Adria looks to grow outside of Slovenia


Adria Airways will seek opportunities outside of Slovenia as it looks to recover from a tumultuous month. Speaking in Ljubljana yesterday, the airline's Managing Director, Sven Kukemelk, said, "Adria is no longer a carrier that operates from Ljubljana to European destinations. We are way bigger. We have outside operations, a base in Pristina, services for Lufthansa, Austrian, Luxair, and Swiss. Today, Adria is on a good path to becoming a strong regional player who is embracing, and happy to accept, the challenges of the future... In an essence, this is what a regional carrier has to be. We don't have too many other choices. The Slovenian market is not going to grow and the growth will be somewhere else".

Mr Kukemelk's words echoed those of CEO Holger Kowarsch, who last week said, "Slovenia is not the biggest country so opportunities for Adria Airways to grow out of Ljubljana are a little bit limited. This country is too small to grow, and Adria needs to grow. To give you an example, last year we handled 1.2 million passengers, and only 400.000 of those were in and out of Ljubljana, the rest were transfers". In 2014, Adria, which was at the time fully state-owned, developed a six-year growth strategy which involved the opening of four to six new bases in Europe. Its CEO at the time, Mark Anžur, said, "The Slovenian market is small and is not growing. We now receive 70% of our revenue outside of our main market". Adria closed down its bases in Lodz in Poland in 2017 and in Paderborn in Germany last year. It previously considered stationing aircraft in Klagenfurt in Austria, as well as Verona, Bratislava and Bern.

Mr Kowarsch has suggested that larger European carriers will follow the example of their peers in the United States which utilise services of regional airlines on a significant number of routes. Therefore, Adria is likely to expand the scope of its ACMI business in the future, since the carrier is usually paid a fixed price for operating certain routes for other airlines, with all the risk lying with the major carrier. Furthermore, in some cases, major carriers will offer incentive payments to regional airlines for operating on-time flights without cancellations.

In an attempt to establish itself as an important European regional carrier, Adria said yesterday it had signed a contract with Denmark's Northern Aerotech to provide maintenance services to the airline's entire fleet, in Ljubljana and Lugano. The contract will include line maintenance and Aircraft On Ground (AOG) recovery. “We are very pleased to enter this kind of cooperation with Northern Aerotech, which provides us complete customised service in all situations with full attention. We pursue impeccable Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) service, since safety is our first priority. We strongly believe that we’ve found a reliable MRO partner that will support our needs and demands”, Mr Kukemelk said. The new contract will come into force on September 1. Adria's existing line maintenance provider Adria Tehnika, said its services were too expensive for the national carrier.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Haven't they already tried this?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      They have. Just another round of bs. The longer they can keep the company afloat the more money ends up in the Caymans

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:05

      The only things that are growing with Adria are their debts/liabilities.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    To grow yet they are cancelling flights left and right because they do not have enough planes ... I mean, come on ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      They have enough aircraft, they just don't care about their own passengers.

      How many LH and OS flights they've operated have been cancelled?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      Management has found a new way of saving money - sell tickets for a flight you know will not happen. 100% savings on fuel, crew, airport fees, plane maintanance..

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:09

      And then delay compensation for a year (or never pay it) and it's like an interest-free loan.

      Like the gentlemen from Northern Aerotech said yesterday: Adria is a legacy carrier.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:32

      Keep selling tickets for flights that you will cancel, improving the cash flow in the short run. Until you hopefully scam a "strategic partner" to buy the company and who will then have to pay out all the compensations. And who knows how many other liabilities.
      Only someone insane would buy a company that has (much) less assets than liabilities, looses money on its core business and is scamming its consumers.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    In the end it seems they will greatly limit operations from LJU and fly to just a few cities while the rest of the fleet will be wet leased to other airlines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      I think that will be the outcome too. They want to show that there is no point in flying out of LJU and the way they are behaving with these cancellations no one will fly with them again.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:06

    Meanwhile today they have cancelled
    Skopje-Ljubljana
    Ljubljana-Prague-Ljubljana
    Ljubljana-Munich-Ljubljana
    Ljubljana-Vienna-Ljubljana

    Merged: Ljubljana-Sarajevo-Tirana

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      And they said how things will stabilise in July...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:08

      I don't get it. All the planes that were grounded with technical issues are back in the air. Why are they still cancelling flights?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:08

      They did stabilise...a stable number of cancelled and merged flights.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:11

      They cancel flights because they don't have enough crew. And as a national flag carrier whose management and pilots go to PM crying for more money, it's more important that flights for Lufthansa, Austrian and Luxair are on time.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:11

      Because those flights were never meant to happen. They are selling capacity that they do not have, even with all their planes flying.
      Fantastic way of making money, sell tickets and then cancel the flight. Due to "technical issues"

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:17

      Is JU really any better? They have masive delays since June, many fleet issues and cancellations too!

