Adria Airways has abruptly suspended all operations from its base in Paderborn as of this morning, just three months after commencing operations from the north-western German city. The Slovenian carrier has discontinued flights to Vienna and Zurich, which were jointly maintained a total of fifteen times per week. In a statement, the airline said, "Adria Airways and Paderborn Airport could not agree on the conditions of the airport services agreement anymore under which flight operations would continue. Unfortunately, this resulted in the suspension of further Adria Airways operations from the base in Paderborn". Initially, Adria also operated services from the German city to London Southend Airport, however, the flights were discontinued as of January 6 due to poor loads.
Adria's Paderborn base has been beset by problems since it was opened. Services were originally to commence during the 2018 summer season but the airline was unable to secure the lease of Saab 2000 turboprops on time. It eventually launched operations from the German city in November and utilised a wet-leased ATR72 turboprop from Nordica's subsidiary Regional Jet. Outside of Ljubljana, Adria boasts a base in Pristina from which it handled 157.931 passengers in 2018. In 2017, the carrier closed down its base in Lodz in Poland. Over the past few years it also considered stationing aircraft in Klagenfurt in Austria, as well as Verona, Bratislava and Bern.
Paderborn Airport, which handled 736.000 passengers in 2018, said, "As of February 3, 2019, Adria Airways will cease all operations at Paderborn. The airline has assured us that all measures will be taken to rebook affected passengers on time". It refused to comment on why the airline was pulling out of the airport. In October, Adria Airways' General Manager, Holger Kowarsch, said, "The cooperation between Adria Airways and Paderborn Airport exemplifies how, thanks to good partnerships, new travel opportunities can be created that appeal to both business and tourism customers, and we look forward to establishing our promising relationship with Paderborn Airport".
Adria Airways will also be suspending operations from Ljubljana to both Moscow and Dusseldorf this month.
This airline is dying a slow death.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened? If they started flights in November you would thing their original contract lasted over 2 months. I don't understand how the "airport services agreement" didn't suit them any more.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the airport was unreasonably unwilling to cover ATR wet lease cost :D
DeleteForecasts for the only two routes from PAD must have been really bad if they decided to end all services within like 3 or 4 days.
DeleteAs usual, I think it's German Bureaucracy. I flew with this airline from Paderborn and it had decent ambient. The staff was professional and actually better than Lufthansa or any another German airlines.
DeleteThats unfortunate to see that happen.!
It was probably too expensive for them too continue wetleasing an ATR to fly these two routes.
ReplyDeleteWhy did they have to wetlease an ATR??? What's wrong with the Saabs? They have 6 of them!
DeleteBecause they don't have crew for Saabs and the Saabs constantly have technical problems.
DeleteGreat acquisition...
DeleteAdria wrote on Twitter yesterday
Delete"Saabs are in regular flight operations, two are waiting for additional crew."
More like 5 out of 6 are still waiting for crew with the necessary type rating...
DeleteActually sad story, Adrias reputation is completely going down the drain. These 4K guys must be absolute unprofessionals, unbelievable, everything they touch breaks.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Whatever they "touch" turns into a disaster.
DeleteSo much for LH being behind 4K.
DeleteI don't get these sudden decisions - announcing the closure of routes a couple of days before their suspension.
ReplyDeleteIt's called desperation.
DeleteClearly a sign of mature and profitable airline. Like with Sukhois, they should start flying in April, yet final signature is still kidding as of early February.
DeleteWith exception to Pristina, every one of their "foreign" bases has been closed in the last 5 years.
ReplyDeleteWhat on earth will they do with all this extra capacity now? It will make their bad finances even worse.
ReplyDeleteOk, this is an utter mess unfortunately. I guess if they do not pull themselves together rather soon, belly-up is the only certain scenarion.
ReplyDeleteWell that didn't last long.
ReplyDeleteThis might not be such a bad thing if they woll focus more on LJU.
ReplyDeleteHow? Opening again the routes they've just cancelled?
DeleteThey are not focusing on anything. I wouldn't be surprised if they further cut routes from Ljubljana soon.
DeleteHaven't they reduced frequencies for the summer schedule?
DeleteSo, Adria has more planes and routes than the Slovenian market can handle.
ReplyDeleteSlovenian market can handle many more routes, the problem is that Adria can't handle them.
DeleteIt would be better if they focused on developing Pritisna as a secondary hub before it gets too much competition and Wizz eventually opens a base.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteTheir pax numbers in Pristina are also declining.
DeleteThat Orange airline from Greece is growing like crazy there. Last year they grew by 280%
DeleteAnd they carried 200.000 passengers to just four destinations.
Why can't JP take advantage of that market instead?
Exactly. JP could have done the same as orange2fly. They are even a much more recognisable brand in Kosovo but oh well...
DeletePlease, orange is a company that eventually ghosts out.
DeleteAt least the Sukhois are coming :D
ReplyDeleteYes... that will save them.
DeleteThey will be the final nail in their coffin if they indeed come!
DeleteIf they come, I just don't know what they will do with them.
DeleteI hope they don't end up stored like the Saabs.
DeleteI would'nt be surprised if Adria announces within next few weeks, that Sukhois are'nt coming at all.......the airline is a mess, it will crumble like a house of cards by the years end, mark my words
DeleteThey will end up like Cityjet aircraft.... 2 year old aircraft being put into long term storage...
DeleteBut anyway, they did some serious thinking and this is the best aircraft for them, so all id well :)
I thought they were getting subsidies to fly from PAD.
ReplyDeletethey had a "risk sharing deal", but the airport did not feel like to extend it after realizing that the ZRH route is still in the red and that Adria did not even start to do some marketing for the route after so many months (there are only some 7 to 11 customers in the very region that would ensure the route would be profitable; but they did not close a deal with any of those companies)
Deletehard to understand how they could blow that up
JP is clumsy, careless and needs serious management.
