Adria Airways will undertake its biggest expansion to date by launching seven new routes from Ljubljana and increasing frequencies on a number of destinations this summer season, which begins on Sunday, March 25. The Slovenian carrier will introduce new year-round services to Bucharest, Dusseldorf, Geneva, Hamburg and Sofia, as well as seasonal flights to Dubrovnik and Brač. In addition, the airline will maintain three weekly operations between the Slovenian and Ukrainian capitals which were launched this winter season. Adria plans to add four weekly flights to Podgorica for a total of eleven, two weekly services to Prague for a total of five, and an extra weekly rotation to Warsaw, resulting in six flights per week. Furthermore, the carrier will boost operations on both its Vienna and Tirana service in order for the two to run twice per day. Operations to Copenhagen and Paris will also be strengthened with an additional two weekly flights.
On the other hand, Adria Airways will reduce its Skopje operations to twelve per week. Initially, the airline planned to increase the service to double daily, however, this has not materialised. Furthermore, the airline's seasonal service between Ljubljana and Manchester will be reduced to just once per week. The 2018 summer season also marks the first during which Adria will no longer operate any flights out of its former base in Lodz, which was shut down mid-way through last year. However, the airline will maintain a similar number of flights and destinations from its secondary hub in Pristina, with an extra weekly flight to Malmo.
Adria intends on running a number of holiday charters from Ljubljana this summer. It will also operate a handful of leisure flights from Rijeka to Gothenburg, Karlstad, Kristianstad and Norrkoping in Sweden, as well as from Pristina to Basel in cooperation with the Air Prishtina tour operator. In addition, Paderborn Airport in Germany has announced that Adria will base an aircraft in the city and launch services to Zurich, Vienna and London this summer. However, these are yet to be scheduled. The 2018 summer season runs until October 27. Please note that the changes listed below are preliminary and based on current availability in the Global Distribution System (GDS). Furthermore, the table below displays the peak weekly frequency on each route during the course of the summer season. EX-YU Aviation News will also bring you summer season changes for Croatia Airlines next week, while you can review modifications being made by Air Serbia here, as well as Montenegro Airlines here. Furthermore, you can review Wizz Air's summer operations from the former Yugoslavia here.
| Destination | Frequency S2017 | Frequency S2018 | Change | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam | 6 | 6 | - | - |
| Brač | 0 | 2 | ▲ 2 | starts APR28 |
| Brussels | 13 | 13 | - | - |
| Bucharest | 0 | 4 | ▲ 4 | starts MAR25 |
| Copenhagen | 5 | 7 | ▲ 2 | - |
| Dusseldorf | 0 | 4 | ▲ 4 | starts APR26 |
| Dubrovnik | 0 | 2 | ▲ 2 | starts APR27 |
| Geneva | 0 | 3 | ▲ 3 | starts MAR26 |
| Frankfurt | 21 | 21 | - | - |
| Hamburg | 0 | 4 | ▲ 4 | starts MAR25 |
| Kiev | 0 | 3 | ▲ 3 | - |
| Manchester | 2 | 1 | ▼ 1 | resumes MAY27 |
| Moscow | 7 | 7 | - | - |
| Munich | 14 | 14 | - | - |
| Paris | 8 | 10 | ▲ 2 | - |
| Podgorica | 7 | 11 | ▲ 4 | - |
| Prague | 3 | 5 | ▲ 2 | - |
| Pristina | 14 | 14 | - | - |
| Sarajevo | 7 | 7 | - | - |
| Skopje | 13 | 12 | ▼ 1 | - |
| Sofia | 0 | 3 | ▲ 3 | starts MAR25 |
| Tel Aviv | 2 | 2 | - | resumes JUN21 |
| Tirana | 11 | 14 | ▲ 3 | - |
| Vienna | 13 | 14 | ▲ 1 | - |
| Warsaw | 5 | 6 | ▲ 1 | - |
| Zurich | 20 | 20 | - | - |
Departing Pristina
| Destination | Frequency S2017 | Frequency S2018 | Change | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frankfurt | 7 | 7 | - | - |
| Ljubljana | 14 | 14 | - | - |
| Munich | 4 | 4 | - | - |
| Malmo | 1 | 2 | ▲ 1 | resumes JUN11 ends AUG21 |
Departing Tirana
| Destination | Frequency S2017 | Frequency S2018 | Change | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frankfurt | 3 | 3 | - | - |
| Ljubljana | 11 | 14 | ▲ 3 | - |
| Munich | 3 | 3 | - | - |
Impressive growth in just one season!
