Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport handled fewer passengers than Boryspil in Kiev, which has been closed since the onset of the war in Ukraine on February 24. Ljubljana was also the least busy main capital city airport in Europe in 2022 welcoming 970.156 travellers. It ranked 159th on the continent according to Airports Council International Europe. It was behind the likes of Bremen, Bastia, Varna, Bratislava, Timisoara, Stockholm’s second airport of Bromma, as well as Kiev, which handled 1.085.061 passengers. It also fell behind Minsk from sanction-hit Belarus and Chisinau in Moldova which was closed for over a month. The results come following the recent New Air Gateway to Europe conference, which was held in the Slovenian capital, during which many expressed their dismay at Ljubljana Airport’s lack of connectivity or initiative to improve its performance. A number of speakers were also forced to take six-hour train journeys to arrive into Ljubljana for the conference due to a lack of nonstop flights.
Fraport, which manages Ljubljana Airport, forecasts it will handle 1.2 million passengers in 2023. According to the operator, seventeen airlines will maintain flights to nineteen destinations this summer. Finland’s Finnair and Greece’s Aegean will inaugurate operations to the Slovenian capital, linking it seasonally with Helsinki and Athens respectively. A number of other carriers will increase frequencies on existing services. “The lack of staff, the rapid increase in the price of fuel, high inflation and the consequences of the Russia – Ukraine war are obstacles to the recovery of the aviation industry”, Fraport recently said. Ljubljana Airport had previously forecast it would hit its pre-pandemic traffic figures in 2026.
The Slovenian government has been attempting to improve the country’s connectivity. It has been paying airlines to maintain their flights to Ljubljana over the past two years and recently passed a new subsidy program which will provide 5.6 million euros per year over the next three years for carriers to introduce flights from select destinations. The plan must now receive approval from the European Commission as it constitutes state aid. Furthermore, the government has said it will decide by mid-2023 if a new national carrier will be established in the country, almost four years following the collapse of Adria Airways. Last year, easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air all held talks with the Slovenian government over the potential launch of new routes from the country, with all three complaining of high fees at Ljubljana Airport. No agreement was reached. Airlines have also accused the Slovenian government over the lack of a coherent policy in the sector, noting that the Ministry for Economic Development and Technology and the Ministry for Infrastructure have completely different ideas in respect to aviation.
