The Slovenian government is considering setting up a new flag carrier with the assistance from another airline, which would act as strategic partner, to speed up the process of establishing the company. The country’s Prime Minister, Robert Golob, said in case the government decides to create a new airline, it “would not happen any time soon” but added the state would seek “a strategic partnership with one of the existing carriers”. An expert taskforce set up to evaluate the effects of Adria Airways’ bankruptcy in 2019 on the economy, as well as the funds required for a new airline, has completed its work, with its findings communicated to several ministries. The report will be presented to Mr Golob in the coming weeks.
According to unofficial information, the report states the Slovenian economy has lost 250 million euros as a result of Adria’s collapse while the tourism sector itself has been hit with 150 million euros in losses. The report estimates the establishment of a new carrier with all its associated costs would set the state back 100 million euros. The Slovenian Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Matjaž Han, recently said the state would co-finance the new national carrier for a period of seven years. He added the project would need to be granted approval by the European Commission and that the entire process could take up to a year.
In 2020, cargo operator Solinair outlined its proposal to create a new national carrier in Slovenia with financial assistance from the state under the name Air Slovenia. At the time, Solinair said it would seek an agreement with the Lufthansa Group for the new airline to take over their routes to Ljubljana, including Lufthansa’s flights from Frankfurt and Munich, Swiss’ from Zurich and Brussels Airlines’ service from the Belgian capital. In addition, it was proposed for the new carrier to link Ljubljana with Amsterdam, Skopje, Tirana and Pristina. The cargo operator said the Mitsubishi CRJ900, Dash 8 Q400 and the ATR72 turboprop would be ideal for the Slovenian market, with a proposed four-to-five-member fleet for Air Slovenia. However, ultimately, the Slovenian government was unable to secure funds to co-finance a new airline at the time and the plans never materialised.
Don't see anyone who would be interested in being a strategic partner
ReplyDeleteI think they target LH.
DeleteIs it such a big and important market for LH to invest money into it?
DeleteNo, LH has been contacted in the past and every single time they were clear about their plans. No plans in investing in regional carriers.
DeleteI think AirDolomiti was interested but their solution was more expensive than establishing new air slovenia - so LH partnership is not happening
DeleteAirDolomiti = LH and they didn't offer a joint venture, but simply to fly and connect to the state budget. Indecent proposal, but the only one backed by Fraport. They actively fight against any other solution.
Deleteanon@10:42 correct. Their proposal was indecent and coordinated with Fraport. They wanted the GOV to cover 100% inbound/outbound seats from/to LJU, so every single ticket sold would be their 100% profit. Very much supported by Fraport.
DeleteLike I have said before, the GOV should nationalise the airport. Fraport is doing everything possible to go against national interest.
@sloavio:
DeleteDo you have any insider's info about the fleet and who the partner might be?
I have no insider info about the potential partner, but my personal opinion is that it wont happen. As far as i know noone talks about the actual fleet yet, but there are some circles which drive the narrative for CRJ.
DeleteThis is a great opportunity for JU to step in. As long a politicians in Ljubljana can not spoil it.
DeleteFully support new airline in Slovenia!
ReplyDeleteIf the cost of the new airline is 100 million, while losses are 250+ million, then it is a no brainer.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThe strategic partner will be Lufthansa
ReplyDeleteBased on what?
DeleteI think LH has its hands full taking over ITA and probably TAP very soon.
DeleteLufthansa has bigger fish to fry.
DeleteLufthansa wants complete control over aviation. it will want Slovenia also.
DeleteN1 is reporting that the decision will be made this week, so my guess is that everything together with initiatives results will be communicated to public on Friday. Does anyone know untill when the initiative results have to be made public?
ReplyDelete"Po informacijah N1 naj bi v vladi že ta teden razpravljali o predlogu, da Slovenija ustanovi svojo nacionalno letalsko družbo. Kot je mogoče slišati, naj bi se k uresničitvi tega projekta nagibal tudi premier Robert Golob, večjih nasprotovanj v vladnih vrstah pa naj ne bi bilo"
They have to be announced by Sunday.
DeleteThe saga continues.
ReplyDeleteAt least something is finally happening on the Slovenian aviation market.
DeleteNothing will happen as the opportunity has been missed ...the country is riddled with corruption and a poor judicial system..
DeleteNo.hope
1. The partner will not be LH, as they are just obtaining ITA, and Croatia will be next up by 2026, not to mention that the government is communicating against Fraport in regard to their LH connection, so that's not happening.
