Adria and Ljubljana awaiting new owners

Ljubljana Airport on sale while Adria waits

Adria Airways and its hub Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport are both expected to be privatised in 2014. While the process for the sale of Slovenia’s largest airport has begun, there has been no clear timeframe given on when Adria Airways could be put up on the market. The Slovenian government has selected both as part of fifteen state owned companies to be privatised in an attempt to cut the country's budget deficit and avoid becoming the latest euro zone member to seek a bailout.

Adria’s last privatisation attempt in 2012 was shrouded in secrecy. Last August, the government offered 74.8% of the airline’s shares and interested parties had until September 2012 to submit non binding bids. The Assets Management Agency (AUKN) confirmed that ten parties submitted non binding offers but declined to give out their names. Up until now there has been no information given on who submitted their offers nor has the privatisation attempt officially been declared a failure. It is believed that Welcome Air, a small Austrian based airline operating two turboprop aircraft and the Dutch company Panta Holdings, which last year purchased the German airline OLT Express (which has since gone bankrupt), were amongst the bidders. This July, the Slovenian carrier began selling off some of its assets including its flight school, hangars and office building in order to raise capital. The results of the tender procedure, which came to a close in August, have never been revealed. However, on Friday, Ljubljana Airport confirmed it will buy Adria’s hangar. The deal might not go down well with the European Commission which, amongst other things, is investigating a conflict of interest relating to Ljubljana Airport’s purchase of a 52.3% stake in the airline’s maintenance division, Adria Airways Tehnika, in 2011.

So far, China Southern Airlines has been rumoured as a potential investor not only in Adria but Ljubljana Airport as well. By the end of the month the airport is set to choose its financial advisor for its privatisation process. A total of six companies have submitted their bids in an attempt to guide the airport to a majority sale. The government has offered a 75% stake in the airport. The KD Fund, a minority shareholder, says operators of Venice, Istanbul, Frankfurt, Zurich and Vienna airports, as well as Chinese companies and private funds, have all shown interest in purchasing shares at Ljubljana Jože Pučnik.

Comments

  1. Anonymous10:32

    So one state owned company buys a hangar from another state owned company which will be used by a third state owned company which is co-owned by Ljubljana Airport, a state owned company

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:18

      Yes Sir

      only in a cocain driven "business" country.
      So you are surprised.

      Delete
  2. JU520 BEGLAX11:02

    Despite arguing differently SI government has not much intention to sell their state owned assets
    The reason is clear. From private companies their own pockets wont be filled anymore.

    Socialism in Slovenia lives on and on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:00

      It has nothing to do with socialism. Their system's bribery and corruption. It's nice, not to live there.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:27

      Eu laws and policies that are valid in all EU
      countries are not enforced in Slovenia.
      They are enforcing what they like and they are
      making excuses for the rest.

      And it's still working.
      wow

      Who is stupid there?



      The deal might not go down well with the European Commission which, amongst other things, is investigating a conflict of interest relating to Ljubljana Airport’s purchase of a 52.3% stake in the airline’s maintenance division, Adria Airways Tehnika, in 2011.

      Delete
  3. Off topic:

    A few days ago a friend of mine flew on Air Serbia from Larnaca to Belgrade. He told me that the flight was packed and when they landed 70 to 80 passengers connected onto other flights. He said that the service on board was amazing and that everyone was really impressed, that is people who used to travel regularly on old Jat between the two cities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:59

      pathetic

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:01

      What exactly is pathetic?

      Delete
    3. I had the same experience flying from SAW to BEG

      Delete
  4. Anonymous12:28

    Sorry for off topic but I think this is big news especially some people were wondering.

    It seems that tomorrow Air Serbia's third A319 will enter service:

    07.05 JU 540 to Milan Airbus A319
    07.25 JU 310 to Paris Airbus A319
    07.25 JU 320 to Dusseldorf Airbus A319

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:58

      Did they actually drop naming the aircrafts? That would be a nice surprise :)

      By the way, what's with the SU A321 to BUD from BEG this morning?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:32

      Maybe there was fog in Budapest so it diverted to Belgrade?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:39

      Flight to MXP will most likely be operated with Etihad A319.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:43

      Could be. I will check tomorrow on flightradar24.

      Tomorrow, the flight from Milan lands at 11.15 while at 12.00 there is an A319 flight to Frankfurt. Now, it's either the A319 that flew to Milan or the one that arrives from Abu Dhabi at 11.25.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:38

      Yes, there was fog in Budapest, and Wizzair and Ryanair diverted their flights to Bratislava. Aeroflot diverted it's flight to Belgrade, whereas many other airlines, including Lufthansa cancelled their flights. SU flight continued it's journey to Budapest the following day (today) at 9:00 am

      Delete
  5. Aegean published their planned 2014 summer schedule which includes 19 new routes, 3 resumed routes and five new destinations. Even though they announced that they are considering launching flights to Ljubljana and Dubrovnik, it seems that they will not be doing so... at least not in 2014.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:06

      where you find this info? I can't find it anywhere.