ReplyDeleteWith so many extra planes it's not a surprise but I think their new destinations are all good choices. Only not sure about Geneva and whether LJU-GVA will really work.
DeleteIt's a preemptive strike against easyJet which has a massive base there.
DeleteAgree. Good mix of new routes - continental Europe, Balkans and the Adriatic coast.
DeleteThey just keep expanding. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteInfluence of German owners visible. They will have 43 weekly flights from Ljubljana to Germany.
ReplyDeleteAnd it wasn't visible before 4K? ;)
DeleteI am surprised they are not going back to Berlin.
DeleteThey cant fight Easy on Berlin route. Easy offers return tickets for 60€, adria never flies for less than 160€ (except Vienna sometimes) for more or less the same product (only carry on luggage, no service).
DeleteTrue I forgot that EasyJet is starting Berlin this summer.
DeleteNow that's how a summer expansion is done.
ReplyDeleteSo both JP and JU decreasing Skopje :(
ReplyDeleteIt's odd because they had in the system just few weeks Skopje at 14 weekly. Looks like they changed their minds.
DeleteWell no shock there as Wizz Air is killing everyone.
DeleteCroatia Airlines will increase Skopje this summer so not everyone decreasing.
Delete@9.05, it could be that they needed the plane somewhere else since Saab deployment is delayed.
Deletesure Wizz is killing it but JP is expensive.
DeleteDid you know that you can book OU flights on adria.si?
for SKP they sell also a connections via ZAG
^I assume that's because they are both Star Alliance?
DeleteAnyway ex-Yu airlines are loosing prominence in Skopje because
A) Wizz Air
B) Turkish is a very competative option for connecting flights. Plus LOT starts flights this year too.
As for Croatian Airlines, they always wanted to do more with Skopje but have never been really successful. Remember the seasonal flights they wanted to fly from Split to Skopje 2 years ago? They operated a total of 2 flights before it was cancelled.
@last anon
Delete1. SPU-SKP tickets were selling for 350€. Im not surprised it didnt work.
2. I think SKP-ZAG is functioning O&D but transfer possibilities were limited because:
a) uneven schedule ZAG-SKP
b) OU doesnt have proper waves unlike JP or JU
However since introducing the double daily (and increase of other destinations as well) this changed a lot. dont forget they are much cheaper then JP at the moment (for flights to/from SKP) It could finally work!
It's great to see Adria add more routes. I would love if they returned to Spain, at least seasonally. Italian routes also missing although I don't know if there would be enough demand because of close proximity.
ReplyDeleteScandinavia is also not well covered.
DeleteItaly wouldn't work. First off you have high speed trains from Trieste that can connect you to Rome or Milan, as well as cheap flights from Triste to like Rome, Bari, Sicilia.
DeleteYes, I thought so. Did Adria ever fly to some Italian cities?
DeleteI think with the Saab they could make Italy work.
DeleteThey used to fly to Rome.
DeleteYes! Spain (madrid) flights will be very wellcome!
DeleteThere is no high speed train from Trieste, high speed rails start in Venice!
DeleteExactly what Sloavio said. That means one first needs to get to Trieste, than change in Mestre (Venice) to take high speed trains to Milan or Rome direction. I am not sure how come they are not having Rome in their network, it is really quite far to reach by train from Ljubljana.
DeleteGood spread in east and west.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that LJU can sustain some destinations not served from Zagrab.
ReplyDeleteMaybe ZAG needs to work on that.
Because Adria has a different model than Croatia Airlines. Adria is now trying to do what Air Serbia did in first few years. Try to be a transfer airline between western and eastern Europe.
DeleteCroatia Airlines mostly focuses on tourists. That's why so many routes are seasonal.
The network looks impressive but lets wait and see for how long those routes can be sustained.
DeleteGood luck to JP with the transfer concept.
DeleteA good number of routes are double daily or more, which is good - Frankfurt, Munich, Pristina, Tirana, Vienna and Zurich.
ReplyDeletePodgorica will probably go double daily next summer.
DeleteYes JP quit the CS Agreement with YM, and now they are working on squeezing YM out of the market.
DeleteFrankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich is basically feeding LH planes.
DeleteGreat they got to feed LH from Pristina nd Tirana as well. Hopefully they have a good deal for all of these feeding routes.
