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.
Slovenia received proposals from six airlines
Slovenia’s Ministry for Economic Development and Technology has received offers from six different airlines to replace at least some of the capacity previously offered by Adria Airways, the Slovenian flag carrier that went bankrupt in 2019, Sierra5 reports.
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.
The six airlines mentioned are as follows:
- Wizz Air
- Air Dolomiti, owned by the Lufthansa Group
- VallJet, a French business airline
- Solinair, a cargo airline in Slovenia
- Croatia Airlines
- An unnamed Middle Eastern airline that expressed an interest “recently”
The range of offers does not come as a surprise
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.
Simple Flying reported in July 2020 that Solinair, a Slovenian cargo airline and a subsidiary of Turkish cargo operator MNG Airlines, has proposed to the Slovenian Government the launch of a new flag carrier for the country.
Solinair’s new airline would be called Air Slovenia, which would be set up at the cost of five million euros. Solinair anticipated a significant inflow of subsidies from the various stakeholders that have lost much of their business following the bankruptcy of Adria Airways. Most notably, the subsidies and incentives would come from the Slovenian Government and from Fraport Slovenija, the operator of Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport. However, nothing ever became of this plan.
Simple Flying also reported in June 2020 that Croatia Airlines was interested in basing Dash 8 aircraft in Ljubljana to launch feeder routes to the large European airport – mostly Lufthansa Group’s hubs. Croatia Airlines is based in Zagreb Airport, located less than two hours’ drive away from Ljubljana Airport.
Wizz Air and Air Dolomiti see the market potential
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, where Ryanair currently does not operate at all.
Meanwhile, the Lufthansa Group is also unsurprisingly 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 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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