Adria posts strong Q1 results

Adria Airways bounces back in 2014

Adria Airways has started the year off strongly with the airline posting improved passenger numbers and a better financial performance. In addition, during the first quarter the carrier launched several new routes, made a multi million euro order for new aircraft and kicked off its hybrid full service - low cost business model. During the first three months of the year, the Slovenian national carrier welcomed 188.594 passengers on board its aircraft, an increase of 10% compared to last year. The result comes despite a 3.4% decrease in the number of scheduled flights as the airline focused on offering more capacity and less frequencies to its key destinations. On the other hand, the number of operated charter flights increased by 26.4%, primarily as a result of ad-hoc operations.

Adria maintained its dominance at Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport as it held a 69.1% share of all passengers passing through Slovenia’s busiest airport. As a result, Adria welcomed 163.605 passengers on its flights to and from Ljubljana, while the other 24.989 came from its Pristina operations and charter flights outside of Slovenia. Adria’s main competition from its base are easyJet, Turkish Airlines and Wizz Air. The carrier can boast of having the best average cabin load factor among the national carriers of the former Yugoslavia during the first quarter as it stood at 67.5%, an increase of 2.8% on the same period last year.

During the first three months, the national carrier made an 92 million dollar order for two new Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen aircraft and leased a further two jets of the same type, the first of which entered service in early April. Furthermore, the airline saw its finances improve by 2.1 million euros. Adria’s CEO Mark Anžur recently said, “Adria’s main commercial objective is profitable growth. For an airline, growth means carrying more passengers and introducing more flights. Last year saw us surpass the magic number of one million passengers. This year we are aiming even higher - a 12% increase in passenger numbers”.

In the coming few weeks the European Commission will finally hand down its judgment on whether the carrier received state aid over a period of three years contrary to European Union competition laws. The verdict is significant as it could affect Adria’s finances, however, the airline’s management anticipates a positive outcome. The Slovenian carrier is also soon expected to take delivery of a second leased CRJ900 which has not been previously used.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:27

    Nice. New CRJ900 will be registered S5-AAV and named "Vesna". Also, supposedly S5-AAF (CRJ200 with "Mini" logo) will be grounded next.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:54

      last flight of S5-AAF (Mini) will be 12.06.2014

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:39

    OT:
    Turkish Airlines is planning to gradually increase LJU frequency from 7 weekly to 10 and later to 12.
    However, Turkish does not disclose its numbers on IST-LJU route. Last year Adria's LF to IST stood at 67% or 42.000 passengers.

    http://www.reporter.si/slovenija/turkish-airlines-nacrtuje-nadaljnjo-krepitev-povezav-med-ljubljano-istanbulom/24198

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:49

    OT. Here in Slovenia, our thoughts and prayers are with people in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia who are suffering from devastating floods. May you all be safe!
    Nice to see also here some NBA stars like Goran Dragic and former NBA players like Raso Nesterovic donating and addressing people to donate. Many people have already done so and today first large convoy with humanitarian aid is leaving Slovenia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:52

      Slovenian army and police are helping in Bosnia and Serbia with three helicopters, two in Bosnia and one in Serbia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:31

      Thank you all from sad Serbia.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:15

      Humanitarian aid being sent from Croatia to Bosnia and Serbia as well, we're collecting food and clothes in all the cities, praying for all the people afected by terrible floods!

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:50

    when they say "better financial performance" it always mean they recorded loss which is somewhat smaller than in the same quarter of the year before. It applies for all businesses. Whether they have had profit, theyd immediately ring all bells with it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:53

      It is not rare for airlines to end Q1 in red numbers, since those are the slowest months in airline industry.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:29

      i agree, but the whole industry is in mess. Even the giants like AF/KL, AZ, SU and TK had huge annual losses in 2013.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous10:19

    Anyone know when the last CRJ200 will leave the fleet?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous11:04

    Sick of Adria's propaganda North Korea style.
    Just wait and see the real situation then we can talk.
    Don't trust numbers and data published by Adria they show what they want to show and they hide what they like to hide.
    So no one serious buying this

    ReplyDelete
  7. OT:
    Four months Air Serbia figures suggest that it could improve by one million passengers this year compared to 2013. Last year figure was 1.397 million (published in Airport Belgrade annual report). This year we could expect around 2.4 million.

    Offered seats will probably reach close to 4 million.

    Any estimate on the proportion of transit passengers (sixth freedom), that is obviously growing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:53

      Couldn't you have just posted this in yesterday's article which deals with that precise topic?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:02

      +1

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:50

      Come on, let the people comment when they can. Perhaps poster was flying from Australia to Europe yesterday and didn't have wifi on board...

