Trieste, Zagreb Cover Slovenia, No plans for Ljubljana
STA, February 3, 2022 – Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair, which opened a base at Zagreb airport last year and also flies to Trieste, does not intend to fly to and from Ljubljana in the near future, reports the web portal EX-YU Aviation. Thursday. The company says that the airports cover Slovenia well enough, but they also see the problem in high costs.
The EX-YU Aviation portal stated that Fraport Slovenija, the company that manages Ljubljana Airport, expressed its readiness to continue talks with Ryanair on flights to and from Ljubljana towards the end of 2021 and confirmed that talks had already taken place in the past.
Ryanair has considered the introduction of flights to Ljubljana several times in the last decade, and in 2007 and 2008 the low-cost carrier briefly maintained flights between London Stansted and Maribor.
However, Ryanair said in a statement for EX-YU Aviation on Thursday that Ljubljana is well supplied with their base in Zagreb and is also in the immediate vicinity of Trieste Airport, from where the company maintains flights to many destinations.
“Currently, there is little chance of Ljubljana joining our network,” Ryanair concluded. The carrier also accused Fraport of “high and uncompetitive charges”, which are expected to close Ryanair’s base at Frankfurt airport by the end of March.
After the Covid crisis severely affected Ljubljana Airport, its operator Fraport Slovenia is now working to find new partners and destinations, also with the support of state funds, to promote the re-establishment of Slovenia’s air connectivity.
After a severe shock from the epidemic last year, the airport recovered slightly and numbered 430,943 passengers, which is almost 50% more than in 2020, but it is still far from just over 1.7 million passengers recorded in 2019.
In the busiest months of July and August, Ljubljana Airport connected 17 scheduled airlines with the world, and currently 12 scheduled carriers fly from Ljubljana Airport to 13 destinations. Fraport expects the prospects for the summer season to be promising as well.