      Delete
    2. There you go:
      http://airlineroute.net/2013/09/24/a3-s14update1/

      They have also announced a few others but still nothing in this region.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:35

      Thx. but this summer new summer routes info was from 24.09.2013. Info for LJU and DBU is from 31.10.2013 and from official Aegean website.

      Delete
    4. Yes but they said that they were evaluating the possibility of launching flights to ex-Yugoslavia, that is to Dubrovnik and Ljubljana. They did not say they were going to do it for sure. Anyway, as we are almost in December, I am sure we will know for sure soon enough.

      Delete
  6. OT's from austrianaviation:

    1. There are plans for a bus service Klagenfurt-Ljubljana Airport

    2. Etihad bought 33% of Darwin Airways (new name "Etihad Regional") and is planning

    Rome-Zagreb and Geneva-Belgrade

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:38

      Is this some kind of joke?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:43

      I saw that they bought them but where did you get the information about the flights to Zagreb and Belgrade? Maybe Etihad regional will open up a base in Zagreb?

      Delete
    3. http://www.etihad.com/de-de/about-us/news/archive/2013/etihad-airways-announces-step-change-in-business-strategy-with-the-launch-of-etihad-regional/

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:52

      It's great how they will feed Air Serbia's and airberlin's hubs. I wonder on which routes they will place their code-shares on. Really good news. It will be interesting to see how things work out now that there will be Swiss, easyJet and Etihad regional flying from Geneva to Belgrade.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:07

      Wow, three airlines will be serving BEG-GVA, that's a huge increase from zero and I guess it won't last long - so use the opportunity to travel cheap.

      I didn't see this coming at all.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:11

      I don't think anyone did, to be honest. I think Swiss will be the weakest of them all when it comes to Belgrade-Geneva!

      I wonder what will happen on the Rome-Zagreb and Tirana market.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:36

      A swiss airline is now feeding a Serbian carrier. Is this real life?

      Delete
    8. BA88816:24

      Just walked out from LX plane on LCY-GVA-LCY route.

      A friend of mine is thinking going to BEG in March and I have seriously enjoyed Geneva Light which is cheaper than U2 and actually reminds you about how thing were!

      Also a nice blow for JU and ZRH route too!

      Delete
    9. Anonymous16:26

      Aren't GVA and ZRH kind of far apart in order to directly compete with each other?

      Delete
    10. Purger22:18

      Unbelievable how you can see thing pink when they are not.

      Darwin will feed all hubs where Etihad flies exempt BEG.

      Zagreb and Tirana to Rome not to BEG!!!!!
      Dusseldorf, Poznan and Wroclaw to Berlin, not to BEG.
      Leipzig, Florence, Turin, Linz, Graz, Verona, Lyon to Zurich not to BEG.
      Bordeaux, Marseille, Nantes and Verona to Geneva not to BEG.

      The only new route to Belgrade is from Geneva. One of 18. But you have to know that Etihad already flies to Geneve. So basically Etihad Regional will route passengers to Berlin, Zurich and Geneva, and that is less potential passengers for Air Serbia. And those are not good news for Air Serbia.

      Etihad will only put bridge for passengers from Belgrade to Geneve and via Geneve to Etihad regional destinations, and of course for passengers from Geneve via Belgrade to Air Serbia destinations. That will, for sure, open some more routes and frequencies via BEG to east and southeast, but in same time, for sure, less to west and north because those passengers will travel via Geneva, Zurich, Berlin and Dusseldorf.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous22:35

      Why would they launch Rome-Belgrade when Air Serbia already flies the route?

      Plus, Darwin's primary hub will be Geneva so it makes sense for them to launch Belgrade from there. They will also focus on Dusseldorf, a route served by Air Serbia.

      Also, for Darwin to launch all those flights to Belgrade they would have to operate them as a one stop route, something that is not too cost efficient. It makes far more sense for them to launch these secondary routes to Germany because there is much more demand, O&D demand that is.

      I do not see what's not pink here. It's perfectly fine. Plus, no wonder they need to provide more help for Air Berlin. Don't you think that Lufthansa will try to attack them even more now when they are still vulnerable?! Air Serbia is in a better position because it is geographically isolated in relation to the big European carriers.

      Delete
    12. Purger23:35

      Where did you read that I thing they should or they will launch BEG-FCO? But Etihad launch ZAG-FCO with Darwin (to connect to flights to Abu Dhabi) instead ZAG-BEG and connection to Air Serbia. So ZAG pax will not go to Air Serbia and BEG, but to FCO and Alitalia flights to Abu Dhabi (in code-share with Etihad).