Shame they gave up on London from both LJU and PRN without putting up a fight against Easy/Wizz.
ReplyDeleteWizz and easy are just too strong and flying to London too expensive. Adria's end in London came when they sold their Heathrow slots in early 2000s. Better than focus you energies elsewhere.
DeleteDid Adria fly to Heathrow? I remember only Gatwick.
DeleteThey did until the mid 2000s then sold their slots at LHR and moved to LGW.
DeleteThey might try London city. I think CRJ700 can land there. But they would probably need 2x daily Monday-Friday to attract business travellers
DeleteWhere is all this demand for Warsaw coming from? Adria will have 6 flights per week and if I'm not mistaken LOT is increasing Ljubljana 6 weekly.
ReplyDeleteTransfer through LOT. They offer attractive prices
DeleteOh that's right. I forgot both are star alliance members.
Delete@anon 9.16 actually LOT is increasing Ljubljana to daily. From 6 weekly.
DeleteJU managment take note. You can not shrink yourself into profitability.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIs there any market for LJU-INI?
ReplyDeleteWith Saab 2000 which has 50 seats they could fly a couple of times per week and get transfers to western Europe.
Delete^Swiss already does that and I don't think Adria could be competitive against them.
DeleteDefinitely! I think the aim of INI though is to first attract LCC but a daily flight operated by Saab 2000 will definitely work out. Remember YM via TGD?
Deleteyes, remember YM via TGD?
Deleteis this route operational? no- it is not
YM should restart INI flights from Podgorica/Tivat depending on the season. They could have a good mix of transfer and O&D passengers.
DeleteJP as well. And again, there would be not only people transferring but also a number of Slovenes visiting South Serbia.
JP is well and truly back at building a base in LJU.
ReplyDeleteI'm really happy their focus is back on LJU where it should be.
DeleteNice spread of new destinations there from Adria.
ReplyDeleteAll of this also means a huge year for Ljubljana Airport.
ReplyDeleteIn both SOF & OTP, they will compete directly with JU. The MCT (minimum connecting time) in LJU airport is quite short meaning that the total journey time will also be short.
ReplyDeleteGood luck JP!
How much luggage gets lost on transfering through LJU? Anyone had that experience?
DeleteNone of the luggage gets lost in LJU due to short transfer times. Bacause of its small size LJU is very effective transferring baggage (and also passengers). Transport distances beetween aircraft and sorting facilities are short and also small and simple sorting hall helps providing very short turn-around times for baggage. Total transfer time for baggage (offload, transport, sorting, transport, onload) is usualy some 20min.
DeleteAlso passengers almost never miss their connecting flights, even if the previous flight is slightly delayed. Adria always waits all the transfer passengers, except in some cases with bigger delays, but those occur quite rarely.
The only downside is that quite often some flights to the balkans gets delayed due to late flights from Europe and waiting for transfer passengers, but here we are talking minutes (usualy some 10-20min delays which are then mostly neutralized en-route).
This is however usually not the case for transfers in opposite direction - from the balkans to EU, because flights from the balkans mostly arrive up to 30min early as scheduled, which makes more than enough time for all the EU transfers.
So, despite the short transfer times, transferring via LJU is very safe option (both for passengers and their luggage). Some 30min tranfer time in LJU is usually more than enough, while I wouldn't even think about such a short transfer time in some of the bigger airports.
So, what you're trying to say is that LJU can act like a direct competitor vs BEG in terms of shorter transfer time?
Delete@anon 5:46: I don't know much about how airport operations and transfers look like in BEG, how reliable is transfering in BEG and what are the transfer times there, so I can't tell if LJU can be a competitor in terms of that.
DeleteI was just trying to explain how it works in LJU and that in terms of transfer times and all that LJU is really efficient.
And for the passengers I think it doesn't really matter so much which airport they use as a transfer hub, as long as the service is reliable and ticket prices are competitive. Of course, short transfer times are welcome.
@AnonymousMarch 14, 2018 at 12:10 PM
DeleteMany thanks for description! It sounds great.
Belgrade also seems very convenient for transfers as it is compact but I never had experience as I fly in/out.
Anybody had an experience of transferring in Belgrade when arriving with AS turboprop and having bus transfer to terminal?
Yes me, LJU-BEG-BEY!
