Adria to acquire three CRJ900s


Adria Airways is set to continue growing its fleet with the addition of a further three Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft. The Slovenian carrier has signed an agreement with lessor Regional One to acquire the jets, with their arrival scheduled for 2019, "Ch Aviation" reports. The airline is also considering adding more of the seventy-seat CRJ700 aircraft to its fleet. Adria's CEO, Holger Kowarsch, said in April that the airline's fleet is too small and needs to grow in order to support its expanding route network. "I think critical mass for us would be in the range of 25 to thirty aircraft in the future. We're a small carrier, we have to grow, strengthen our operations and improve our connectivity ", Mr Kowarsch said.

Adria added two CRJ900s to its fleet this year. It currently utilises three Airbus A319 aircraft, three CRJ700s and nine CRJ900s. Out of those, Adria operates two Bombardiers for Austrian Airlines and one for Luxair under ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance lease) long-term contracts. Apart from its growing fleet, Mr Kowarsch recently said the carrier would look into adding new destinations in the future on top of its current summer expansion, which has seen it add seven new routes. The company has also outlined that its future focus will be on three key pillars. These include the addition of new routes from Ljubljana, the provision of flights for other carriers through ACMI and charter flights.

Adria Airways previously unveiled plans to add the fifty-seat Saab 2000s to its fleet in March, but later pushed back their entry into service to June. However, the deployment of the aircraft was recently differed again to September. Despite this, Mr Kowarsch believes the turboprops will likely arrive before the third quarter and will be utilised on Adria's new routes this summer, as well as several other services within the region. The aircraft will arrive from former Swiss regional carrier Darwin Airline, which was declared bankrupt in December 2017. It was partly owned by 4K Invest, Adria Airways' owner, and branded as Adria Airways Switzerland.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    wow congratulations Adria!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      Great news for LJU too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:22

      +1

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:06

    They must be planning new destinations for next year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      From my information LED is confirmed... and we will see what will be more/next

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      Definitely, very exciting times for Slovenian aviation.

      Delete
    3. Well, well, well ... LED is the right destination! Like we have discussed it here...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:37

      They will be competing against Croatia Airlines on the LED route if they start it.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:18

      Nothing has been confirmed yet

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    6. Anonymous19:11

      Trust me they will start will LED maybe even in winter 3weekly and in summer 5 weekly

      Delete
    7. Anonymous20:46

      why should I trust you? do you work at Adria? nothing new is starting in winter, as it has already been finalized; LED will be considered for next summer, but summer plans have not been finalized yet.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous21:31

      Yes i work at adria... LED will or should starst with winter season like KBP did

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:07

    Very impressive growth strategy!
    Adria will soon be the true leader of western Balkans.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      I can easily see them surpassing Tarom soon with this growth. They will be the largest legacy airline based in the Balkans.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:14

      Legacy, by which standard? :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:48

      Google is your friend!

      Delete
    4. Largest in the Balkans?
      Do you know that Greece, Croatia and Serbia also belong to Balkans?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous23:19

      Slovenia was never Western Balkans :)
      It is not even geographically Balkans.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:08

    With the Saabs and these 3 CRJ900s they will have the biggest fleet in ex-Yu - 24 aircraft.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      Also youngest fleet in ex-Yu.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:08

    Hopefully by then they will stop using wet leased ancient equipment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      Are they still wet leasing Carpatair?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:19

      Yes. But it’s only 27 years old, so not that bad. Mint condition.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:38

      I think it's more dry lease it will stay with JP all summer season

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:22

      Hi,

      I flew with Carpatair from LJU to BRU last week and beside a little bit wear they were quite comfortable, even more than CR9 I would say. Even flight was smooth as silk...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:30

      +1

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:41

      What about Trade Air F100. Is it still flying for Adria?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous16:35

      I don't think so.

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    8. Just from time to time.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous23:21

      This is such a misfortune! You wet lease three of your planes and then have to do the same.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:08

    New Adria management has some balls and some vision. Sadly, OU management is so bad, they can't see beyond their own nose.

    Impressed with Adria Airways stance, they're doing what airBaltic is doing right now.

    airBaltic ordered up to 30 CS300 from Bombardier, with 30 more options.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      Except airBaltic has orderd brand new aircraft, not unlike Adria leasing old junk nobody else wants anymore.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:27

      Izvini molim te...od kad je Crj900 old junk....ajde da si rekao Crj100/200 ali ovako si smesan.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:30

      Well, it’s not definitely not CSeries. And with oil prices on the rise again, we’ll see how profitable CRJ will be in the future.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:16

      On short routes CRJ is actually cheaper to operate - much lower landing/handling fees. Adria has very few long flights so it's perfect for them

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:07

      Probably Adria's first preference is ACMI and white label flying as there is demand for RJ job. CS300 is not for hub feeding from small regional nearby cities, so Air Baltic must be betting on some different model. Also, financing is not clear, whether they need more state schemes because markets in the end are not interested, as has happened until now. Getting cheaper planes may be more realistic approach.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:09

