and Zagreb being so close, they effectively fall under the same catchment area. Many passengers from Croatia have historically used easyJet’s flights from Ljubljana to London, and passengers from Ljubljana have historically flown to the Middle East from Zagreb.
With Ryanair launching a multi-aircraft base in Zagreb this year, and with Wizz Air having an appetite for competition between the two, it would not have come as a surprise if Wizz launched a base in Ljubljana. This would have been both to compete with Ryanair’s Zagreb operations and to gain a foothold in Slovenia, which Ryanair currently does not serve at all.
It is also not a surprise that the Lufthansa Group, through Air Dolomiti, is interested in Ljubljana. The Slovenian market has lost an incredible 91% of its passenger traffic, and much of this was on Lufthansa’s feeder routes to Vienna, Zurich, Frankfurt, Munich, and Brussels. Lufthansa Group was the first to react to Adria’s bankruptcy, but it could not replace all the lost capacity because this would not have been profitable.
Thus, a deal with the Slovenian Government that might have offered financial support for Air Dolomiti may have been just what Lufthansa needed to solidify its position as the leading airline group in the Slovenian market. This is particularly true as Air Dolomiti’s Embraer fleet is highly suited for Ljubljana’s market size.
Slovenia remains one of the worst-performing aviation markets compared to 2019.
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