DeleteIve had a few occassions with various aircraft on various stands (A, B and C). No bridge is used for ATR, CRJ, Dash 8 and I think Avro if I remember right. On arrival, A stands are a quick bus ride, it takes longer to fill the bus than to walk. B stands was the longest ride, maybe 3-5 mins. I havnt used the C stands on arrival with a bus transfer, but it would be quicker than the B stands. The bus takes you to the arrivals/passport control hall, from where you climb up directly in front of the transfer desks located between gates A1 and C1. 30 mins is more than enough for BEG as well, from arrival to the connecting gate.
DeleteLuggage on the other hand is a different story. Although, I personally have had no problems, the massive amounts of negative feedback JU recieves on its social media accounts says otherwise, unfortunately.
Many thanks for this JATBEGMEL!
DeleteI have to admit I am surprised that Adria is still alive (although CEO has been replaced silently). Looking at the announced plan, December 2018 sounds like the expected date. Interesting developments ahead for BEG and LJU at the same time.
ReplyDeleteDecember 2018 is the expected date for what?
DeleteInevitable end
DeleteSome of the comments here are hilarious! Like 18 months ago Adria was cutting routes/frequencies all over the place under the new owners, and people were bashing them. Now they're singing their praises for opening new ones this summer. And then saying it's what JU should do... do you not think perhaps JU are are on the same journey, just 18 months further back?
ReplyDeleteYes JU just bought a company and gets Aircraft which like JP will have to be used somewhere. SOF, DUS, BWK, DBV and others are the result of the SAABS needing to be deployed somewhere. Lets see what happens when the first 30 years old AC need to be replaced.
Delete+100 Luke
DeleteLuke, JP and JU are different cases. JP is a private company and from what we learn is doing all of this with private funds. AS on the other hand should either shrink and cut destinations/frequences/staff or expand/double in order to have a viable model.
DeleteImpressive!
ReplyDeleteVery good route network for Adria - what is missing are Nice, Athens, Berlin and Barcelona.
ReplyDeleteI doubt we will see Berlin anytime soon with easy Jet launching those flights now.
DeleteAdria did used to fly to Athens and Berlin. I think they ended Athens during the financial crisis. Aegean tried Ljubljana 2 years ago but it didn't work out.
How many AC more will JP have at its disposal this summer?
ReplyDeleteIf you include the Saabs they will have 21 planes but who knows how many are being wet leased and when those Saabs will join the fleet.
Delete" It will also operate a handful of leisure flights from Rijeka to Gothenburg, Karlstad, Kristianstad and Norrkoping in Sweden, as well as from Pristina to Basel in cooperation with the Air Prishtina tour operator."
DeleteHow do they manage this fleet gymnastics. Sending planes to Rijeka, Pristina...
^ Smart planning ;)
DeleteThey are a pure disaster and mess right now. Re-routings, triangle and multi leg flights on short notice are a standard these days. Moreover, you are lucky if your flight is being operated by JP metal.
DeleteFrom passenger perspective their service is a disaster indeed. I recently experienced flight cancellation (in addition they rejected compensation due to force major, which was NOT - "sue as if you want"). In one case I had Business class ticket, but without any notice or apology downgraded to economy and put on 27yo wet-leased metal. No compensation in this case as well so far, which is crazy.
DeleteThis sounds very bad! They are not able to manage this expansion?
DeleteCustomer service is horrible. Instead of HAM/LJU (flight cancelled without notification to pax), got rerouted ZRH/LJU. Boarding pass in hand, got denied boarding in ZHR. Now rebooked via MUC with scheduled arrival 13 hours late.. Will see if we ever make it. We will sue them for comp plus damages.
DeleteInteresting strategy. I hope it works out. Again I'm not sure if shuttling transfers from point A to C via B will have a positive impact on their finances.
ReplyDeleteUnless you have a very large volume of transfer passengers the transfer model usually doesn't work because you have to sell tickets at lower prices on two sectors. It didn't work for Air Serbia either.
DeleteUnless, A or C is outside of open skies agreement, your billeteral is very tight and you can charge premium on that sector. As stated, did not work out for AS.
DeleteThe way things are going Adria will have a 90% passenger share in LJU :D
ReplyDeleteThat's not good for the airport and passengers actually. It means that the airport is overly dependent on Adria.
DeleteI'm happy to see Adria growing and expanding again. I hope they can sustain this growth. Who knows what 2019 could bring.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure some of these routes will be sustained this summer. Not because of low demand but because they don't have the planes for it!