      So it is not pinky at all and let me repeat:

      The only new route to Belgrade is from Geneva. One of 18. So basically Etihad Regional will route passengers to Berlin, Zurich and Geneva (and even to Rome), and that is less potential passengers for Air Serbia. And those are not good news for Air Serbia.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous00:39

      God. You are still wrong and here is why.

      Etihad Regional could have launched 99 new routes and it still doesn't matter if only one is to Belgrade. The basic structure of the Belgrade hub is not yet set up, this is primarily because it only started functioning a few weeks ago when the new winter schedule was introduced. On top of everything, Air Serbia has yet to receive all the six A319s in order for the schedule to become fully operational. BEG is still under construction.

      Second of all, Air Berlin is a well established airline with strong presence in both Berlin and Dusseldorf. Their intercontinental network will be further enhanced in Berlin with additional frequencies to places such as New York or Chicago. It only makes sense for them to add more feeding flights to an already well functioning system than to a one that is still under construction, that is Belgrade. Especially since Air Berlin operates intercontinental flights which are usually more lucrative than regional/European flying.

      But the most important argument why it is ok that they are adding flights to Germany but not to Belgrade is because Berlin and Dusseldorf has far more O&D demand to fill the flights until connecting traffic picks up. Belgrade would take much longer to develop and it would cost more money. Once Belgrade becomes a true hub, adding flights from places like Wroclaw will be much easier of a task. For the time being Belgrade could not compete with airlines such as LOT, Lufthansa or Austrian Airlines. If you notice how Air Serbia has been expanding, you will notice that it has been either to safer markets where it can rely on at least some O&D while the other markets have been to places with rather weak competition: Ljubljana, Bucharest, Athens...

      In the end, the fact that Etihad Regional will be adding flights to Belgrade from Geneva only proves that they are indeed having big plans for Air Serbia. After all, maybe they first want to stabilize the future network and operation growth from primary European cities before adding new flights from secondary markets.
      Anyway, both Air Serbia and Belgrade will have a lot on their plate with Kiev, Sofia, Varna, Monastir, Beirut, Cairo... being added next year.

      So yes Purger, things are more than rosy for us here in Belgrade and that is why we have more than enough reasons to rejoice after hearing about this news.

      p.s. as for Zagreb and Tirana, they are being introduced for the same reasons mentioned above. Belgrade-Zagreb is probably not viable at this point in time so why not feed the Rome route, which we can assume is under-performing at this stage. Plus, Zagreb lacks direct air links to Rome while Tirana doesn't see that much competition so as not to warrant an additional carrier from Rome, especially with Alitalia on the verge of bankruptcy. I think Air Serbia will survive just fine without these 18 new flights when it is expanding on its own quite fast.

      Delete
    14. Purger01:18

      And what is your point?????

      I just want to mention that Etihad investment in Darwin is not good thing for Air Serbia because that will make less potential passengers for Air Serbia in "Etihad family". Of course Zurich and Geneva are much bigger opportunity for Etihad than Belgrade. If there would be no Darwin concentration would be on Belgrade much more than now when Darwin come into Etihad family.

      And Zagreb is good example. Zagreb passengers will fly via FCO instead BEG, and without Darwin, Air Serbia would, for sure, in near future open ZAG route. Now, I am not so sure. Let us presume that Darwin will open Ljubljana-Geneva and Ljubljana-Zurich route. What do you thing will that hurt Ljubljana-Belgrade route?

      Of course Belgrade is in much better situation after Jat becomes Air Serbia (Etihad investment). I already mention that is the best thing can happened for Belgrade and Serbia. Just Emirates investment is better than Etihad investment. Nothing else. But Darwin is not good news for Air Serbia.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous07:35

      My point is that you are blowing this out of proportion.

      Even if Etihad Regional opens Geneva-Ljubljana it will not hurt Air Serbia simply because it is not a market it is after. Why would anyone fly LJU-BEG-GVA or even LJU-GVA-AUH? LJU-BEG-AUH will still remain the most direct flight, the same applies for the O&D passengers heading from LJU to both GVA and ZRH.

      As it was mentioned by Etihad, Darwin will be used to feed its Abu Dhabi flights. Even if Darwin does create a hub in Geneva, it will take much longer for it to mature because not only will it have to compete with easyJet but with Swiss as well. The birth of Etihad Regional is not so much of a threat for Air Serbia, they are playing in a totally different league.

      I for one do believe that Belgrade-Zagreb will be eventually launched. Air Serbia offers far more options in Belgrade than a flight to Abu Dhabi. If Jat and Etihad had a codeshare agreement and if this happened then we would have a lot of reasons to worry, but not like this.

      The most important thing is that they are entering deep inside Lufthansa's prime territory, the area of its most lucrative branch. They will most definitely fight them and we all know that when Lufty puts up a fight it gets dirty.

