Adria Airways plans to continue growing its network following the recent introduction of flights between Ljubljana and Kiev. The airline's CEO, Arno Schuster, told public broadcaster "RTV SLO" that the carrier will soon unveil its plans for 2018, which will include new destinations. Mr Schuster noted that when selecting new points for its network, the airline first takes into account inquires made by passengers for new routes and then cooperates with the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which provides data and details on necessary connections. Finally, a study is conducted which shows whether a potential route would be viable. The carrier noted that it is satisfied with initial loads on its three weekly service to Kiev, but will evaluate the route and its future in due course.

The Slovenian carrier expects to operate 6% more flights in 2017, while passenger numbers are up almost 11% during the first three quarters of the year when compared to last. In other developments, Adria will wet-lease a Boeing 737-400 aircraft in late December and early January from the Slovak charter airline Go2Sky, with which it plans to operate flights from Pristina and Tirana to both Munich and Frankfurt during the busy holiday period. At the same time, the airline has secured wet-lease arrangements with Eurowings and Luxair, in December and January respectively, to provide one of its Airbus A319s and Bombardier CRJ700s to the airlines.

In a previous interview, Mr Schuster noted, "We believe that we now have a good and secure base to further improve our results. One possibility for this is expanding the network. We noticed that our customers want a wider choice. For example, we have added Kiev to the timetable, while other new routes will be added next year. We also have a great advantage here since Slovenia is centrally located in Europe, meaning that the majority of our flights take around one and a half hours. That makes transferring through Ljubljana appealing to many customers". Ljubljana Airport has previously said it was looking at establishing connections to Madrid, Barcelona, Oslo and Hannover. Furthermore, the airport’s medium-term goal is to further strengthen charter operations, particularly from Asia.