Adria outlines future growth plans

Adria Airways, which has added seven new routes to its network this summer season, plans to continue growing and has set the foundations for its future development. Speaking to the "Uporabna Stran" portal, the carrier's Chief Commercial Officer, Christian Schneider, noted that the new year-round flights from Ljubljana to Sofia, Geneva, Bucharest, Hamburg and Dusseldorf, as well as seasonal services to Dubrovnik and Brač, are performing well, with the carrier recording double digit passenger growth so far this year. "The positive trends continue but there is still plenty of room for improvement, especially in new markets where we have just established flights. Ticket sales on these routes are developing well, but we are not yet where we want it to be. However, I can disclose that the star performer among these new destinations is certainly Sofia. There is a lot of demand on both sides, which is extremely important for the development of a new route", Mr Schneider said. He added, "The percentage growth in the number of handled passengers is in the double digits when compared to last year. Figures show we are on the right track, but there is still a lot of work ahead of us".

The CCO noted that Adria will be focusing on three areas in its future. "Adria Airways has three key pillars in the long-term. The first, which will always remain the most important, is the addition of new routes from Ljubljana. Here, we primarily want to connect Western and Central Europe with the Balkans through Ljubljana. The second is the provision of flights for other carriers through ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance lease). This year, we are doing so for Austrian Airlines and Luxair and last year we also had Swiss. Other European carriers are also extremely interested in us operating flights on their behalf. Finally, the third pillar are charter flights", Mr Schneider said.

Commenting on future network development, the Chief Commercial Officer noted there is potential for new destinations in Italy, Spain and Portugal. "The search for new potential routes is a continuous process. At the moment, we have decided to first focus on the seven new destinations we have recently launched and transfers between the Balkans and Western Europe through Ljubljana. In any case, I believe that the growth of the company shows that we are heading in a direction that opens doors to these new destinations", he said.

Adria's latest fleet addition, S5-AFC, photo by Milan Korbar

This week, Adria will add the ninth Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft to its fleet (pictured), while four out of six Saab 2000 turboprops, which have been grounded at Ljubljana Airport for the past several months, performed test flights yesterday and are expected to be integrated into the carrier's fleet. "Our desire was to add the Saab 2000 aircraft to the fleet, but unfortunately, circumstances have led us to postpone this. However, I am convinced that in the near future we will find a solution because I believe that such aircraft would be of strategic interest for Adria Airways. The Saab 2000s, with a seating capacity of fifty, are excellent for the development of new routes and there is demand for the aircraft on the ACMI market. Large European carriers have come to us with the desire to lease this aircraft type", Mr Schneider said. The airline has scheduled the turboprops entry into service in September, however, Adria's CEO, Holger Kowarsch, recently said he expects for the aircraft to begin operations much sooner.