    Congratulations Adria. Growing fleet and route network. Very nice developments from them lately.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:38

      They have introduced some good passenger friendly services lately too, regarding payments and on board benefits.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:10

    Would be nice if they eventually replaced the CRJs with a mix of CS100/300s.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      Way too expensive for JP.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:16

      Too expensive, I doubt their business model supports anything else then leasing ancient old aircraft. Look how much are they pushing with Saabs instead if going with ATR72-600 or Q400.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:22

      If you believe SB20 is worst than AT7 or DH4 than you have no clue what are you talking about. 1.) Q is way too expensive and you need a F1 team to maintain it 2.) you don't wanna operate any ATR arround Alps.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:27

      And 25 year old Saabs are the best aircraft on the market? Design proved by hundreds of orders?

      Darwin seemed to have no problems operating in the Alps with the ATR...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:00

      Saabs are good value for money paid. This is the most important advantage over all other models. Buying an aiplane is not like buying a car, where personal preferences and design play an important role. It's about money !!
      On the other side, it seems that JP couldn't secure enough pilots in order to operate Saabs.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:08

      Sure, but surely had Saab 2000 been such a successful aircraft, more airlines would have ordered it?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous19:59

      Saabs really have a very good performance but if you wanted to buy new aircraft back in the days, they were simply way too expensive compared to the competition. Manufactured by Swedish workforce, you know how much they earn in Scandinavia...!

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:11

    waiting for MXP,BCN,MAD,LIS,DUB,LED

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      You’ll have to wait for FR for this to happen.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:35

      As far as I remember Adria said they plan to add one distention in Italy, Spain and Portugal.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:08

      Italy; FCO or MXP
      Spain; MAD(they cannot get good sloth in BCN)
      Portugal; LIS or OPO
      Maybe even ARN or OSL

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:15

    Naslednje poletje naj bi CR9 letel za Luxair

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      I think in winter already

      Delete
  11. JU520 BEGLAX09:17

    Good news. CR9 is my favorite JP aircraft

    Now airport has to expand apron as it has become too small with these add aircrafts. Also hope they will build 4 more jetbridge gates for passenger convenience

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      Completely agree about the airport. TIme to fast-track those plans to build the new terminal.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:25

      Agree but also, LJU Departure and Check in area is not adequate, Access control for pax is at the level of aeroclub or maybe hangar.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:31

      Totally agree, in rush hour the security control becomes totally crowded, it is a shame. They should have built new terminal years ago. They are already late now and no news about the new terminal are coming.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:39

      In dec 2018 they start with new terminal... source-working at lju airport

      Delete
    5. JU520 BEGLAX09:44

      ZAG BEG DBV SPU PRN SKP hve done, so dont see why northern, most developped ex YU and 14 year old EU member SLO could not do it. I think new term is delayed too. They did not start yet and by 2020 all was promised to be ready. At least I saw them 2 weeks ago cutting trees in direction of Senćur.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:11

      If shereholders didn’t vote against the proposed terminal few years back... at least they did renovated and build a part on new terminal back in 08.

      Delete
    7. Anon 9:25: hahahhahahahaha hilarious!!!!

      Delete
    8. Anonymous18:02

      I think also, Ljubljana airport should expand, expand number of parking positions to accommodate extra aircraft, especially if they plan to have 25 aircraft in near future.

      Adding 4 additional jetbridges as part of the original design would also be really nice. This would increase the capacity to 5 million pax, sufficient for Ljubljana airport to operate for next 10 years before terminal capacity is reached.

      Zagreb airport terminal is to expand this Autumn by additional 2 gates/jetbridges for wide-body aircraft or four single isle aircraft.

      Would be nice to see these developments going ahead.



      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:18

    25-30 aircrafts?? is this with OU included? *hint

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      Well if you include the 6 Saabs and the 3 CRJs they get next year, that's already 24 planes in the fleet.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:23

    The real question is how many of these planes will actually be operated by Adria for Adria and how many will be wet leased.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:29

    waiting for SPU & OHD

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:52

      Maybe they launch the seasonally next year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:42

      hope so

      Delete
    3. SPU is congested

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:29

    Great job, it will be the true competitor to OU and ZAG. I expect many destinations from LJU

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous09:33

    I think they will add new routes but definitely increase the current successful routes next year: KBP, SOF, OTP (maybe), BWK.
    Spain is definitely needed!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:13

      There was a lot written about succes of KBP route, but nothing bout OTP. Are you sure about OTP expansion? Vhat about Varna, Chisinau, Ankara, maybe Cairo?

