Passenger traffic has more than doubled between 2021 and 2022. This would give Fraport Slovenia, the airport authority managing the international airport of Ljubljana. The Slovenian capital's airport welcomed more than 977,000 passengers in 2022, compared with 431,000 a year earlier.
Except that this result is rather mediocre compared with other airports in the former Yugoslavia. . in fact, the number of passengers in 2022 represented only 56.6% of 2019 traffic1.73 million passengers. By comparison, the number of passengers at Skopje, Zagreb and Belgrade in 2022 represented 91% of 2019 traffic at each airport. In Sarajevo, airport traffic is even 20% higher than in 2019.
So there is a problem in Ljubljana: the absence of a national air carrier since the bankruptcy of Adria Airways in 2019. The airport offers flights from 18 airlines to around 20 destinations this summer. Ljubljana, for example, has excellent links with Paris, with 11 weekly Air France flights from CDG and two Transavia flights from Orly (during the summer season). Brussels Airlines also offers six weekly flights between Brussels and the Slovenian capital.
A Slovenian market too small to attract companies?
But the number of flights to major hubs is still very limited. Ljubljana is heavily dependent on the Lufthansa group. With 39 weekly flights to Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich, Lufthansa has a virtual monopoly.
The only alternatives are Air France at Paris CDGLOT flies to Warsaw and Turkish Airlines flies to Istanbul. British Airways does fly to London Heathrow, but only during the summer season. Finnair also flies to Helsinki, but only in summer. And while Amsterdam Schiphol is well served by Transavia, the low-cost carrier offers no connecting services. We are also surprised by the absence of flights to Spain, Italy, Berlin or Vienna...
The Slovenian government, elected last year, decided to analyse whether it was therefore to create a new carrier. A decision that the previous ultra-conservative government refused to take. A group of experts commissioned by the government recently submitted its conclusions to the Ministry of Infrastructure. They will be officially presented in the coming weeks.
According to local news website 24ur, the study revealed that the Slovenian market is too small for other carriers to replace the former national carrier Adria Airways. But there is potential for a "Made in Slovenia" company. Take Luxembourg, for example. With its 650,000 inhabitants (three times less than Slovenia), it nonetheless has its own airline, Luxair.
MICE on its last legs without air connectivity
The study reportedly concluded that Slovenia's poor air connectivity is a handicap for the economy - and tourism in particular. The disappearance of Adria would have cost the local economy several hundred million euros.
When interviewed by the 24ur news website, Marko Kastelic, a former Adria pilot, gave an edifying example in the field of MICE: "I understand that a few days ago, a major medical congress was held in Slovenia. The participants were transported by car and bus from the surrounding airports. I don't think this is the best advertisement for the organisation of such events".
Slovenia's Minister for Infrastructure, Alenka Bratušek, has already campaigned in favour of a new airline. while urging caution. "Our country has already had a bad experience with its national airline. But we can hear the voices of the business community, who say that Slovenia needs the return of such a carrier", she told Slovenian television.
This small market is struggling to attract airlines to launch new routes. A recent government tender with subsidies was a semi-failure. Only Luxair and Air Montenegro took part.
The government is expected to announce its decision in June. If it is positive, Slovenia will have one year to set up its new national airline.. So welcome to Adria 2.0?
