Eurowings, the low-cost airline affiliated with the German Lufthansa Group, has applied for subsidies offered by the Slovenian government to improve the country's air connectivity in a sixth call.

Announcing the outcome of the latest call on 5 November, the Ministry of Infrastructure said Eurowings is bidding to link Ljubljana with Berlin and Düsseldorf starting from April 2025.

The ministry's grant allocation committee is set to meet later this week to assess the application.

Since the first call to claim subsidies was published in April 2023, four new routes have been established, connecting Ljubljana with Luxembourg, Riga, Copenhagen and Madrid.

The government is offering subsidies for new passenger air links covering 50% of airport fees at Slovenia's three international airports, Ljubljana, Maribor and Portorož.

The selected carriers receive subsidies based on quarterly reports on flights operated and passenger numbers.

The latest call follows two unsuccessful ones. The fifth call attracted no bidder, while Cyprus Airways applied for the previous one but was unable to establish new routes due to its own financial difficulties.

A total of €16.8 million is available for subsidies under the 2023-2025 air connectivity scheme. The contracts with the four carriers selected to date (Luxair, Air Baltic, Norwegian Air, and Iberia) total €1.2 million.

Slovenia's air connectivity is expected to improve further with additional routes operated by Turkish Airlines, currently Ljubljana airport's second-largest carrier after Lufthansa.

According to EX-YU Aviation, Turkish Airlines will increase its weekly flights to Ljubljana from 14 to 18 starting from June next year, with three daily flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and two flights on other days of the week.

Last month, Infrastructure Minister Alenka Bratušek met with Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Eksi in Istanbul. The ministry said discussions focused on strengthening the Ljubljana-Istanbul route as well as exploring alternative solutions and direct flights from Ljubljana to key strategic destinations.