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:18

      Have they cancelled 4 flights today and merged others?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:28

      Yes, JU have some not small issues yesterday and today. I lot of flights delayed and one flight yesterday and one today canceled, but they can't be compared with Adria. Issues JU have are temporary caused by technical problems and problem Adria have are the result of extremely poor management.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:35

      Management is very competent..when it comes to getting money out of Adria. Unfortunately you cannot have a successful company and at the same time be siphoning money out of the same company.
      Management would need to be superhuman to simultaneously run a successful AND corrupt business

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:47

      Anon 9:28 issies only for the past two days?...no excuse me since start of June!! BTW anyone knows when ANK and AND will get out of maintenance? That should help! However management issue at JU is the same...don't you plan ahead of time to get your maintenance done and not start the charter season with planes still in hangar. Sell tje charter ahead of time, money in the bank but then we will find a way how to organize trafic....really good management!

      Delete
    11. Anonymous09:58

      To the OP. Why do you keep spreading wrong and absolutely false information on Adria. You are insulting all people who believed you and posted their comments to your post. Only Sarajevo flight is cancelled today you can clearly see in the neutral airport website. That too is not cancelled but merged to another as you already mentioned.

      https://www.fraport-slovenija.si/en/passengers-and-visitors/flight-info/arrivals-and-departures/Index#departures

      Delete
    12. Anonymous10:04

      I am not spreading false information at all. Fraport has started just removing Adria's cancelled flights for whatever reason and simply doesn't display them. You can see the flights they have cancelled on Adria's own website
      https://www.adria.si/en/manage-my-booking/flight-status/

      Delete
    13. Anonymous10:06

      @ anon 9.58. the guy that posted the cancellations is actually correct for all of them. Just look at flightradar Ljubljana page
      https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airports/lju/arrivals

      Delete
    14. Anonymous10:13

      Cancellations are correct. No need to defend JP on things they are at fault.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous11:05

      Fraport Slovenia obviously cooperates with Adria to hide the cancellations. But funny thing is, those cancelled flights can be seen on websites of the destination airports :)))

      Delete
    16. Anonymous11:35

      I find it really murky that airport os trying to cover Adria's cancellations. Why?

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:08

    They've started charging some passengers extra for the fuel after they've bought the tickets. Sounds like any other airline.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      Whaaat!!???

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:11

      Source?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:13

      https://www.finance.si/8950094/Adria-svojim-potnikom-naknadno-zaracunava-gorivo

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:22

      How do they do it. They just take money off the bank account you provided when you purchased the ticket?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:13

      Is this legal?

      Delete
    6. Nobody can just take money out off your bank account in Slovenia. Not without court decision. I can't believe ignorance of people here. Article published in Finance says clearly that Adria have sent invoice to passengers for additional 12€ for fuel. It is definately horrible practise of Adria Airways, but please don't make up "stories for children".

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:28

      It seems that they are charging extra fuel only for some charter flights for which they have the terms set in contracts with tourist agencies. And those terms obviously allow them to do so. I'm not saying it's good practice, but everyone involved agreed to those terms. And the media articles are again presenting the story together with their own interpretation.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:38

      It's not JP who is charging the custumers additionally for fuel, but the tourist agencies.

      For tourist packages on sale now, this additional charge it is clearly stated in advance.
      One example:
      http://www.kompas.si/pocitnice/Grcija-Otok-Karpatos-Pigadia/Hotel-Olympic-28319p81402d5.7.2019e7i31517

      "Obvezna doplačila
      Ob prijavi:
      doplačilo za gorivo, od 2 let 12,00 EUR/osebo"

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13:01

      So, nonstory here. I'm sure tourist agencies have been charging this for years but it was not important until now when Adria is on the edge. #sensationalismpress

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:11

    Once the inevitable happens, some Slovenian bureaucrats should be brought to the court too, as they are the ones allowing this criminal fraud to continue...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      +1. CAA should have pulled the plug months ago. But it will never happen as this is Balkan.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:14

    i wont be tired of repeating ... start feeding LH SKP-FRA/SKP-MUC, they have the right (small) aircraft for it ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:13

      I always say that one of their biggest mistakes was not opening a base in Skopje.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:16

      How would they compete against Wizz?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:21

      It could work because LH goes double daily to Tirana with a E190

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:28

      Wizz does not fly to main German cities. Could be a cash cow for JP.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:38

      they would not compete with Wizz, transfer is a totaly different market

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:15

    Jeez how disrespectful to the country if you constantly repeat how the market is small, dead, not growing... Seems other carriers grow in Slovenia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      Respectful or not, it's a reality.

      What do you expect people to say? We'll make a long haul hub with 50 aircraft as demand is huge?

