Adria begins low cost transition

Adria charging for food and drinks from tomorrow

Adria Airways will mark the beginning of its switch to a hybrid low cost/full fare airline model tomorrow as it discontinues its complimentary meal and beverage service for economy class passengers. The airline will introduce its new in-flight catering concept - “SkyShop”. Mario Mazek, the head of the SkyShop project and Director of Ground Operations at Adria Airways says, “In business class and on charter flights the service will remain unchanged for now”. He adds, “We believe that the service is a good one and we have made a special effort to ensure that the range of products includes something for everyone. With this service, I think we have come closer to meeting the requirements of today's Adria passengers".

The move, capping a five year period of shrinking service, is based on industry research showing that passengers prioritise prices and scheduling over amenities, according to Adria's Marketing Director Iztok Franko. "By introducing this new service we are responding to the wishes and needs of today's passengers and giving them the opportunity to choose", Mr. Franko says. He continues, “Analysis of our competitors, as well as trends among regional carriers, to which Adria belongs to, indicates that the most important thing for passengers is to offer safe, fast and competitively priced transport to their final destination. The primary aim of the new SkyShop service is to provide a quality service for passengers at a moderate price”.


The Slovenian carrier says it is adopting a low cost approach due to the growth of budget airlines, which has also forced legacy carriers to aggressively cut costs. Officials from Adria suggest the new hybrid model is working, as its passenger numbers rose 10% in the first quarter whereas average ticket prices declined by some 5%. The airline says that analysis of the market and passenger needs have shown that food, baggage and other services do not play a key role in airline selection.

Comments

  1. BA88809:50

    Does anyone know what is the average cost for the airline of eceonomy meal than?

    The above model looks completely opposite to what Air Serbia has in mind and from my uneducated guess the actual meal CAN NOT cost that much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I remember some years ago the CEO of Austrian Airlines said that they were reintroducing hot meals on their flights because it didn't cost them more than €5 per passenger.

      When it comes to Adria, have they actually introduced any other cost-cutting measures besides getting rid of the CRJ-200 and charging for food and drinks?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:07

      I am trying to understand. LCCs cant reach profits if they oly have income from the lowest fare tickets. They make it up by selling things on board. Many LCCs have large amount of goods to offer in their flying shops and caffes. Wizz may have decided to cut BEG operations because very few ppl bought things on boards and they were making loss flying with plane full of lowest fare passengers who bought tickets months in advance and two unneeded flight attendants. That way they should never remain on market like this.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:58

      To Anonymous April 21, 2014 at 3:07 PM
      That is not true at all! BEG base was always one of the three best in WIZZ family concerning the shopping on board! And very often it was the best!

      Delete
    4. The whole reason why Wizz Air had to respond to Belgrade increasing its charges is so as to prevent other airports from doing the same. If BEG does it and they don't react then what's stopping other airports from doing the same?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous23:16

      BEG base was always one of the three best in WIZZ family concerning the shopping on board! And very often it was the best!

      Source, or is it again nationalistic unreal propagadna, where Serbs must be always the best in everything? Comon sence is saying that one of poorest nation for sure can not be the bes buyer in Wizz.

      Delete
    6. What has the fact that we are supposedly one of the poorest nations got to do with buying stuff on board? If someone is going to fly that means he already has some cash to spend. Those who don't take the train or the bus.

      Back in the day, JAT's most profitable route in terms of Duty Free Shop sales was Pristina followed by Baghdad and Tripoli. Who would have guessed it was Pristina since they were/are one of the 'poorest peoples' around. ;)

      Delete
    7. Anonymous08:43

      That logic maybe can be on for Lufthansa, Austrian, Turkish, British, Air France... passengers but not for LCC like Wizz, which is cheap olmost like bus or train.

      Delete
    8. I still can't agree with you on this one because Wizz Air's model is based on flying from relatively poor countries (eastern Europe and the Balkans) by offering dirt cheap fares.
      This can only mean that despite these countries being poor, their travelling public does spend a certain amount of money in the air.
      I still think that Wizz Air is reducing their presence in Belgrade in order to prevent other airports from doing the same.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous10:06

    By the looks of its they will start charging for baggage next.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:33

    Adria should lower prices of air tickets.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous11:43

    Adria's "plan":
    1) Introduce LCC service model.
    2) Charge legacy prices.
    3) ????
    4) Profit?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:23

      That pretty much nails it, great analogy :D

      Delete
  5. Anonymous12:37

    Flying Adria is voluntary kidnapping.
    If you are paying with your money is way too exempise.
    Promos are very limitate and anattractive.