ReplyDelete2. Cityjet could be a possibility, although my guess is either Solinair, Amelia or even Air Alps.
3. Slovenia needs an airline, but it needs to be running entirely out of gov hands - which will be hard.
4. They should station an aircraft in Maribor (CRJ/ATR/Ejet)to be different enough for the EU to accept the proposal.
5. If they start the process now, there is tiny hope for the airline to be operational from July/August 2024; if they wait, a bit more realistic timeline is 1.11.2024. If they take a320 family, or even e90/95 jets, they could start with summer charters first for the training and start scheduled flights in November.
Lufthansa has no interest in OU. Market in ZAG is too small and it's currently dominated by FR.
DeleteAn opportunity for LJU would be to make a deal with W6 and to target high volume routes out of ZAG. We already saw that Ryanair is reducing ZAG this winter. By the looks of it they will have 2 planes.
Lufthansa will have interest in OU once they get their A220s
DeleteLLC will not cover for business routes, and does not offer cconnections, or good departure times
Well ZAG is not even in Europe's top 100 airports so one has to wonder how much corporate demand there really is. It would make more sense for LH to buy Luxair before Croatia Airlines.
DeleteLuxair is owned by Cargolux so that's not happening
DeleteLH had a 20% share in Luxair until 2005.
Delete@09.21
DeleteI agree LH is not interested in buying OU. Why would anyone spend money and energy when you have all you need at no cost, which is what they already have now. And you need to understand that Zagreb does not equal Croatia like for example Belgrade equals Serbia and that croatian market is the biggest one within ex-yu, and that LH is very much interested in it and taking advantages of it for long long time already, free of charge and at no cost, on our shame
All I'm saying is that Cargolux is LH competitor and vice versa, so for neither of them the deal makes sense
Delete"Lufthansa will have interest in OU once they get their A220s"
DeleteIf anything, LH will have less interest in OU after they get their A220s, because liabilities will increase while no real value will be created. I don't believe in fairytales that OU will suddenly come up with an ambitious expansion plan and turn ZAG into a hub when they've failed to do so in the past three decades in much more favourable conditions, especially not with the same management in place.
Vlad 100%!
DeleteXYZ seems like you are very interested in CRJ story? Does CityJet pay well for this narrative?
XYZ I doubt that any of above mentioned partners are able to provide enough capital (except maybe Cityjet). Even SkyAlps is a virtual airliner itself.
DeleteI couldn't hate CRJ more, my wish would be for a mix of E90s and ATRs, with A319/20 after some time, I just think that CRJ will be the one to go bcs it's the easiest to get
DeleteEasiest to get, because someone is driving this narrative all around. Former JU pilots and former JU structure.
DeleteNot JU, but JP! Sorry
DeleteThat is partly correct, the fact of the matter still is that crj is widely available on the market, compared to ATR-600s and E-jets
DeleteOnce again, CRJ is the least comfortable and least economically viable out of all, but we are talking about slovenia here, where the easiest solution will always be taken
If CRJs happen, we know there are fees involved. CRJ is widely available because NOONE wants them and if Slovenia wants to get EC approval it will have to bring out the green narrative, which cant be supported with old and inefficient CRJ.
DeleteCRJ fleet is mostly grounded all over the world and it has to be a reason for that. Probaly economic.
DeleteThats why they offer nice fees for those who drive the narrative in Slovenia.
Delete@anon 09:21
DeleteThe croatian market is 3rd largest after greece and romania in the Balkans, it had over 11 million passangers through its airports at the height in 2019 and this will grow a lot over the years. So yes Lufthansa has an interest in all things croatia.
So controlling the airline in slovenia and in croatia allows for better coordination of meeting customers needs and maximizing profits from the 2 countries.
Instead of the unkown businesses the front-runner to take over slovenia is Lufthansa.
Deletethe german carrier already controls the airport and controls everything surrounding Slovenia. So its the most logical choice.
Most of the important routes needed from LJU would be competing with LH group airlines and fly to their hubs, even more now since they added Italian airline. So a Slovenian airline would fit right in to the LH group.
@sloavio 10:33
DeleteAs a former Adria CRJ driver, I couldn't care less about CRJ (I don't even have the rating anymore, since it's completely useless). I would appreciate if you don't talk s*it about all JP pilots, since we're not all the same (perhaps, it's in the interest of former management pilots but I can tell you that my former colleagues hated CRJ).
anon@11:56, I am sure not all of you drive this narrative (not even most of you), but some of them with more influence, they have this agenda. And their voice is heard. I never said everyone is part of this narrative. Sorry if you recognised yourself as a target in my comment.