      Where did I hear that one and how did it end up?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:24

      It's precisely this Adria CEO who said last year that Adria will have a fleet of 40 aircraft and connect the Balkans to Europe.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:12

      Isn't it strange how in such a small market foreign carriers have been increasing their figures constantly for some time now with 10-20% growth. Look for example what Aeroflot has done with SVO in less than a year, AF full on every flight even after changing from E170 to E190, the same for LOT, then TK, not to mention the LCCs.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:17

    I'm still waiting to see the cost of all these cancellations and instability.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      They'll go bankrupt even before they can publish the results.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:23

    Can someone tell me exactly how many planes are wet leased to other airlines?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:47

      LG: 1
      OS: 2
      LH: 2
      LX: 1

      So, 6 aircraft in total.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:13

      Thats just sad

      Delete
  11. Again sad story about Adria. Having in mind the size of Slovenian market and geographical position between larger airports it only seems reasonable for the company to abandon the current hub strategy and cancel most of their routes.They should concentrate solely on ACMI, charters and performing few feeding routes for LH group.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:25

    They change their strategy every few months. Last year they started 8 new routes from Ljubljana to become a transfer airline, then they cancelled everything, now again they announce that they want to become a transfer airline.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:26

    Anyone know for who else does Northern Aerotech does maintenance for?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:31

      I think for Wizz Air.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:26

      Ok good so they are not some left field company.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:34

      Easyjet, Ryanair, SAS, Wizzair and Iceland Air.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:52

      And it seems they can maintain SAAB planes unlike Adria Tehnika.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:32

    Don't they have a plane based I TIA?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:33

      No.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:44

      They operate Tirana flights with Pristina aircraft I think.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:22

      They use the plane based in Pristina.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:25

      During the Anzur era there was a plan to base a plane in Tirana but then the owner changed.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:39

    ADR have small domestic markets and have to rely on foreign passengers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:26

      All ex-Yu markets are small and rely on foreign markets.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:49

    It's clear want they're doing: they will try to close down Adria and thus erase all of the debt and then immediately start a new ACMI airline with the same airplanes/employees. They just need the funding to pull it through and that's where they bumped into a problem.

    They could get the money via the usual corrupt way from an ex state owned bank where Slovene politicians still have a lot of influence. Or they could scam an unsuspected private investor. I don't think there's much chance of either happening.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      I fear this may be the case too. They wanted to do a similar thing with Etihad regional. They also announced it would turn into an ACMI airline because the market was too small.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:16

      Yes it's likely that they will make a strategic decision to act as an ACMI provider in the future.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:43

      Adria ACMI Airways.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:01

      I fully agree with Anonymous at 09:49.
      "Erase all of the debt" .. is it still possible? Someone must pay for it in any case.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:58

    When can we expect for the schedule to be stabilized from Ljubljana?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:01

      When they go bankrupt. It will quickly become very stable.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:07

      Until they get more staff. They have an open call for pilots, but I doubt this constant talk of instability is helping them attract pilots.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:05

      Who in their right state of mind would leave their current job to go work for Adria in current situation?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:27

      from what I hear the braintrusts from the military are eagerly jumping ship. go figure

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:03

    When Adria goes bankrupt...

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous10:16

    What other markets could hold potential for Adria in order for them to open a base?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Despite having only one minor issue on more than 50 flights with Adria in past 6 years I wish them quick death because this became so embarrassing. It's obvious they are clueless what to do. Unfortunately, I already have booked two tickets with them for flights to the US and I am not happy about it taking into account I am flying via MUC and they are regularly cancelling flights to MUC. I just hope that Lufthansa regional will quickly take over flights to MUC/FRA/ZRH

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:28

      When do you have the MUC flight? I don't mean exact day but month.

      Delete
    2. Next Wednesday and August.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:35

    Those guys are really unbelievable and they absolutely don't give a damn about passengers, public, etc. They are top level hustlers....
    I get impression, that whenever they publish stupid PRs like this, they lock them self in office, turn up volume for "We are the champions" and get wasted because it is absolutely amazing what are they doing here and no body is going after them for money, debts, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous11:22

    They've tried everything and nothing works.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous11:34

    If ACMI is what makes money for them then ACMI is what they should focus on. They are a private company. They can do as they please.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:59

      100% agreed. But you cannot play "we are a private company" PR when pilots are going crying to the PM asking to renationalize the airline.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous11:46

    So I'm guessing they won't start any new routes from LJU any time soon...

