Lufthansa has overtaken Turkish Airlines during the first half of the year to become the busiest carrier operating out of both Ljubljana and Slovenia. The Turkish national airline overtook its German counterpart last year and held onto its number one spot until June. However, Lufthansa benefited from a 32.6% increase in passenger numbers with the introduction of its second daily service from Munich earlier this year. With the airline now offering more capacity to Slovenian travellers than Turkish Airlines, and the Turkish carrier decreasing flights due to issues with engines on select aircraft types, Lufthansa is expected to maintain its leading position on the Slovenian market for the rest of the year.
Ljubljana Airport passenger performance, H1 2024
Finnair saw some of the strongest percentile growth on the Slovenian market by handling an additional 5.251 passengers on its seasonal Helsinki service. Although the likes of Transavia from Amsterdam and GP Aviation from Pristina saw growth of over 90%, this was mainly due to a lack of flights last year. Transavia suspended its service between Amsterdam and Ljubljana from February until late March of last year, while GP Aviation commenced operations from Pristina during the last day of March 2023. Figures on flights between Ljubljana and London, maintained by three different carriers, also improved. The 11.7% growth was primarily fuelled by British Airways which has been maintaining services to the Slovenian capital over the winter months for the first time. On the other hand, Wizz Air discontinued its London Luton route in February.
Among airlines that commenced operations to Ljubljana recently, Luxair saw is average cabin load factor for the first half of the year stand at 68.3%. Wizz Air continues to perform strongly on its flights between Skopje and the Slovenian capital. The service, launched last September, registered a high average cabin load factor of 94% during H1 2024. Norwegian, which entered the Slovenian market in late April of this year, welcomed 5.032 travellers on its Copenhagen flights for an average load factor of 71.1%, while airBaltic, which also inaugurated services to Ljubljana in April, registered an average cabin occupancy of 74.6%. Meanwhile, Aegean Airlines’ seasonal Athens route saw loads average 72% up until the end of June.
