Flydubai touches down in Ljubljana

Flydubai on Saturday became the first airline to operate direct air links to the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, from the UAE as its inaugural flight FZ1789 from Dubai International (DXB) to Ljubljana Joze Pucnik Airport (LJU) touched down to a water cannon salute and a warm welcome from the airport and government officials.

Flydubai and Fraport Slovenija, the operator of Ljubljana Airport (LJU), held a press conference at the airport prior to the arrival of the carrier’s inaugural flight. The press conference was attended by local media, travel agents and representatives of government bodies.

“We are excited to see our network in Europe grow to 20 points in 17 countries, many of which had very few or no direct links to the UAE,” Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive officer at flydubai, said at the press conference.

“Flydubai’s direct flights to Ljubljana will strengthen the ties between our two countries and help stimulate tourism, trade and investment opportunities in the future. We look forward to welcoming on board our passengers from Slovenia, especially as our city gets ready to welcome the world as Expo 2020 Dubai opens its doors to visitors from beginning of October,” he said.

Slovenia will be among the 191 participating nations taking part at the anticipated Expo 2020 Dubai. The Slovenian pavilion is designed to be a floating green oasis that inspires sustainable solutions.

Oto Pungartnik, ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to the UAE, said the new flydubai route between Dubai and Ljubljana will have a positive impact on the growth of tourism in both countries.

“We are convinced that the tourists from UAE will enjoy the hospitality of our people and the beautiful green nature in Slovenia, located between the Alps and the Mediterranean. The flight connection will also enable further strengthening of the economic ties and extensive cooperation between the two friendly countries,” he said.

Excellent feedback

Jeyhun Efendi, senior vice-president, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai, said the airline received an excellent feedback from its customers and partners on the launch of direct flights to the market.

“We can already see healthy booking numbers. We are confident that passengers will enjoy flydubai’s convenient and reliable service and the comfortable cabin of our Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, which offers a flatbed in Business Class, and is scheduled to operate on this route,” he said.

With international travel restrictions gradually easing, flydubai has grown its network to over 95 destinations 50 countries across Africa, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Central and South-East Europe, the GCC and the Middle East, and the Indian Subcontinent.

Growing network

With the resumption of flights to Prague and Zagreb on September 23 and the launch of operations to Ljubljana on September 24, Budapest and Warsaw on September 30 and Ankara and Helsinki in October, the carrier serves 20 points in Europe.

“I am extremely happy because after many years, today we are welcoming flydubai for the first time here at Ljubljana Airport. We believe it will have a significant impact on the competitiveness of our airport,” Zmago Skobir, CEO Fraport Slovenija, said.

-- business@khaleejtimes.com