The Slovenian Prime Minister, Marjan Šarec, who assumed office last September, has criticised Adria Airways' owners and questioned the airline's sustainability. Mr Šarec said Adria was an example of a Slovenian brand tarnished by foreign investors. Furthermore, he noted the previous government failed to sell the company to Lufthansa and turned to the turnaround fund 4K Invest instead. The German national carrier has never officially expressed any interest in the Slovenian airline and continues to cooperate with Adria through a wide-ranging codeshare partnership, as well as aircraft leasing. "Today I wonder how long our Adria will continue flying", the Prime Minister said. The Slovenian government sold its 100% stake in the carrier in 2016. It recently adopted plans to subsidise airlines for the launch of new routes or frequencies to Ljubljana Airport from select markets in an attempt to improve the country's air connectivity by 2021.
Adria Airways has not responded to the Prime Minister's criticism. Its CEO, Holger Kowarsch, previously said the airline's financial loss in 2018 would be "significant" but added that the company would be placed on "firm foundations". "Slovenia needs its airline, because it is very important for Slovenian society, tourism and economy that a national carrier operates from Ljubljana Airport", Mr Kowarsch said earlier this year. At the time, he added that the company would not file for bankruptcy, "contrary to what many wished for". According to the Slovenian national statistical office, Adria Airways handled 212.400 passengers during the first quarter, down 7% year-on-year.
In 2015, three Germen investment companies, Intro Aviation, 4K Invest and Callisto, submitted bids for Adria Airways. 4K Invest eventually acquired a 96.09% stake in Adria through its affiliate AA International Aviation Holding for 100.000 euros and an additional one million euro capital injection. It later purchased the remaining shares for just under 45.000 euros. The arrangement also involved the Slovenian government injecting an additional 3.1 million euros into the carrier. The company recently noted it is upbeat over its prospects for 2019 and expects to return to profitability by year's end. "We continue to invest all of our efforts into greater operational excellence, reliability and maintaining business stability", it said.
What a clown.
ReplyDeleteWho exactly?
DeleteThe Prime Minister. I think these sort of comments are unnecessary,
DeleteIt's a private business. He can comment on it as he wishes. And I can't say he is wrong.
DeleteExcept there are so many business that are linked to Adria and live off Adria. If it goes under many would be affected.
DeleteHaha well he was a comedian :D
Delete@9.10 JP is in debt to many of those companies.
DeletePM is right. Our previous government paid 4K to take over Adria and to basically close it down for them.
DeleteThis is why you don't sell strategically important companies to unknown investment funds with no experience in aviation business.
DeleteIt was either 4K or liquidate the company.
DeleteNever underestimate Marjan Sarec, a lot of people in Slovenia has made that mistake...
DeleteSo what? Why is he only concentrated on this Slovenian business? What about all the other ones? Look at giants where they are such as Gorenje, Mercator...
ReplyDeleteIt's called free market economy, look it up.
You either adapt or go extinct.
True!
DeleteWell he is not wrong. The image has been tarnished.
ReplyDeleteWell Air Help just ranked Adria 63rd out of 72 airlines on punctuality, service quality and claim processing.
Delete:(
DeleteI find these sort of statements highly irresponsible. Because especially in the aviation industry they can have an impact on the airline.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of what politicians used to say about Jat Airways from 2008-2013. It really had a negative impact and influenced passenger confidence in the airline.
DeleteYes, politicians were to blame for JU's bad reputation back then but not because of the statements they made. Mostly because they used Jat as their personal ATM.
DeleteWell the situation at Adria reminds me of Jat in the 2008-2013 years.
DeleteThis airline has just recently been investigated by the CAA. I don't think his comments are inappropriate. It's what we are all thinking.
DeleteI think not paying the bills and not maintaining the aircraft can have more damaging effect than some comments from poor excuse for a PM.
DeleteLol the Lufthansa comment. I'm sure the previous government rejected them and chose 4K instead.