DeleteAnonymous 9.21, they are not reducing Zagreb in winter. Last year it was the same. They will add the flights in the system later.
Delete@sloavio:
DeleteI know what you mean, however the majority of former CRJ pilots got new type ratings (apart from a handful). I do realize that there must be a few who would like to see the return of the CRJ (don't know how much influence they actually have, although there was one guy who is politically well connected to the current government). Let's wait and see, however it wouldn't surprise me if they decide on the CRJ.
There are probably 2 groups with CRJ narrative. One is consisted of former pilots, the other one of former management. One is pushing for CRJ for their professional interest, the other one is pushing CRJ for their fee interest.
Delete@sloavio:
DeleteI agree.
Amelia are ideal partners. Also start as virtual carrier without AOC, paint 5 E135,145, and we will have new flag carrier for short time this summer.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteFor now, I only see the possibility of a virtual operator being established using foreign planes and crew.
ReplyDeleteSummer 2022, but now its summer 2023 and people in charge understand this idea very well. NOT happening.
DeleteWhy? There is still a lot of expertise left any many people willing to return. Also, there would be significant economic impact if future employees (and the company itself) are paying taxes in Slovenia.
Delete@Slovavio so you think it's going to be an outright foreign partner invest in the new airline?
DeleteWhat taxes will be paid in Slovenia if we get a virtual operator with foreign planes and crew? National carrier will be "successful" only if its over-all impact will be positive. That said, crew must be employed in Slovenia, so the budget gets its health care and pension contributions, planes should be registered in Slovenia, so CAA gets its fee paid in Slovenia etc.
Deleteanon@10:23: I hope for it, but I dont think its gonna happen. So its more "inshallah" than anything else.
DeleteNew airline could launch in mid summer 2024 at best.
ReplyDeleteBest case scenario.
DeleteWinter 2024/2025, but I guess Summer 2025 is more viable.
DeleteI wonder what they will call it.
ReplyDeleteFor 100 million you can be sure they will put "Slovenia" somewhere in the name.
Delete^ Yes, that makes sense.
DeleteHope they don't choose 4K Invest as the strategic partner.
ReplyDeletehahaha
DeleteI would not be surprised.
DeleteOf course not, 4K is now coming to Montenegro...:)
DeleteAnd after that to Croatia 😃
DeleteThere is only one potential strategic partner....
ReplyDeleteWho?
Delete4K
DeleteSo millions wasted in losses over the last few years and now starting everything from scratch. Would have been easier to have bailed out JP.
ReplyDeleteAgree. All of this could have been avoided.
DeleteNot sure they would have been given approval by EU to bailout Adria.
DeleteCroatia Airlines is ideal partner. But of course, it will not happen, because of stupidity in Buzin and Ljubljana as well.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for pozdrav to say something
DeleteThe problem of Croatia airlines is state ownership. Slovenia needs a private investor to convince European Commission.
Deletepozdrav still hasnt seen this comment
Deletesomeone will need to check on him when he reads it
@09.45 and @11.19
DeleteI comment on tragic and sad situation in OU. Two of you, more likely one, comment only on me personally. I need no one to check on me while reading this, nor will I comment on the topic today. However, I will give you an advice, and if you listen to it, maybe you will feel less miserable in the future : GET A LIFE!
As the author of the 1st comment, it was meant as a positive and not a negative one. I fully agree with you in your views
DeleteI apologize to you 0945 and 13.05. Hope you will accept my apology. But there is one sick person here obsessed with me and usually writes multiple comments just about me. Thought it was the case today as well. Sorry again 😃
Delete@ pozdrav i wrote the comment 11;19, it was as a joke. i thought you would laugh so hard you would get a nose-bleed.
DeleteWell, I would have probably laughed if you had the nick so I knew who wrote it, or if you have put smiley, lol or any sign than explains you are joking. Having here at least one person who is very serious about things all others joke, without cristal ball makes it very difficult job knowing what is a joke and what is not
DeleteIt seems the government is already decided, not only to establish an airliner, but also to take a partner on board. This makes me optimistic that it will be something different from Adria, more efficient and hopefully not with CRJs which are being parked all over the world (it's no brainer why Cityjet is so aggressive, they are loosing customers). The main challenge is now to find the right partner, willing to take the risks.
