Adria eyes Balkans for future growth


Adria Airways will put a greater emphasis on its operations in the Balkans where it sees opportunities for future growth. The carrier's CEO, Arno Schuster, said, "We have a base in Pristina from which we offer daily flights. We are increasing frequencies on services to Sarajevo and Podgorica and we also maintain operations to Tirana. For us, this a very important market, because we believe Adria has a very good reputation among consumers in the Balkans". He added, "Our aim is to firstly provide links to major airports such as Frankfurt, Zurich, Amsterdam and Paris, and, on the other hand, allow for connections to the Balkan region, where we see opportunities for growth".

The Slovenian carrier's owner, 4K Invest, has previously said they aim to position Ljubljana Airport as a transfer hub between east and west. Accordingly, Adria has recently boosted operations on a number of services in the former Yugoslavia. The airline has introduced an additional four weekly flights between Ljubljana and Podgorica, for a total of seven weekly this summer. The carrier initially planned to operate just three weekly services. Furthermore, the Slovenian carrier has added another weekly flight between Ljubljana and Sarajevo, for a total of seven, while an extra weekly service will be introduced from Ljubljana to Skopje and Pristina as well, for a total of thirteen and fourteen weekly flights respectively.

In addition to strengthening its presence in the Balkans, Adria will, from today, add an additional weekly service between Ljubljana and Amsterdam, for a total of six weekly flights, up from last summer's four. The boost comes despite the Slovenian carrier competing directly against low cost airline Transavia on the route since April. Transavia currently boasts an average passenger load factor of 87% on its Ljubljana flights, following a month of operations. Commenting on the competition, Mr Schuster said, "Adria Airways is focused on comfort. We offer several flights per week to Amsterdam, as we have increased our frequencies. Price is another matter. The advertised price by low cost airlines isn't accurate, because it often involves additional costs. We believe we have a competitive product, which is reflected by the demand on this route".

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:06

    87% LF isn't that bad!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      Agree. And it's been only a month.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:40

      Also Adria has good LF on LJU - AMS route. I flew with Adria from LJU to AMS and back recently. A319 was almost full in both direction.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:13

    It's interesting that they are going back to the strategy that worked for them during the 90s and easyly 2000s. The only thing is that circumstances havr changed a lot

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      Yep. Most cities now have direct flights to the West, good LCC presence and people no longer need visas.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:40

      Oh yeah. 4K bought that for themselves.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:15

    I'm glad to see Adria getting back on its feet. Anyone know why Podgorica has been increased so much? Why the sudden surge in demand?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:33

      Probably because Montenegro Airlines is a complete mess which is about to collapse at any moment.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:14

      So with YM codeshare there are a total of 10 flights between Podgorica and Ljubljana this summer?

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    3. Anonymous10:39

      Yes

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:27

    Good work for Adria. Happy to see them expand again after so many years of cost cutting.

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  5. Anonymous09:35

    Well at least they recognize that their most valuable asset is their brand.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:34

      i agree but it's unfortunate they sold it!

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    2. Anonymous15:29

      As far as I know, they sold it to their parent 4K company, so no biggie... or what?

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:35

    They should try SPU and maybe also DBV during summer. These flights are full for every airline during summer and are being real cash cows.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:49

      1 airplane for summer holidays out of MBX cooperate with busfeeders and create international bus stop at MBX with good connections... everything like this seen VIE/BTS.....etc.... it can be just for the pick season and lower prices at second airport that is on the route of international buses! who would travel? go more for international ..... :) for example flights from VIE to Brac only the ticket costs over 400 eur per person..... so bigger plain to SPU/DBV friday/sunday or once per week saturday.... gr8 opportunity....

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:41

      Thay can take direkt flight to brac.that is great opportunity for all company...

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:41

    What about Greece? I'm surprised Adria does not fly to Athens anymore.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:43

      Athens was one of the first cut during cost cutting a few years ago. Aegean tried seasonal flights last year but they didn't resume them this summer. Probably not a big enough market.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:52

      Shame but thanks for the info.

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    3. Anonymous09:54

      I think greece is well covered by charters... Adria flies many times per week directly to islands, Athens alone does not make sense.

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    4. Petar09:56

      For Aegean an A320 is to big for the market and a Q400 flight is too long.
      JP with its CRJs has the ideal aircraft for it.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:05

      What did JP used to fly to Athens with Airbuses or CRJ?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:13

      They used to fly CRJ900 3x per week.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:16

      There is nothing for them to do in Athens. There is very little p2p traffic and transfers on such a 'long' flight won't make commercial sense. I mean until OU doesn't introduce non-stop flights JP shouldn't either.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:45

    Does Adria consider to return to BEG?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:58

      I doubt it. It's already covered by JU through a codeshare.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:16

      Not sure what the situation is now but at the beginning there used to be a lot of transfers from LJU to ATH and SKG via the BEG flight. But again I don't know if that has changed since 2-3 years ago.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:17

      Oops sorry this was meant as a reply on the comment thread above this one.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:45

      Adria should fly to Belgrade, but from Pristina base

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    5. Anonymous11:51

      ^ +1

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:53

    Cutting transfer time in Ljubljana was a smart move in my oppinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:57

      Yes. LJU Airport said that their transfer numbers have gone up recently which is good news.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous10:03

    Svi sire krila i razmisljaju o ekspaziji, jedino Kondic i njegovi strucnjaci na osnovu trogodisnjeg iskustva poslovanja skracuju i pojeftinjuju kompaniju...zalosno!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:04

      Absolutely agree, KK's increase of IST-BEG is best proof that Dane and his strategy need to change.