      Delete
    4. To be honest I was not able to see yesterday's article before today. Was not flying from Australia to Europe, but simply busy.
      My perception of this blog is that we freely post OT whenever convenient. That gives additional "flavor" to the blog and keeps people reading comments even if the daily topic is not of their primary interest. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:49

      +1 you are correct, thanks!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:06

      "even if the daily topic is not of their primary interest"

      ...or dreadfully dull.

      Delete
    7. To repeat my question: could anyone here estimate the level of participation of transit passengers in growing numbers of Air Serbia? I would like to see opinions.
      Where from 230 thousand more passengers Jan-Apr came from? Seems the competition is not declining in figures, organic growth can't be so high. Is that growth coming from transit?

      Delete
    8. From what I could notice, the morning wave of departures is maybe 80% O&D and 20% transfers, at times even less.

      The afternoon one is 65% transfer and 35% O&D,

      The evening wave is 60% O&D and 40% transfer.

      There are definitely more transfer passengers but at the same time there are more local passengers. Most of regional routes are heavy with transfer passengers but that is also the case with some European ones like Larnaca or Stockholm.
      For example, yesterday, the flight to Tivat departed with 148 passengers (147 economy and 1 business), out of these around 50 passengers came from both Aeroflot and Air Serbia's flights from Moscow. Another example is yesterday's flight to Stockholm where roughly 65% of the 114 passengers were transfer ones (7 from Banja Luka, 24 from Bucharest, 3 from Split...).

      So I would say that both kind of passengers contributed to this spectacular growth.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous18:44

      "...or dreadfully dull."

      Some people find news about Air Serbia dreadfully dull. Stop being a jerk.

      Delete
  8. Aэrologic14:05

    Off topic:

    - Among other news: Air Serbia sports team won the first prize at the recently held Etihad's group multidisciplinary sports event in Abu Dhabi
    - New flights to Pula to offer connections to United Arab Emirates and beyond
    - Few days ago flight back BEG-AUH almost completely full
    - Air Serbia started selling tickets to Geneva through interline agreement with Etihad Regional, fares starting at 69 Eur. each way
    - Exclusive: long-haul line to Chine in the make - Serbia and China signed in Beijing an ASA agreement allowing up to 14 weekly frequencies to 3 different cities in China

    Bonus - a few pictures of Belgrade from the air taken recently, before the floods (07.05 - flight to Larnaca), enjoy:

    https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/q77/s720x720/10270439_701370079906614_270745862367577124_n.jpg

    https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1.0-9/q75/s720x720/10295761_701370213239934_967530330085043765_n.jpg

    https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/l/t1.0-9/q79/s720x720/10365904_701370543239901_7624615927504915915_n.jpg

    https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/q77/s720x720/10390125_701370756573213_2768420587401063575_n.jpg

    https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-9/q79/s720x720/10270538_701371029906519_5905401284734135672_n.jpg

    https://scontent-b-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/t1.0-9/q80/s720x720/10329066_701371056573183_7918251871455985595_n.jpg

    https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1.0-9/q80/s720x720/10251913_701371153239840_3737911025539046029_n.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:35

      - Among other news: Air Serbia sports team won the first prize at the recently held Etihad's group multidisciplinary sports event in Abu Dhabi

      WOW , maybe that should be tomorrows topic ^^

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:38

      lol

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:45

      Unfortunately for Croatia Airlines we can't tell the same oh,wait, maybe Air Dolomiti is introducing a one weekly flight to Zagreb from god-knows-where... Maybe that should be tomorrow's topic.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:00

      I would rather focus on the China news mentioned in Aerologic's comment. Add to that news we had couple of days ago about Chinese Southeast Europe Business Association (CSEBA) planning flights from China and Etihad's existing connections to 3 destinations in China, and this development can get really interesting.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:28

      BEG-AUH-PEK is about 31% longer than BEG-PEK nonstop. It is even shorter to backtrack from BEG all the way to FRA, AMS or CDG to continue to PEK, than to connect from BEG to PEK through AUH. Still, I can't imagine Etihad being happy about potential nonstop BEG-PEK (or other China destinations).

      Delete
    6. Aэrologic17:05

      "Add to that news we had couple of days ago about Chinese Southeast Europe Business Association (CSEBA) planning flights from China"

      Nothing to do with that. Flights will be Air Serbia or Air China, most likely the former cause they'll have to deploy those A333's somewhere while they're not flying to North America.

      While BEG-AUH-PEK can be competitive, SJJ-BEG-AUH-BEG can't. The flight will cater for the wider region and be fed with JU's European and regional connections and last but not least - North American ones. PEK-BEG-JFK is way better than PEK-AUH-JFK. Etihad will earn money one way or another, through their ownership of JU.