      Once Air Serbia is fully set up and when all planes are flying, I am sure we are going to see more flights added by Etihad Regional from secondary and tertiary European cities.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous07:56

      ' LJU-BEG-AUH will still remain the most direct flight, the same applies for the O&D passengers heading from LJU to both GVA and ZRH.'

      I meant on a direct flight as in the O&D market is not the one Air Serbia is after.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous09:16

      Purger, I remember when you wrote in June that Etihad gave Jat the "Hladan tus" and that they won't purchase Jat and here we are now. So I take all your comments with reserve,

      Delete
    18. Anonymous10:44

      lol, LJU-MUC-GVA is the way to go

      Delete
  7. Anonymous14:45

    Darwin will launch Geneva-Belgrade and they will feed Air Serbia's network as per current sources.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:35

      I don't get the point out of this

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:03

      What exactly don't you get? Darwin/Etihad Regional will feed Air Serbia's flights in Belgrade. They can offer so many flights from Belgrade to places such as Istanbul, Thessaloniki, Athens, ex-Yugoslavia, Sofia, Varna, Bucharest, Moscow...

      They will do the same with Air Berlin.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous14:57

    I guess Croatia Airlines will have to think twice about what it will do with its Rome service. They will get destroyed by Etihad Regional which will offer direct flights. What will this mean for the coastal cities?

    Poor mayor of Dubrovnik if he has to find out that his two weekly OU connection to Rome might soon go. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:23

      They will continue flying from Dubrovnik and Split to Rome directly. Cheapest return ticket in summer season 2013 was 245 € although they were competing with Easy jet on those lines. There are not so many passengers flying from Zagreb to Rome. I don't know why. One season they were flying directly from Zagreb to Rome, but nothing spectacular happens.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:26

      Thanks, I think they will lose the little passengers they have from Zagreb to Rome once Etihad Regional launches their own flights. Somehow, I can't see many people being interested in flying via the Croatian coast.

      Delete
    3. Purger22:29

      That is not true. On ZAG-SPU/DBV-FCO route most passengers are from ZAG to FCO, just few (not more than 25%) from SPU and DBV to FCO. During summer season maybe 35%, but not more than that.

      I never did understand this logic of flights via SPU and DBV to FCO (by the way it was patent of Jat who had flights BEG-DBV-FCO, BEG-SPU-FCO, ZAG-SPU-FCO). That is stupid because you have more costs (two times airport fees, more kerosene, passengers don’t like it because of at least one more hour on that route to stop in SPU/DBV). For tourist 2 frequencies from SPU and from DBV is enough, so it would be clever to make it

      1-3-5—ZAG-FCO
      -2---6- ZAG-SPU-FCO
      ---4—7 ZAG-DBV-FCO

      OK now they cut winter frequencies from ZAG to SPU and DBV so there is logic to make those flights via SPU/DBV to make more frequencies also on ZAG-SPU and ZAG-DBV leg, but when they have 28 flights to SPU/DBV per week (4 per day) there is no logic to have all flights form ZAG to FCO via SPU/DBV.

      Delete
    4. JU520 BEGLAX08:18

      btw EY will start with AUH-ZRH flights as of 01JUN14 and Darwin will switch its hub to ZRH to feed EY ZRH flights. it will still maintain its LUG and GVA flights tough.
      As per 01JAN EK will upgrade 1 daily 773 to A388 in ZRH and now this EY leg.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:15

      It really makes me wonder if they are actually managing to fill all those flights. Even though Emirates is sending its A380 to Rome it is not that full, the compensate by healthy cargo loads. That could be one of the reasons why Etihad will also expand its feed in Rome and Zurich.
      Yes, Zurich is very high yielding but with so many airlines fighting for a medium sized market someone ought to lose.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous19:30

    Inshallah our Muzlim brothers will give us 2-3 airbus 330

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:05

      lol to whom exactly?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:53

      ^ To the Emirate of Belgrade of course!
      ; )

      Delete
  10. Anonymous21:36

    Maybe now that they bought a random airline like Darwin they will consider buying OU? They could make use of the 12 million tourists every year, it would be a natural pick for them. Not to mention that soon there will be a new terminal in Zagreb.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous21:51

    Is it true that with Easyjet and Swiss you can buy one-way tickets?
    If so it would be interesting to book BEG-GVA with Swiss and the flight back with Easyjet.
    What do you think Suisse Ouest and Gva Cointrin?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:59

      with every low cost you can buy one way tickets ^^

      (yes swiss introduced oneway tickets only for flights to/from GVA, trying to win pax from Easyjet )

      Delete
  12. Life is adventure23:48

    This is the way to fly Geneva...
    Change Swiss and Easyjet as it fits best into your personal needs.Leave with one and back with the other...
    The customer is king and both airlines will treat you like one!

    ReplyDelete

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