Adria Airways Celebrates 20 Years of Swiss Connection

Slovenian national carrier and Star Alliance member Adria Airways last week celebrated the 20th anniversary of its flights between Ljubljana and Zurich, a route that has been a key generator of enhanced economic ties between the two countries. The airline launched flights on the route on March 29, 1992 and is now providing up to three flights per day.

Adria Airways offered around 150 flights a year during its first 12 months of operation, initially providing up to five flights per week. In 1998 it boosted frequencies to a twice daily basis, while a third daily rotation was offered by the then Swiss national carrier Swissair in competition. In 2000 an estimated 90,000 passengers are reported to have flown on the route, a record that still stands today. However, the collapse of Swissair in late 2001 resulted in a fall in traffic and although its successor Swiss International Air Lines continued to serve the route until it was acquired by Lufthansa, its performance never lived up to its former levels.

This has meant that Adria Airways has been the sole carrier between Ljubljana and Zurich since November 2003 and it now has its own third daily rotation having concluded a codeshare deal with Swiss on the route. In 2007, Adria carried 50,000 passengers between the two cities for the first time in its history and this figure rose to 74,000 in 2011. The Slovenian carrier expects to carry close to 80,000 passengers this year and reveals that the Swiss city “is one of the top three best and most financially successful” destinations in its network.

“Some people might feel that 20 years of flying between two destinations is not a very long period, but when it is expressed in numbers, it becomes easier to understand what it means to operate a regular connection: since 1992, Adria has operated almost 11,000 flights (22,000 legs) between Zurich and Ljubljana, transporting close to 750,000 passengers,” said Mr Klemen Bostjancic, President and Chief Executive Officer, Adria Airways, during a ceremony to mark the milestone.

According to company executives the Ljubljana – Zurich connection was initially used by passengers travelling through Ljubljana onward to destinations in the Balkans, particularly to Pristina and Skopje, as well as Tirana and Sarajevo. The airline says it still sees a significant share (around 20 per cent of the total traffic) of these passengers, most of whom tend to fly in the holiday season when there is limited business demand. Around 50 per cent of travellers are point-to-point passengers, according to Adria, thanks to the ever improving economic relations between Switzerland and Slovenia and additional passengers travelling from the likes of Carinthia in Austria, Istra and Kvarner in Croatia and the Friuli region to fly to Ljubljana or Zurich.

“Tourism is an important factor,” says an Adria spokesman. “One out of every seven passengers flies to Slovenia as a tourist and Slovenians also like to go on vacation via Zurich, especially when flying with our Star Alliance partners such as Swiss, Singapore Airlines, Thai, etc.”

In the table below we look at the evolution of the link between Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport and Zurich Kloten Airport and how capacity has changed since Adria Airways entered the market.