Maribor Edvard Rusjan Airport in Slovenia has lost its only scheduled route to Munich after VLM Airlines (Slovenia) (Maribor) rejigged its business plan to focus mainly on charter and ACMI services out of Belgium.
The route to Munich, initially launched as a 5x weekly service but recently reduced to 2x weekly, was a part of VLM's service from Antwerp via the Bavarian gateway.
VLM Airlines' parent firm SHS Aviation B.V., a 60/40 Dutch-Chinese venture, announced earlier in August that it would suspend its flights from Antwerp to each of Aberdeen Dyce, Birmingham, GB, Cologne/Bonn, Maribor, Munich, and Rostock leaving London City and Zurich as the only scheduled destinations in its network from Antwerp. Planned routes from Antwerp and Ostend to Manchester International have also been postponed.
The ch-aviation schedules module indicates that while service to Maribor has already been cancelled, its remaining routes will continue to be operated until mid-September. Thereafter, VLM Airlines will only serve London City 16x weekly and Zurich 10x weekly.
The carrier's future at Maribor has been uncertain since Villa 1, a Chinese investment firm, acquired the Maribor airport concessionaire from SHS Aviation B.V. earlier this year.