ReplyDeleteInteresting times ahead
ReplyDeleteHope the government will be smarter in selecting a partner than it was in 2016 when they chose who they chose.
ReplyDeleteState secretary who was in charge for aviation at Ministry of infrastructure in 2016 is not in the GOV anymore, so things are different now.
DeleteUnrealistic to think it will be some foreign partner. I think it is more likely for it to be Solinair or even Amelia.
ReplyDeleteMe too
DeleteCan't wait to see what the outcome of all of this will be. Hoping for the best.
ReplyDeleteWhile Slovenia is waiting for a new carrier, Fraport must begin securing more charters to LJU. Egypt, Middle East, Maldives, Zanzibar, Tunisia, Tenerife and so many other options. There are decent carriers they can work with but need a good agency with experience.
ReplyDeleteDon't expect anything from Wizzair because they are currently shrinking their network significantly. Expect many cuts sin.
Well they are adding Skopje-Ljubljana :D and with A321s no less.
DeleteSKP is an exception because almost all its Wizz routes are paid and subsidised. I was referring to the rest of the normal Wizzair network.
Delete@12.41 that is actually not true only Malta,Vaxjo,Ljubijana and Luxembourg are subsidezed Subsidized routes like Billund,Turin,Barcelona,Larnaca are gone. Although BH is gone launch Larnaca again seasonally. MKD government launches every year a new tender to give subsidies to airlines to launch new routes not to support existing routes. Wizz highly benefits from the strong demand between west europe,Italy and MKD, almost no competition, because of the strong demand fares are relativly high if you compare it to lcc who fly to other ex yugo balkan destanations (excluded Greece) combined with the relativly low wages in MKD, SKP is actually an quite profitable base for Wizzair.
DeleteairBaltic Adria
ReplyDeleteairAdria
DeleteAirBaltic = AirAdriatic :D
DeleteI like that, AirAdriatic is a brand to start with, later taking over Croatian market (and fleet), when Croatia Airlines is gone... Montenegro is next.
DeleteDanes so dovoljene sanje, jutri je nov dan!
DeleteAnd I think slovenian national carrier should carry this slogan on its tail!
What if Aegean could be the strategic partner? Remember they were interested on buying OU? They also introduced flights to LJU this year.
ReplyDeleteMy wild guess is, as there is absolutely no infrastucture for an airliner (by that I mean crews, support staff, building…), that they will ask somebody to create a sister company, alocate part of fleet in LJU, call it Air Slovenia and voila! I suspect the hybrid solution was proposed, as estsblishing new airline from scratch would cost much, much more. Somebody mentioned Air Baltic, I think their fleet and fact that part of if is constantly in ACMI is telling on itself.
ReplyDeleteI think the Adria brand is a must!
ReplyDeleteNot needed at all. Which currently, non served, destination ex Ljubljana (LJU) can be profitable year round?
ReplyDeleteI don't see many: Pristina now is covered, Skopje will be soon.
In fact I can't see a single one that would not be a gamble.
MAD, BCN, CPH... you want more?
DeleteZrh, bru, vie, muc, even FRA on one rotation…then PRN, SKP, SJJ…
DeleteThe destinations mentioned would have more rotations already, if additional would be profitable and needed.
DeleteBCN is covered by LCC from Trieste now, expect little traffic to LJU at higher prices.
MAD let's try.
CPH in summer yes, but little business travel and/or connections via Germany are not a problem.
You cant have higher freq in LJU with cap available at most of airlines. BRU would have flown 2x a day, but no appropriate metal. Slovenia needs its own airlines with appropriate cap so it can bring more freq.
DeleteI think AirSerbia should be strategic partner, if possible.
ReplyDeleteIt is sadly not possible as they don't have EU AOC
DeleteWho says strategic partner should have EU AOC? Non sense.
DeleteYou need AOC ;)
DeleteI'd like to see JU base a few planes in Ljubljana, it will benefit both.
ReplyDeleteAnd how would JU fly from LJU to EU destinations?
DeleteWith planes? 😃
DeleteGood news:
ReplyDeleteMinistrstvo za infrastrukturo bo pripravilo javno predstavitev Analize podatkov o letalski povezljivosti Slovenije v obdobju od 1.11. 2017 do 31.10. 2022 z napovedjo do 31.10. 2023 ter Ekonomske analize letalske povezljivosti v obdobju od 1.11. 2017 do 31.10. 2022 z napovedjo do 31.10. 2023
Judging by the dates the starting point for Slovenia Airways is winter 2024