    Just look dep/arr midweek
    21 may wednesday 2014 28 may wednesday 2014 (plus mainus 3 days):
    cheapest economy (on selected days)
    Lj - Vienna - Lj 258,03 eu
    Lj - Munich - Lj from 198,55 eu no refundable
    Lj - Bruxelles - Ljubljan 228,95 eu just few times no refundable next cheapest over 300 eu
    Lj - Istanbul Lj from 246,10 eu competition with air AirSerbia, Turkish on this route

    all no food

    Just look for yourseklf the curerent prices.




    ReplyDelete
  6. Regarding meals onboard. On airliners net, someone has given his experience flying business class, with JU from Zurich to Bucharest via BEG.He shows the meal offered to him in Business class. The service and the presentation, actually reminded me of business class on Delta, when I flew from DTW to MCO. In economy, everyone had to pay for a meal, but snacks were free. What I am getting at, is that many airlines are charging for food service. After working in the food service industry, for 10 years, you find that it is very costly. The amount of waste is high. I am not surprised that airlines are cutting back, on short flights. A friend of mine, who works at a catering company, which provides food to the airlines at Pearson, normally over half the food is thrown out, which hasn't been sold or used.

    ReplyDelete
  7. JU520 BEGLAX13:40

    @Nemjee.....

    there were 2-3 salary cuts in the past 5-6 years, not sure if for each employee, but my contact had it. Also MUC downtown office was closed, currently only downtown offices with own JP staff are ZRH,SVO and FRA. I m sure there were some more cutting measures. Also reduced ticket prizes or free tickets (which was common in LJU and at some foreign stations) is now quite restricted.

    The funny thing about the new sky shop service is that u can't do any purchases with credit card, only cash. What the tablets are for, I don t know, but will check next week when I fly JP (for the time being they can not validate credit cards electronically)
    Actually Top Mgmt wanted the guys from the flight ops to count the cash after flights or at the end of the day, but opposition was so harsh, they quickly abandoned this idea

    Honestly speaking I prefer to pay for food, rather than getting a little crap just that the airlines still can say we serve food.
    Adria ticket prizes are ok if you purchase well ahead. For example 139 EUR return LJU to most destinations or LJU-LGW/MAN at 129 EUR but if I would by my flights dates now in April/May for ZRH-LJU return, they 'd charge me 418.16 EUR :-(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do they note pax in advance about cash only payment? Some passengers can go there unprepared, especially transit pax who possibly dont have any Euro (or Tolar) and carry only US$ or GBP

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:55

      Tolar? Man Euro is official curency in Slovenia for already 7 years...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:59

      Good ol' Tolar :D

      Delete
    4. ok however i was talking bout transit pax

      Delete
    5. Anonymous20:24

      Why would a transit pax have Tolar??

      Delete
    6. Thanks JU520,

      I hope that reducing the salaries was justified. It will be interesting to follow the developments.

      Delete
  8. JU520 BEGLAX16:22

    I think coins only in EUR. Notes ok in GBP, CHF, USD

    ReplyDelete
  9. A hoce li spusitit i cjenu karata na razinu kao Easy Jet, Ryanair ili Wizzair???

    Zele 220€ za let Sarajevo-Minhen, a ko of su hybrid low coast???

    I kao da kafa koju mi daju od Sarajevo do Minhena kosta TOLIKOOO mnogo, pa da to moraju ekstra naplacivati.

    Bas pravo cigancarenje za jos kojim Eurom.

    Ovako ce prije rastjerati putnike, nego privuci nove.

    Zasto placati kartu Sarajevo-Ljubljana-Minhen 220€, kada Austrian kosta 180-220€, a Lufthansa sa direktnim letom 180-250€ ?

    ccc

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

EX-YU Aviation News does not tolerate insults, excessive swearing, racist, homophobic or any other chauvinist remarks or provocative posts with the intention of creating further arguments. A full list of comment guidelines can be found here. Thank you for your cooperation.