DeleteSve ovo deluje mi skroz nerealno. Mislim da Lufthanza krece u obracun sa AirSerbiom i Croatiom. Zagreb je jako blizu a AirSerbia ima dosta tranvera iz Ljubljane kao i Tirane,Sofije ,Bukuresta i naravno Podgorice.
ReplyDeleteOn top of the fact that they have an obvious fleet shortage they continue to lease out planes at the expense of their own network and passengers. It shows that the people running this airline are just chasing money and will eventually leave giving no stuff for the company.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the situation will improve soon. There was an article a few days ago here that 2 CRJ900s are joining the fleet. The first should be in service today or tomorrow. The other one hopefully soon but the plane has arrived in Ljubljana.
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/03/adria-airways-expands-fleet.html
DeleteThe situation won't improve because the Saabs they planned to have in service next week won't come. So they will be using CRJ700s, which already operate other routes.
DeleteIt's a mystery to me how they haven't already cancelled some flights.
They cancel flights last minute.
DeleteWell at least they have enough planes for Rijeka-Norrkoping.
Deletelol
DeleteWe need more flights to Ljubljana from the north of England, not less! Almost impossible as it is to get a seat on the Man-Lju service because of en block bookings by tour companies. A poor move by Adria IMO, although I hope another airline will soon pick up the slack from either Manchester, or Liverpool.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot EDI and BHX, which is not so far away from London.
DeleteI don't understand why they reduced Manchester if there is demand for this route.
DeleteThere is enough demand for 1 profitable route per week, but not enough for 2 profitable per week. Simple as that. Sadly you can't operate 1,4 or 1,6 flights per week. It's either a rounded number or not.
DeleteFlights to Lju from anywhere north of Luton would be welcome!
ReplyDeleteSOF and OTP will perform really well.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteBoth cities need to be connected to more Balkan capitals. Also the EU-Western Balkans summit will be held in Sofia on 17/05/2018. We might see both JP and JU increase capacity.
arguments such as "a summit will be held" or "EU presidency" sind really funny to justify launching flights to a particular destination.
DeleteHow many pax could a summit attract??? and whats with the route after the summit?
By 2025 all Balkan states will become EU especially Macedonia and Montenegro.
DeleteThe role of JP will then be extremely important connecting all Balkan countries to Western Europe.
how the new routes are performing? Anybody knows?
ReplyDeleteKiev is doing very well. LF over 75%.
DeleteWhich aircraft they usually use to fly to Kiev?
DeleteSources? or rekla kazala?
DeleteCRJ900 was mostly the case in the winter, now Fokker 100 as far as I did follow.
DeleteOn sundays is usualy airbus
Deletesources?
DeleteWorking at LJU airport
DeleteIn the future I hope they introduce Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon and Koln.
ReplyDeleteI think some of those could work.
DeleteThey were selling all these new routes until last week with Saab 2000 which has fifty seats. Now they are selling seventy seats after they changed all of these new routes to CRJ. I wonder if this can affect their performance.
ReplyDeleteWho is usually flying on the Ljubljana _ Tirana route? LF factor on this route anyone? 14 times x week is a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe lady on JAT's poster from 1967 (left) and the lady on today Adria's photo look almost the same!
ReplyDeleteTime machine? :-)
haha true, I just noticed now that you mentioned it.
DeleteVery simmilar :) I love the vintage photos section.
DeleteThey are NOT pulling this off - one airplane brakes down, one crew member calls in sick, and it's mayhem in the company - it has been for the past couple of months. With Saabs gone, there is no way they will manage to get through the summer. They will either have to cancel an ACMI (which they won't), cancel some of the routes completely (which they won't) or continue with this bad behaviour towards their passengers, where they cancel the flight one hour before take-off.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree. This is just crazy. They should have planned better.
DeleteThey are smart to put BWK into a timetable. This will be a great performer for sure.
ReplyDeleteMost of the comments about JP are pure envy. Why are you all obsessed about cancellations and bad service? Slovenia is one of the smallest ex-Yu countries yet its "tiny" airport is topping the charts. I am sorry to disappoint you, but the airport has so much potential after the end of the EU crisis. The best is yet to come!
ReplyDeleteSlovenia-UK flights are doing great, while flights to Albania and Kosova are usually packed.
Yes, LJU still doesn't enjoy flights to the Gulf but it still remains a key, regional airport.
Please, stop critising JP for its ambitious plans.
Adria sucks, they never fly on time from Prishtina,
ReplyDelete