In the post-Adria Airways era and as the world continues to emerge from the devastating and all-encompassing effects of the novel coronavirus, Slovenia continues to identify the challenges it must overcome to reconnect the Central European state with the wider world. As though has become abundantly clear: identifying is one thing; overcoming is quite another.…
Aviation: My 2023 Wish List
To simply use the word 'aviation' is as vague as can be. Furthermore, my ideal scenarios for 2023 in this sector relates to how it affects me, and not the vast majority of frequent flyers. Nevertheless, there are many UK-based travellers who would benefit from my wish list, whilst such a set of hypothetical requests…
A continued lack of air connectivity is reputationally and economically damaging to Slovenia
It will come as no surprise to those versed with the nuances of Slovenian aviation that talks between the country's Ministry of Infrastructure and low-cost carriers Wizz Air and Ryanair have drawn a blank, facilitating a continued stasis in growth at both Ljubljana and Maribor airports. Despite the outcome being highly predictable it is nevertheless…
Slovenia and Ryanair: Does the airline simply wish to complete the EU set, or has the previously missing middle ground finally been found?
It has been assumed by many aviation analysts and even those without a professional interest in the industry that Ljubljana's Fraport-owned and operated Brnik Airport held all the cards as to why Slovenia is the only nation within the European Union(EU) where Irish Low Cost Carrier(LCC) Ryanair does not operate. Who though is the puppet…
Can Ryanair solve Slovenia’s poor aviation connectivity?
The fact that Ljubljana's Fraport-operated Brnik Airport is still lagging significantly behind its pre-pandemic passenger numbers, and indeed prior to when Adria Airways ceased operations late in 2019, is not because Slovenia is the only country within the European Union(EU) to not receive flights from Low Cost Carrier(LCC) Ryanair, but brokering a deal with the…
Maribor Airport: Flight of fancy or ready for take off?
When is an airport not an airport? I suppose the answer would be when it doesn't facilitate commercial flight movements despite it having the infrastructure, track record, and ability to do so. Two such operations spring to mind - make that three with the impending closure of Doncaster Sheffield Airport - namely Blackpool in the…
Ukrainian International Airlines flight PS752 – Tehran to Kyiv
Iran is in effect on a war footing with the United States (US). The US and Ukraine are key allies. Russia, occupying several regions of eastern Ukraine and having annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, is in effect at war with Kyiv. Ukraine International Airlines(UIA) flight PS752 flying between Tehran and Kyiv crashes shortly after…
Turkmenistan: What is behind Germany’s continual dance with the devil?
As one of more than 130 countries participating in the Frankfurt Heimtextil international textile expo Turkmenistan cannot be singled out for favouritism by the host nation Germany, but nevertheless the link between President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedow's closed, authoritarian state and Angela Merkel's Teutonic powerhouse remains strong, but all the while disconcertingly baffling. The Azerbaijan-based AzerNews portal…
Slovenia: Can Maribor Airport be given the wings it needs?
The world has considerably moved on since Maribor Airport opened to commercial aircraft in 1976. For more than two decades the site, and its grassy airstrip, in the neighbouring Hoce-Slivnica municipality had been the preserve of an acclaimed air school. Only once the construction of a more conventional runway and terminal building had been completed…
Turkmenistan: President Berdymukhamedow’s flights of fancy receive foreign assistance
With a little help from their friends Turkmenistan Airlines are once more airborne, undoubtedly to the delight of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedow's family. In an era of meticulous attention to safety detail it is indeed rare for an airline's jets to be hooked from European airspace, but February's barring of the Turkmen flag carrier from operating…
Adria Airways and Sukhoi: Cancelled agreement mired in claim and counterclaim
The dramatic cancellation of a deal to supply Slovenian flag-carrier Adria Airways with a phased delivery of fifteen Sukhoi Superjets has provoked a divergence of reasons behind the now annulled agreement. Much is therefore unclear, although it is blatantly unequivocal that both parties will insist on pursuing their own face-saving narrative. The need for owners…
Adria Airways: No Sukhoi Superjets, and no obvious Plan B
Adria Airways' summer schedule was presumably released by the Brnik-based flag carrier on the proviso that it was to begin receiving, through a phased introduction, the first two of what was to be a deal for up to fifteen Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft. The introduction of the Russian-made jets to the Star Alliance member's fleet…
Slovenia: Government moves to bolster air traffic amid continuing uncertainty of Adria Airways’ future
There can surely be little coincidence that the Slovenian government will attempt to entice airlines to the country's Brnik-based Ljubljana hub by way of subsidies, a common practice of state-sponsored inducements to offset operational costs of forging new routes and not inconsiderable landing charges, whilst flag-carrier Adria Airways approaches its own day of reckoning where…
Update: Adria Airways to phase introduction of Sukhoi jets to its fleet
Further details have emerged of the proposed deal between Slovenian flag-carrier Adria Airways and Russian aircraft manufacturer, Sukhoi. It was initially thought that the Brnik-based airline was to receive existing aircraft previously withdrawn from service and returned to source by Ireland's CityJet, themselves having wet-leased the SSJ100 jets to the Belgian carrier Brussels Airlines. It…
Is Adria Airways’ impending use of Sukhoi-built aircraft an ominous bellwether of its future?
In what seems more a desperate, last throw of the dice than a shrewd, if albeit pragmatic change of aircraft supplier, Slovenian flag-carrier Adria Airways have quite possibly made a future-defining decision that does little to guarantee the Star Alliance member's ongoing presence in the skies of central and eastern Europe. With a potential fifteen…
Maribor Airport facing its very own China Syndrome
The potential loss of large amounts of farmland and tree cover abutting Maribor's airport flies in the face of an 'environment first' credo that Slovenia has become synonymous with, and of which it is rightly proud. Representing something of a reality check of what value is placed on prime agricultural and arboriculture that serves not…
Maribor: Continued inertia stalls chances of realistic(or any) development of its airport
With little to show for their grand, albeit barely believable plans to turn Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport into a regional commercial and freight hub since acquiring the facility in 2016, the now entirely Chinese group of investors have continued to keep their cards close to their chest, although it has been assumed that a lack…
Innsbruck Airport announce long overdue expansion plans
Innsbruck Airport have finally acknowledged what most who've recently travelled through its modest terminal will attest: modernization, ergo an enlargement of especially the post-security side of its operations, is desperately needed. Architectural design tenders are expected to be submitted during 2019, with construction slated to commence in 2022. Although a welcome development the announced timescale…
Slovenia: Maribor’s residents seek to protect local countryside from wholly unnecessary airport expansion
Residents living adjacent to Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport are rightly concerned by plans to expand the facility. Doing so could not only see the loss of forest and a large parcel of agricultural land, simultaneously undermining Slovenia's hardwired 'green' credentials, but also ultimately be an exercise in futility now that the modern, fit for purpose…
Turkmenistan: Can Berdymukhamedow get what he came for from US visit?
It is as of yet unclear if recent US policy prohibiting the acquisition of Turkmenistan cotton has taken effect, or if it amounts to little more than lip service without actual implementation. Nevertheless, for the central Asian republic such publicity regarding its vital cash crop can only be bad, highlighting in the strongest terms the…
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