      Delete
    2. Information about the new routes is very limited. First they were saying that SOF is a new gem, but in the recent interview it was said that SOF, BWK and OTP are among the worst.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:48

    Btw, does anyone know why the flight LJU to London Gatwick is delayed every single time? Last week it was delayed by 4,5 hrs. Any idea?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:12

      On Easyjet page you have a nice flight tracker where the reason for every delay is explained in details.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:13

      It's due to storms around Europe and England in particular. Since most flights to LJU are in the evening, delays accumulate.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:01

    Good news for Adria.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:06

      The new German owners have managed to grow the airline year after year.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:13

    Nice news coming from Adria and Ljubljana lately.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous10:13

    Also don't forget that Slovenia has currently one of the highest economic growth in CEE (4%)!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:02

      5%*

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:18

      how come? 2 years ago it was a different story, well done SLO

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:13

      Slovenian methodology and model of calculating GDP growth is different to most EU members, they also include segments of the economy not considered contributory to overall GDP.

      Actual real growth was around 3%,which is about what is expected from much of the EU. Croatia also grew at 3% last year,and expected to grow around 3.4% this year.

      However,Tourism projections for this year are wild, also though heavy storms and rains over much of the southern Europe might have an impact for June numbers, across the Southern Europe, the overall numbers should still be very good. Croatia is registering 22% increase in booking and demand for flights to Croatia. First 5 months numbers for the country are above all expectations, 25% increase in overall arrival and stays.

      So growth this year could be in the region of 3.7%. Still not 5%. Unemployment is also down to 7% and still falling.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:06

      Maybe, it is better to just compare comparable, e.g. https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-performance-and-forecasts/economic-performance-country_en Someone can clearly see huge difference between Slovenia and Croatia (also concerning GDP expectations 2,9 : 4,7 %).

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:36

    Crazy growth from Adria and they do it so quietly.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:52

    Good to see more CRJs being added.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous10:52

    4K samo pravi da lici da se kompanija razvija. A LH ih kupiti nece.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:57

      ko je rekao da lufthansa hoce adriju kupiti?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:46

      LH is in fact managing JP through 4K already, without taking any risk (liability)...smart move.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:52

    So basically OU goes on strike while its closest competitor grows. Interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:04

      That is positive development for Croatia.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous11:41

    Overall it's going to be a great summer for Adria. They have the most CRJs in the fleet in this region I think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:33

      Except for OU I don't think any other airline in the region has CRJs.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous11:58

    It's always good to see an airline expanding its fleet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:23

      Only if it is doing so profitably and with 4K, nobody really knows if this is the case.

      They may also be going down this path because they want to built out their atory as quickly as possible, as it will help in an eventual sale of the asset.

      Given that 4K are a fund and not a long term owner of ghe asset, i believe this is the reason behind their growth.

      There are already whispers in aviation circles that they are looking for a buyer ...

      Delete
  27. Anonymous12:37

    Does anyone know what are the loads on the new routes from LJU? How is each performing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:31

      They all seem to be performing well since all of them will be kept over winter (except DBV and BWK which are summer seasonal)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:31

      BWK is the best performing of all routes launched

      Delete
    3. Anonymous08:52

      I said it before
      :)

      Delete
  28. Anonymous12:53

    Bravo Slovenija!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous12:53

    At the end of the day it is the financial results that matter. So let's see how they perform there before giving them too much praise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:13

      well, given the fact that 10 million euros disappeared from Darwin's accounts, I would say Adria's financial status is going to be splendid in this year's report.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:33

      But I doubt the Swiss won't investigate this a duly punish anyone who has been playing with the books and finances.

      Delete
  30. Anonymous16:34

    Odd they don't go for the CRJ1000. It's a very good aircraft and could lead to the retirement of the A319s.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:04

      CRJ1000 has about 40 seats less than the A319 and the leases for 2 A319s are appareantly very costly to withdraw from.

      Not to mention CRJ1000’s performance is poor to put it nicely. Forget about going to short Greek runways or taking full pax and bags to Egypt.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:50

      In addition to the performance limitations vs. the CRJ900, the CRJ1000 is still quite new, so I doubt there will be any used aircraft available in the market.

      Delete
  31. Anonymous17:40

    Any hint about Pula ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, Pula CEO said in my interweave that there is no plan, that they even did not talk with Adria about any route and especially not about base in Pula.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous20:22

      verujem, samo planovi toga tipa nisu dostupni za medije bas u svim fazama

      Delete
  32. Anonymous20:42

    Anyone knows where planes are comig from? Air nostrum?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:24

      I presume at least one will be from them. RegionalOne has one of them listed http://www.myairlease.com/available/regional_one

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:12

      I don't know where the Adria jets will come from, but I know that in addition to used Air Nostrum aircraft, former SAS aircraft are available since they have replaced their CRJ900s with new ones (now operated by CityJet).

      Delete
  33. Anonymous10:03

    What surprises me about Adria continuing to grow is not just that they do so in spite of rapidly rising fuel prices (with a fleet that doesn't have the best fuel economy per seat), but that they manage to source pilots for the expansion. At the same time, we read about other European airlines (including majors like Lufthansa Group) wanting to grow, but being limited by lack of pilots. Where do they get all pilots from? CRJ captains must be hard to find. Do they upgrade their first officers to captains and hire fresh first officers from flight school?

    ReplyDelete

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