Turkish Airlines overtakes Lufthansa as busiest carrier in Slovenia

Turkish Airlines has continued to perform strongly on its flights between Istanbul and Ljubljana, positioning itself as the busiest carrier in Slovenia during the first half of the year. According to the Slovenian Statistical Office, the Turkish flag carrier welcomed 81.184 passengers between the two cities during the six-month period. Turkish Airlines’ passenger numbers on its Ljubljana flights have increased 52.8% on last year and are up 13.4% on the pre-pandemic 2019. Istanbul was Ljubljana’s busiest individual destination during the first half of the year. On its 606 flights between the two cities (includes operations in each direction), the carrier utilised the Airbus A321 aircraft on 91% of rotations, with the A320 and Boeing 737-800 jets deployed on the remaining services.

Lufthansa has placed as Ljubljana’s second busiest carrier, having taken top spot in 2022. The German airline, which maintains operations from both Frankfurt and Munich to the Slovenian capital, handled a combined total of 74.681 passengers during the first half of the year. The figure is up 29.1% on 2022. However, passenger numbers on flights from the two German cities are still notably down on the same period in 2019 when Slovenia’s former national carrier Adria Airways was the sole operator on the two routes. Back then, it handled a combined total of 123.030 passengers over the six-month period. Between January and June of this year, Lufthansa used the CRJ900 jet on 92% of its Ljubljana flights, while the remainder were operated by the A319 (5%), the Embraer E190, E195 and the Airbus A320.

The two carriers accounted for 29.1% of Ljubljana Airport’s total passenger numbers during the first half of the year. The pair also play a leading role during the second half of the year. Turkish Airlines has 118.832 seats on sale from July until the end of December, up 48.6% on the same period last year. Despite having the same number of flights, the growth is the result of the airline scheduling the A321 jet on significantly more operations than last year. However, it is important to note that this is subject to change as the year progresses since the carrier adjusts capacity based on demand on a near-daily basis. On the other hand, Lufthansa has 117.458 seats on sale in the third and fourth quarters, up 1% on the same period in 2022.