ReplyDeleteConsidering Adria is buying airlines left and right, the Slovenian government could have done a better job and pitched JP to LH,
DeleteSo can we finally say that Lufthansa is obviously not behind 4k and adria?
DeleteAny other claims were nothing but jokes
Deletelol. we had a bunch of people here for years yapping this "LH is behind it" spiel. even some articles on certain aviation portals were propagating this conspiracy theory
DeleteIf the Prime Minister fear for Adria's future and is aware of how important Adria is for Slovenia's economy, perhaps he should try to make a contingency plan on what to do when the Germans pull the plug.
ReplyDelete+1
Deleteif he is making these kind of comments, he either has already something in the works, or he has given up any hope of adria revitalization
DeleteWhy doesn't he nationalize it then if he can do a better job?
ReplyDeleteI really don't think nationalization is the way to go.
DeleteSelling not strategic state run and owned companies was right, question is just to whom u sell it. Here SLO government seemed not to had its right hands in the past.
ReplyDeleteand when.... unfortunately the when was a long time ago.
DeleteDo you guys think 4K will be at Adria long-term? Or will they leave sooner or later?
ReplyDeleteI hope 4K sells 100% of Adria to someone not involved in any way with 4K.
DeleteVery difficult to find anyone willing to buy an airline is such financial state.
Delete4K business ethos is to turn a company around and then sell it.
DeleteThe problem is they haven't turned the company around.
Delete4K will leave Adria to liquidation managers...
Delete4K showed its expertise with Darwin.
DeleteFunny how in the end on JU and possibly YM will avoid being shut down.
ReplyDeleteSome years ago ex-YU used to have polls on here. Would be cool to have those back with the first question: which airline do you think will be the first to go bankrupt:
Delete1. Air Bosnia
2. Air Serbia
3. Montenegro Airlines
4. Adria
5. Croatia Airlines
6. Trade Air
Today
Delete1. Adria
2. Croatia Airlines
3. Trade Air
4. Montenegro Airlines
5. Air Serbia
Adria is in trouble, Croatia Airlines is in trouble. Also the Slovenian market is too small and too expensive. Why don't they merge to one bigger airline?
DeleteSo what happens if Adria does go bust? Can all their routes be taken over by competitors?
DeleteWhat makes you think OU and JP merged would be a success? Putting wings on a cow doesn't make it a Pegasus.
DeleteAnonymus 9:42, because we are governed by a bunch of nationalists who only think how to get right votes and not hurt right parties. Nimajo jajc. They don't think strategically, they only think how to possibly win the next elections. In this case European.
Deletecroatia does have a problem, but not a life threatening one
DeleteJU is living thanks to vučić being so proud about it back in 2013 that now he cannot shut it down, so he is burning the money on it
YM will live if montenegro doesn't ran into some serious financing problems ( for example with this chinese loans)
Croatia already has very life threating problems.
DeleteLet's ask ourselves who burnt the money in OU before Croatia joined EU
https://www.argophilia.com/news/croatia-airlines-aid/27511/
Air Serbia is financially supported by GoS as it has been judged that benefit of having Air Serbia will be bigger than money invested in it. Have a look only on TK - heavily supported by Turkish Government that caused TK to become one of the biggest airlines in the world whose size, among other factors, caused opening the biggest airport in the world.
OU is sponsored by PSO on all domestic airlines - legal way of financially helping the airline - the same as it is legal GoS financially to support JU on flights to USA.
It is nothing wrong with it - YM is also sponsored by their Government.
But, only Vucic is burning the money in JU and all the other are fair and innocent.
How yes not
Patriotism is not keeping OU alive, if that was the case it would be OU with flights to the US and Canada and also the airline who might ‘soon’ launch flights to Japan. OU is kept alive to be the personal piggy banks of some.
Deletenebojša, how much wrong stuff and incorrect english can you put into one post?
DeletePetar, if you, as a proven JU hater, found my post full of "wrong stuff" then it surely means I was more than right with my arguments.