      From 19.06 Atlasjet increases IST-BEG from 7 to 10 weekly.

      IST-BEG 1--4567 10.25-11.15
      IST-BEG 123---7 16.40-17.30

      BEG-IST 1--4567 12.30-15.15
      BEG-IST 123---7 18.15-21.00

      Turkish Airlines: 14 flights
      Pegasus: 4

      Total for BEG-IST: 28 weekly flights.

      LO also increases BEG from 7 to 8 weekly flights. Friday flights have been increased to the E95 while the extra Sunday flight is operated by the Q400. I think it's good JU withdrew from both of these markets as now we can see what happens when professionals take over.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:07

      What kind of traffic does KK carry? Locals, tourists or transfer? Their network ex-IST is still rather limited.

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    3. Anonymous10:13

      It is truly a shame that in a market that can support 4 flights a day JU was incapable to win even a small share of it.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:37

      Wow! Well this was unexpected! I didn't expect them to have any increases before next summer. It truly shows how incompetent JU's management is.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:52

      KK network limited? They cover all Middle East, Caucasus and parts of Russia.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:52

      Sorry forgot to add compared to TK since they are competing against each other.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous10:09

    Great to see Amsterdam up too! A good attempt at competing against Transavia.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:19

      Yes good to see they are not giving up. They have managed ok against bigger competitors. Swiss was one of them on Zurich line.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:33

      But they gave up on London against easyjet/Wizz Air and on Istanbul route against Turkish last year.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:03

      They also gave up on BEG route when Air Serbia started flying to Ljubljana.

      Delete
  12. JU520 BEGLAX10:14

    Adria is focused on comfort..... which one?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:18

      Haha good one.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:31

      The comfort of their accountants who can now enjoy the extra revenue from pretty much anything.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous10:54

    OT VIE-ZAG-VIE on the A321 this morning! May started really well!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:21

      In BEG yesterday too, VIE - BEG A321 mroning, A320 afternoon and Q400 evening
      + Air Serbia morning and evening with Atr72

      Delete
  14. Anonymous11:00

    I remember ex-CEO Anzur also saying how they should focus more on the Balkan market a couple of years ago. Hope they actually do this time.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous11:11

    On a different note, Adria is pulling out of Lodz as of 30.06

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:20

      What will happen with the Polish crew? Are they being layed off?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:26

      no, they r gonna put em in cryosleep and wake em up when Adria launches flights from Lodz again

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:01

      They'll be laid off easily, since union doesn't care about that. However, remove a single euro from their salary or have them work an extra day a year and they strike...

      Delete
  16. Anonymous11:44

    I don't understand why all ex-Yu airlines (except Air Serbia) are avoiding SOF, OTP, PDV, CLJ. If somebody focuses on them I believe can make good money. These are countries with booming economies. With population willing to travel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:50

      Why all Ex-Yu airlines are avoiding Eastern Europe altogether, as if no one can launch LWO, ODS, KBP, BTS, KRK.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:53

      Have you maybe thought that there is no market between these cities you mention in Eastern Europe. If there were maybe you would have seen non ex-yu airlines open those flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:09

      There is a market between those cities and the rest of the world, OS and LO seem to have gotten that.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:30

      CLJ metropolitan area is 450,000
      PDV metropolitan area is 700,000
      This is without mentioning the one of OTP and SOF

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:28

      Broj stanovnika apsolutno nista ne znaci ako ne postoji navika/razlog za tim i tim putovanjem.

      Delete
    6. JATBEGMEL04:04

      Its not all about opening a route and expecting an influx of pax. Sure, there may be some O&D demand but more focus is on transit.

      Lets take on JU as an example. I think theyre the most active on social media from the ex-YU airlines, had 2 tv commercials, 1 in multiple languages (Serbian, English, Macedonian and German), advertisement in Times Square, yet failed in larger markets like IST, are slowly loosing out to Israeli carriers, pulled out of WAW, BUD, VAR, KBP, and worst is that Croatian coast is still seasonal.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous12:28

    "Adria eyes Balkans for future growth"

    srsly?

