Ljubljana International Airport Witnesses a 35% Surge in Summer Passenger Traffic

The number of air travel services in Slovenia has significantly grown this year compared to the previous year. During the peak of the summer season, there's an increase of nearly 20% in available seats on regular flights, with the number of flights themselves rising by 25%, reports The Slovenia Times.

In the span of seven months of the current year, Ljubljana International Airport has accommodated over 689,000 passengers, marking a 35% increase compared to the same period last year. By year-end, the airport is set to surpass the initially planned 1.2 million passengers.

Several regular routes have already resumed after the pandemic, such as flights to Istanbul, Paris, Warsaw, and Zurich. Flights to Frankfurt and Belgrade are also expected to reopen soon.

Sharing this information, Fraport Slovenija, the managing company of Slovenia's main international airport, stated that the annual growth is promising. However, passenger traffic figures have not yet reached the pre-COVID-19 levels. In July, the airport served nearly 150,000 passengers, a 9.5% increase from July 2022, yet still 27% lower than July 2019, just a few months before Slovenia's flagship carrier, Adria Airways, went bankrupt.

Since the pandemic, the charter flight segment has rebounded even more than regular passenger traffic, reaching 2019 levels this year. From January to July, charter flight passengers increased by 20% compared to the same period last year, and nearly 4% more than the first seven months of 2019. Fraport Slovenija expects to exceed 150,000 charter flight passengers by year-end, matching the figures from the same period in 2019.

Conversely, cargo movement at the airport has decreased. From January to July, the cargo handling amounted to just over 15,000 tons, an 11% decrease compared to the same period last year, but a 7% increase compared to the same period in 2019. The decline trend started in the second half of the previous year in tandem with an economic downturn. This followed the record cargo handling of 30,000 tons in 2022. According to economic trends, the company anticipates an annual 10% decrease in cargo handling by the end of 2023, aligning with broader global trends in air freight transport.