Delete"being so proud about it back in 2013 that now he cannot shut it down"
DeleteSmešan si, misliš da bi ih neko drugi sad ugasio? Nemaš pojma, pa kad se jednog dana promeni vlast i neki drugi naravno odluče da zadrže Er Serbiju uz možda par sporednih promena, prozvaću te onda zbog ovih tvojih besmislica.
When in doubt, use "hater".
DeleteAdria is turning into a full circus
ReplyDeleteThey still cancel flights from time to time. Even though they are leasing Nordica and Carpatair planes. Even Trade Air jumps in from time to time.
DeleteThey have cancelled tonight's Pristina flight.
DeleteTomorrow's too (evening) flight. What's going on?
DeleteAdria is taking a lot of hits from everyone but it seems bulletproof.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey taking hits because they deserve it. I read a report in the media about the financial mismanagement at Adria by 4K and the tricks they are using to show a more positive balance sheet. The things they are doing is crazy. Selling and buying the brand name, offshore accounts, creating and bankrupting companies etc. Really murky business.
DeleteWhat "murky business"? This is how all legacy carriers operate, no? :)
DeleteFrom a political point of view, JP's bankruptcy will be a very interesting story in Slovenia.
ReplyDeleteThey won't go bankrupt.
DeleteTrust me. This won't end good.
DeleteWhen was the last time somebody ended up financially responsible for any state-run business' mistakes in Slovenia?
DeleteNot counting the general Joza the taxpayer.
Does anyone think Adria would have done better was it given to one of the two other funds?
ReplyDeleteWho knows
DeleteIt would be the same more or less in my opinion.
DeleteI think 4K had an opportunity but blew it. They got the airline for free plus a 3.5 million euro bonus. They should have from the beginning cut costs where they could, consolidate and than slowly start from scratch. They could have had an attractive little airline which they could have sold by now. But I think the sale came with a bunch of conditions (like keeping a number of people employed) and was always going to be difficult for them especially when they went on the ambitions expansion phase with little capital and what looked like basic aviation business knowledge behind them.
DeleteI'm very interested in their financial results for last year.
ReplyDeleteSo when will the 2018 results be released. Anyone know?
DeleteLast year they were published in September.
DeleteThey r obliged to publish them till the 30.8.
DeleteThanks
DeleteThey won't publish it before that date for sure. Last year they waited till the very end of that deadline.
DeleteLooking forward to seeing how they performed
DeleteUnfortunately there isn't much to look forward to.
DeleteJP please return to MBX!
ReplyDeleteLJU-MBX-SEN-MBX-LJU with 2 ferry fights was such a success.
DeleteIf they did this again, they would surely return to profit!
Prime Minister statements reflects the climate at JP. It is not well and as a passenger u feel it. The Germans are cutting spending for everything, just not on their salaries, cars etc
ReplyDeleteI think the prime minister is setting up the country for some bad news. Could be just a few weeks now but I hope I’m wrong.
ReplyDeleteAgree
DeleteIt's getting dark around JP. Feel sorry for all those employees who delivered hard work all those years, some even all those decades.
DeleteDonald Trump should save the airline. His wife is from Slovenia so why not save something from her own country. Rename it Melania Air...lol
Delete@10:57
DeleteAcctually, the mood in JP is quite good. Since the whole SSJ story blew up, everyone is behaving as if JP is making a huge profit. Yes, there is a talk of a strike, but it probably won't happen. So it's either calm before storm or JP really operates in another economic universe.
JP employees were never quite in touch with reality anyway.
DeleteI wouldn't be sure SSJ story blew up. Still on the 27/4, Ryan aviation recruitment published and add looking for SSJ CMD's and FO's, with job add exp date 25/5 openly for JP.
DeleteI'm sure the SSJ's selling price will fall even more: "Interjet to sell its Sukhoi fleet, sees Africa and Middle East as potential buyers"
DeleteWhen I remember how excited people were when 4K took over.
ReplyDeleteI hear LJU is already talking to a lot of airlines to cover Adria routes in case of bankruptcy.