    Its a bit too late for that, don't you think Adria?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous14:35

    Adriu ce najesen da zatvore ko i mgx.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:48

      da, ti znaš...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:16

      a kako bi bilo da ti malo zatvoris te tvoje lazi

      Delete
  19. Anonymous15:18

    What about INI? 10 weekly flight would fit in nicely. Remember how YM was successful flying via TGD?
    INI should be taken very seriously especially with the future terminal refurbs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:35

      If they do then let's hope they offer better fares than they did out of BNX.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:55

      yeah, INI should be taken seriously- a terminal refurb of a provincial airport is a magnet for both companies and passengers to fly from that particular airport

      Delete
    3. Nemjee17:26

      You are right, so far it has proven to be a rather strong magnet. The growth in passenger numbers is best proof of it.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:31

      The only challenge will be proximity to SKP, also JP is one the very few legacy carriers operating but would be nice if they consider INI too.
      In 2-3 years time, both airports will be neck to neck.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:25

      aw no... here we go again... SKP and INI neck to neck...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous21:30

      I say they should strike a deal with Kraljevo as an alternative.

      Delete
    7. JATBEGMEL03:53

      YM wasnt successful in INI, evident in how they stopped flying the route the moment the subsidies stopped. ZRH-INI worked well when they were able to fly the route, now its LX and ST.

      LJU has more to offer than TGD in terms of transit, then again that too is limited. Personal experience is that JP was very expensive to VIE when I flew them, and the cabin was barely around 50% full. Something around 160€ one way! BNX didnt work well for them, im sure INI wouldnt either.

      INI definately is a market for LCC and would love to see that expand. Would be great in seeing JU return to INI especially since now they have an improved system where flights depart in banks.

      Delete
  20. Nemjee17:28

    OT

    I just noticed that OU is operating its ZAG-DBV-ATH with the CRJ, I didn't know they planned this route. Is it a one off until other destinations start or..?

    What would be interesting is to compare the performance of the CRJ to the Q400 on the ZAG-DBV sector.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:38

      They will use the CRJ on different routs, not only on the new ones.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous17:53

    Adria's SKP flights are always packed.
    They offer now excellent connection times with just 30 min. in LJU which is very convinient. If you are flying with hand luggage it is even cheaper compared to Wizz but their checked-in baggage fees are ridiculously high.
    Another thing is that if you're booking on other site than Adria's homepage there isn't any single information that you are not allowed for a checked-in bagagge. This is a rip-off.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:53

      I booked a flight with JP in Jan. and also via third party-luggage info is provided on every travel portal- you should just read more carefully what you book

      Delete
  22. Anonymous21:04

    Lol
    Ljubljana as a hub for the Balkans.
    That ship has sailed long ago. And it is just a matter of time when new routes and LCCs come to play. If Adria can maintain those routes, then the low-cost carriers sure as hell can.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:25

      I agree too. Europe is getting very well connected every single year and people will no longer need to make transfers. Enough of this hub mania. BEG wants it, LJU wants it, BUD used to be 7 years ago but still didn't last too much after MA's demise.
      JP should focus on business travellers and big markets such as Ukraine, Romania.

      Delete
    2. JATBEGMEL03:28

      Europe maybe connected but the Balkans isnt. Throw in a couple LCC and higher purchasing power and you will see a massive boom.

      Small steps JU initially made have shown there is some demand. How many pax actually fly between BEG and BEY for example, yet ahead is another season of daily rotations on the A320.

      Business travelers are only soo many. JU hasnt managed to make it work regardless of the fact theyve installed wifi on the Airbus fleet, dedicated business class product, opened a lounge in BEG, Elevate Play via smart devices etc.

      There is more behind the operations than opening new routes. This is evident in JU. 2 Israeli carriers are offering more capacity to BEG in the past few months while JU has downsized in TLV. KK after 1 month of taking over JU flights to IST is adding additional frequencies with larger capacity ac. JU this summer isnt returning to KBP, havnt done wow in the Romanian market and is pulling back capacity in Bulgaria, ZAG is again decreasing, LJU down 2 flights on an ATR while TIV down by 9 flights compared to last summer.

      Delete
    3. LCCs dont fly to FRA, MUC, CDG, ZRH..

      Delete
    4. JATBEGMEL15:31

      ^^^

      FRA:
      - Air Arabia
      - Pegasus
      - Ryan Air
      - Wizz Air
      - Wow Air

      MUC:
      - Air Arabia
      - Blue Air
      - EasyJet
      - eurowings
      - Pegasus
      - Transavia
      - Volotea
      - Vueling

      CDG:
      - Air Arabia
      - EasyJet
      - Eurowings
      - Vueling
      - Wow Air

      ZRH:
      - EasyJet
      - Eurowings
      - Transavia
      - Vueling

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:24

      @ JATBEGMEL

      I guess I was not understood, LCCs do not fly from PRN, TIA, SKP and such to FRA, MUC, CDG, ZRH...

      Delete
  23. Not just in the Balkans... The brand (for some reason) has quite a good recognition among the aviation community internationally from my experience. Better than OU or JU.

    ReplyDelete

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