ReplyDeleteJP needs bankruptcy and Ctrl+Alt+Del reset.
DeleteKume. Ako dođe do bankrota to neće biti reset, nego si polio pola litre kave na laptop i bacio ga u zid
DeleteSo they were wet leasing planes to fly from Paderborn. Crazy!
ReplyDeleteI see nothing wrong with them trying different things.
ReplyDeleteWhen all of the different things they have tried have failed, you really got to wonder.
DeleteNije ti ovo kineski restaurant! Ovakve pogreške koštaju BRDO love. Da o reputaciji ni ne govorim
DeleteWhy don't they try ZAG and turn the heat on OU ? Or, they could try one of the Croatian cities .... it can't be any worse than the "hit and miss" strategy they are running with at the moment ...
ReplyDelete... or BEG
DeleteZAG doesn´t make sense, LJU is too close. A lot of diaspora already uses LJU instead of ZAG for flights to Skopje, Podgorica, Tirana, Prishtina. That´s also why these flights wont see the decreased frequencies from LJU. They are even increasing it from time to time.
DeleteJP already tried BEG and they failed. They should stay away from the Serbian market unless they want to lose some more money.
DeleteWhy ? Are you afraid, JU will be affected ?
DeleteYes Adria seems to be a great threat to everyone. No, probably because it would just quicken their demise.
DeleteWell, JP could try deserted Lugano with a S20, no scheduled routes served there except for Zurich. E.g. high yielding CDG or FRA but hey wait they would need S20 crews :P
DeleteIt's quite simple. Padeborn airport and the contractors there are just not as generous as LJU ones. They demand payment for their services, while at LJU everything just goes on Adria's tab to be paid later.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense. The airline seems to be in a very bad situation.
DeleteProbably the real reason. They probably seem to be surprised the suppliers won't provide services if you owe them money, unlike Petrol, Sloveniacontrol, etc.
DeleteSomebody should pull the plug and end their misery.
Hidden state subsidies? Not from Fraport (there just government gives financial guarantees), but government owned Petrol? I never see them fueling in ZRH, so mainpart of their fuel usage is probably fm Petrol
DeleteThey used to tanker a lot of fuel to LJU due to very high fiel price at LJU (no surprise, Petrol having a monopoly). If they have suddenly stopped doing this, it could indicate they prefer to increase their debt to Petrol rather to pay cheaper fuel somewhere else.
DeleteČisto mučenje, sami promašaj do promašaja.. Adriji je jedno rješenje da se ugasi.
ReplyDeleteAdrija je privatna firma, ugasi se sam
DeleteWow really surprising
ReplyDeletehttps://reddit.com/r/MRW/comments/34869q/mrw_i_saw_this_weeks_secrets_and_lies/
If the rumors about LH Group pulling the plug on the summer ACMI deals are true, it's game over. 4K has also just parted ways with Adria's COO, whom they brought into the company, and was quite an important figure.
ReplyDeleteSo all signs are pointing to evacuation of the company. Once the financial hole is made public, the authorities will start looking in the books, so the proverbial rats are fleeing from the scene of the crime.
That's quite concerning. Was the COO Tiziano Ponseggi from Etihad Regional? I know the CCO Christian S. is also from Etihad Regional.
DeleteThe fact the Etihad Regional CCO is now JP's CCO says everything ...
DeleteYes both CCO and COO were from Etihad Regional. The CCO left Adria in December.
DeleteIf this is true...Ouch!!!
Delete@Anonymous 3 February 2019 at 12:39: Any rumours about Austrian ACMI?
DeleteI don't get it. Why are destinations like SOF doing well, while richer DUS not?
ReplyDeleteTo me it is utterly unbelievable that DUS does not work from/to Slovenia, it is an airport with a catchment area of almost 20 million people in 3 countries, plus an economical powerhouse that also guarantees high yields. How on Earth can Adria fail there, without any nonstop competition?
DeleteWonder why LJU-DBV did not work. They have dropped it after just one season.. Many tour operators told me there is huge demand for this...tourists doing two centres Bled/Bohinj and Dubrovnik.
ReplyDeleteYes sure, but tour operators dont want to pay the price or want to buy seats. Tourism is to a surprlse of many low profitable industry.
DeleteIn the last decade more and more t/o's are becoming very cautious when it comes to buying guarantee seats (charters or split charters), most t/o's dont want to take these risks anymore; a phenomenon that can be seen almost all over Europe (Poland is an exception I know). Pro rata seats are more expensive but they can also sell these to customers or the t/o's dont care about selling the flight as it is hotels and extra services/ancillaries where money is made (profit contribution).
DeleteFurthermore, for Slovenians Dubrovnik is still too close apparently, judging by number of cars with their plates in Southern Dalmatia, not only but particularly in summer. Though it is 7 hours by car in winter and rather 9 hours at least during summer with jams and boarder crossing madness.
Ja sam živio 3g u DBV. Imali smo jako malo slovenskih gostiju. Po meni Slovenci dođu negdje do Makarske. Po meni je DBV iznad onog što je prosječan Slovenac spreman platit za godišnji. Ne kažem da ne može, ali za tu lovu radije ode u Grčku. Istra i otoci, to je nešto drugo
DeleteNek otvore liniju beograd brac kad vece nece air serbia ni croatia airlans...tamo bi im bilo zakupljenono 70 mjesta po letu..
ReplyDeleteNe znam koja su pravila. Srbija nije EU, a JP nije ni iz Srbije ni iz Hrvatske
DeleteIt looks like Adria are in a big financial mess!
ReplyDeleteČuo sam da otvaraju bazu u Nooku, a razmatra se i Lampedusa
ReplyDelete