ReplyDeleteIf JP goes bust, the gap would be filled by LH and OS.
DeleteAnd LX to ZRH and SN to BRU and maybe even SAS to cph
DeleteSa cime ce SAS da leti CPH njihovi avioni su preveliki za malo trziste u Sloveniji. Wizz jedino ako utrci dva tri puta nedeljno.
DeleteI think most of the routes to Western Europe can realistically be covered by other airlines. Also CPH, I fly on this route 3-4 times per year and airplanes are always full (from CR7 to A319). Of course this is a smaller capacity than what SAS operates with, but with their brand they could attract more people to it...
DeleteAir France boosting flights in winter season was such a clear sign of what to expect. Nevertheless, with summer months approaching and cash flow accelerating, I think Adria will remain alive until September-October, if suppliers don't act before.
DeleteTo all those who thinks JP is replacable by any external airline. Never ever after JP, or not for a long time, anyone will fly tripple or double daily of LJU.
DeleteSAS has a long term wet-lease agreement for 27 CRJ900 with Cityjet. Wouldn't be difficult to add one or two from Adria's ex-fleet once it goes bankrupt.
DeleteSAS has a long term wet-lease agreement with Cityjet for 22 CRJ900.
DeleteBut are the passengers currently flying to and from CPH beginning or ending their journey at LJU? There are not many Slovenians living in Scandinavia, but plenty from other Ex-Yu countries, so I can imagine that many passengers transfer in LJU at the moment. I'm therefore not sure that the route will work equally well for SAS, but I would be delighted to be proven wrong.
DeleteJP lacks a clear strategy. It´s so ironic that the richest ex-Yu country has the poorest performing national airline.
ReplyDeleteAdria should talk to LOT and become LOT's partner in the Balkans (like Nordica became LOT's partner for Scandinavia and Baltic States). Adria could operate a few routes for LOT to feed their hub in Warsaw. Moreover with help of LOT Adria could develop its network from LJU and build regional hub there to connect passengers travelling between ex-Yugoslavia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria & Ukraine mainly to Italy, South France, Spain and Portugal as well as Benelux, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Nordica and Adria LOT would became no 1 player in CEE with three hubs at WAW, LJU and TLL and could connect East to West.
Not gonna happen.
DeleteOvo je prvi pametan komentar danas
DeleteThe prime minister doesn't need to add fuel to the fire.
ReplyDeleteAdria has been in constant crisis for 10 years now but they are still here and flying. I don't expect anything major will happen at JP. A blessing in disguise was that the Sukhoi deal fell through. That would have been the nail in the coffin.
ReplyDeleteThe drop in passengers is expected for Q1 considering that they cut a lot of flights. Does anyone know their load factor?
ReplyDeleteAny chance of new routes this winter?
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteI doubt the prime minister randomly pulled out Adria out of the hat. He probably knows something we don't.
ReplyDeleteYes. The non revised financial data for 2018 had to be published by end of Marc. What will happen or is already happening is airports/handling companies/ fuel companies will refuse service to aircraft pending payment of debts.
ReplyDeleteDo we know why Carpatair is flying again, and for how long??? Disaster for the passengers...
ReplyDeleteDue to lack of capacity. CRJ or 100, same thing.
DeleteAbsolute comedian! He should request internal invstigation based on how and wh< this company way sold - and to complete incompetent "investment", as well why APTLJ has to be sold, and, and, and ..
ReplyDeleteAsking bullshit before elections or not asking questions because you are not alowed (most of the state has been ripped off by the same clubters) is another topic which this country is paying off.
Actually Adria is a disaster to fly with. Planes are (at least on the inside) literally falling apart, and of my 5 flights in 2018, 2 were canceled while waiting at the airport. And I had to wait for 6+ months to get the lawful compensation from them, which only happened after complaints to regulator. Looks to me they are not liquid anymore and on brink of bancrupcy. Maybe they should just call it quits.
ReplyDelete