      Delete
    7. Let's also not forget that in this way, Etihad can have an upper hand when it comes to competing with Turkish Airlines, Qatar and Emirates on the Europe-China market. Not only could they funnel passengers through Abu Dhabi but they could do it via Belgrade too.
      Naturally, I doubt these flights (or the north American ones) will materialize before we have some long-term plan for the airport.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous17:27

      lok yeah, west europeans will fly via BEG

      Delete
    9. Hmm well they are flying short-haul now so I do not see why long-haul would be any different. Also, it would be good if you could give some concrete arguments whilst spitting poison.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous18:15

      Nemjee jel znas mozda kakvi su rezultati Air Serbie i aerodroma za 20 dana u maju

      Delete
    11. Anonymous19:32

      @Aerologic at 5:05

      I understand South East Europe region would be used as source for BEG transit for long haul, but it never crossed my mind they would fly PEK-BEG to also connect passengers to North America, but then again I am not the real airline CEO…

      It would be interesting to see how many passengers Turkish has on PEK-IST-JFK route as Europe is far away from PEK-JFK direct route. Just tried online it and they are the cheapest option, but it’s a really long trip - even with short 2 hour stop at IST total trip is about 10 hours longer than direct, so about 8 hours more in the air than direct (although not much longer than with LOT or ANA). I really don’t know how are they so competitive on this route…

      According to GC mapper, PEK-BEG-JFK is 33% longer than PEK-JFK direct, or about 3700 km. That is 3700 km of unnecessary long haul fuel burn, quite a challenge to be competitive with direct flight even if you have the best airplane for the mission.

      Europe is a much better stopover for flights from South Asia, and airlines from India are already using it (for example Jet in Brussels). Route BOM-BEG-JFK is ONLY 2.5 % longer than BOM-JFK direct, for example. Wouldn’t that be a better choice for Air Serbia to connect passengers from Asia to North America through BEG?

      Delete
    12. Нажалост немам те податке али судећи по ономе што сам видео до сада резултати ће бити одлични!

      As far as any potential flights to China go, I highly doubt they would be after the US-China market. It's European passengers they will try to attract. If these flights really do materialize then I think Air Serbia should really think outside the box (as they have done until now) and launch flights to Algeria. The demand between Algiers and China is massive.

      Delete
    13. A lot of people from Ex-Yu work in Algeria in the petroleum business. I think Algiers is a very likely route. I bet it would be reasonably high yielding too.

      I was looking at the routes from Beijing, and South East Europe is a grey spot. JU could have good feeds from Ex-Yu, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. I think that there is a pretty big market there for such flights.

      Perhaps JU could make a code share with Air China, where JU can put its codes on Beijing to Shanghai, Tokyo, and Seoul flights, and Air China can put its code on JU's regional flights. The only obstacle might be Air China's membership in Star Alliance. I wonder how much pressure Lufthansa can put on Air China.

      Delete
    14. One reason why JU long haul flights to China might be more likely than transatlantic is because of ETOPS certification. JU would need at least ETOPS-120 for flights to JFK, ORD, or YYZ, and I hear that it is easier to get ETOPS certification if the airline already has previous long haul experience.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous22:12

      yeh dream on

      Delete
    16. Anonymous22:17

      Well, you used to tell us the same thing a year ago when Etihad was presented as a potential candidate for the takeover of JU.

      Delete
    17. Aэrologic22:29

      Western European and Scandinavian passengers are already connecting to places such as Moscow, Beirut and AUH so i don't see why wouldn't they to China. I remember
      similar comments before Etihad's takeover and now all you need is to see the list of destinations where Etihad has its own codes on JU's flights.

      "Add to that news we had couple of days ago about Chinese Southeast Europe Business Association (CSEBA) planning flights from China"

      Once again, this has nothing to do with those dubious plans. U.S. - China might not be their primary market, but for sure they would rather fill some empty seats with those pax from China or North America rather than let them empty.

      "The only obstacle might be Air China's membership in Star Alliance. I wonder how much pressure Lufthansa can put on Air China."

      Lufthansa has as much leverage on Air China as Germany has on Chinese foreign policy.

      After all, CA is not the only airline JU could code-share with in the far-eastern market.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous16:10

    OT: Jat Tehnika is negotiating with two Turkish carriersaboutdoing MRO of their fleet for the upcoming off-season

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous01:00

      Of course, Turks are too stupid to maintain their own planes.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous16:38

    Off topic:

    Banja Luka airport handled 1.942 passengers in April 2013 (+350,6% compared to April 2013.)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous22:54

    Marvellous figures for BNX LOL

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:23

    Dear all,

    Once again you start with debate which was out off topic. Every day just Air Serbia, it is nice to see the positive grow up but please try to stay in topic.

    ReplyDelete

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