Aeroflot resumed services to Ljubljana last week following a year-long break. It returned on Friday 12th February, and it will be operating flights between Ljubljana and Moscow Sheremetyevo every Friday until the end of April with its Sukhoi SJ100 aircraft. Ljubljana, and all of Slovenia, now have only four airlines operating scheduled passenger flights there. The other three are Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, and Air Serbia.

Aeroflot is back in Ljubljana

Last week, on Friday 12th February, Aeroflot returned to Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport in Slovenia. This was the first time since Tuesday 17th March for Aeroflot to fly a scheduled passenger flight to Ljubljana.

There is currently a major shortage of air capacity in Slovenia, and so it is perhaps not surprising that Aeroflot chose to return to Ljubljana at a time when travel restrictions are still tight. Prior to the shutdown of air travel in March 2020, Aeroflot operated daily flights to Slovenia with its Airbus A320 aircraft. This included the last rotation between Moscow Sheremetyevo and Ljubljana on 17th March.

From the resumption of Ljubljana-Moscow flights on Friday 12th February until Friday 26th March, Aeroflot is operating a single weekly rotation as follows:

• Flight SU2610 departs Moscow's Sheremetyevo - A.S. Pushkin International Airport (SVO) at 09:35 to arrive in Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (LJU) at 10:40
• Flight SU2611 then departs Ljubljana for Moscow at 11:30 to arrive at 16:45

Then, from 2nd April until 30th April, the rotation moves forward 30 minutes but it remains a single weekly frequency. Aeroflot scheduled all flights until 30th April (inclusive) to be operated by its Sukhoi SJ100 aircraft.

As the schedule stands, from Saturday 1st May onward, Aeroflot has scheduled the flights to run as a daily frequency with its larger aircraft, including the Boeing 737. This will be from 1st May until 31st October this year. However, the schedule is, of course, subject to change. A reduction in both capacity and frequency is highly likely.

Aeroflot launched flights to Ljubljana in 2018

Between October 2018 and March 2020, Aeroflot has operated daily flights to Ljubljana with both is Airbus A320 and its Sukhoi SJ100 aircraft. The rotation, at the time of the launch, was also 09:05 to 16:40.

When Aeroflot launched its own SVO-LJU route, it killed off Adria Airways on the same route. Adria could not keep up with the competition, and it eventually withdrew from the route just before it collapsed the following year.

At the time, the CEO of Aeroflot, Vitaly Saveliev, said the following in a press release seen by Simple Flying:

“Today Aeroflot ranks as a leading global carrier and we continue to expand our international route network. This winter we will open new routes as well as increasing flight frequencies to popular destinations. We are pleased to offer travellers new international destinations as well as additional flights to popular tourist destinations, thus expanding travel options with Aeroflot for both business and leisure travellers.”

Aeroflot provided a vital route for passengers arriving in and out of Ljubljana that transferred in Moscow from China, Japan, and other Asian destinations that other airlines in Ljubljana, like Lufthansa and Air France, could not offer as smooth of a connection to. Aeroflot's current single weekly frequency might not seem like a lot, but, given that Slovenia has days with no flights at all, it's actually a very welcome arrival.

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