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous11:51

    Don't know, to me it seems as if they are still clueless about where they want to go as a company.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous11:54

    If the flight from Tirana to Ljubljana is cancelled how they reroute you? I hope is not by very early departure from Tirana by bus or van (?) to Skopje, Podgorica or Pristina.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous11:58

    Long term survival is going to be difficult. One has to keep coming up with these ACMI deals in order to keep the income.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous11:58

    Do they cancel the flights days in advance or they are last minute cancellations too? If you have additional flights later or you are very busy and you don't have hours, days (!) to spare it must be a nightmare to travel like that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:15

      Usually they cancel them either the night before they are supposed to operate or you find out at the airport.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:02

      in my case i got an info from Adria (even though i booked my flight thru an online travel agent) on a Friday afternoon that my flight on Sunday evening was cancelled, and they offered me an alternative which would've involved a change of airports (PRN instead of SKP and an additional 3 h bus ride from PRN to Skopje). I first wrote back that i do not accept this alternative and since i got an out of office reply i directly contacted the travel agent and they rebooked me to the morning flight. it cost me 1 hour of my time on a Friday evening.
      This is only the second time i've gotten a flight cancellation with Adria (in the past 15 years) . The first time it was almost 10 years ago from FRA to LJU and i found at at the airport. They gave me an upgrade to business class for the next flight which departed 3 hours later.

      Delete
  29. Anonymous12:34

    Just checking the Dannish Approved Part-145 and Part MF
    Maintenance Organisations, and it's stated for Northern Aerotech, dated today (3.7. 2019):
    Airbus A318/A319/A320/A321 (CFM56)
    Airbus A319/A320/A321 (IAE V2500)
    Airbus A320/A321 NEO (CFM LEAP-A1)
    Boeing 737-300/400/500 (CFM56)
    Boeing 737-600/700/800/900 (CFM56)
    Boeing 757-200/300 (RR RB211)
    B1 only

    https://selvbetjening.trafikstyrelsen.dk/civilluftfart/Dokumenter/Luftfart%C3%B8jsregistret%20og%20luftfartsgodkendelser/Approved%20Part-145%20and%20Part%20MF%20Maintenance%20Organisations.pdf

    Page 36

    No CRJ, no SAAB...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:42

      Adria says they have a lot of experience on all their types of aircraft. Who are you going to believe, the legacy carrier or some approval document? :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:42

      Omg what's the point of having a maintenance provider that can't maintain CRJs while half of your fleet is made up of them.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:39

      Saabs will be maintained by the people who lost their job at Darwin. Aerotech will rehire them. It's easy to get a type on the line mx approval schedule. Another question is, who still wants to work with/for this company!

      Delete
  30. Anonymous12:48

    Pesek v oči...

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous13:06

    Anonymous 1 12:42: HAHAHAHA!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous13:46

    Adria should try their regional model in the Baltics. Great region for growth. Adria could fill the hole left by Nordica. If you can make it in the Baltics, you can make it everywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous13:48

    Tney will subcontract Adria Tehnika for CRJ fleet....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:07

      And pay with what?

      Delete
  34. Anonymous16:28

    Just a joke....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:07

      Everyone is sceptical on Adria’s plans. 4K have totally messed up what was a functioning airline with a strategy that had some coherence. But speculation on blogs like this add to the crisis and make it harder for management to sort out the mess by further undermining confidence in them. The company has many hard working employees. Slovenia needs Adria’s flight lines, at least for now. I think a final opportunity to give management the opportunity to prove themselves is due; speculation should be suspended by those persisting in the above. In the absence of that, continued speculation will make a positive solution almost impossible. And this comment comes from a sceptic

      Delete
    2. Anonymous20:38

      News articles on this blog are not speculation, they tend to be objective and based on public info or industry announcements. Comments are not official and they represent different, individual views. If I make a comment as a passenger that my Eurowing experience was bad and the airline is a mess, that comment should not prevent Eurowings management from doing their job at the airline. Same applies for Adria.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:54

      Freedom of speech my friend. This is not couple of decades ago where you would end up on that beautiful island in the Adriatic Sea.

      If an airline is severely damaged by couple of speculative comments on a single website, they really have no place in the airline business.

      Delete
  35. Anonymous07:58

    For some reasons I flew from the Timisoara Airport (TSR) in Romania where the LH flight to Munich was announced. To my surprise Adria's CRJ took off for this route. After returning to TSR in few days, again Adria's CRJ was waiting for passengers to Munich. No wonder that they don't care for passengers from LJU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous08:04

      Because they need to be 100% punctual on those ACMI routes. If this a/c is AOG they just switch with one stationed in LJU.

      Delete
  36. Anonymous08:02

    Probably the best business model for them is to lease B777 and start operation round route across the Europe (with 7 stops), startin at 7 a.m. in LJU and finish at 23 p.m. in LJU.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Anonymous10:37

    Yesterday they also cancelled flight from Paris: https://www.24ur.com/novice/slovenija/odpoved-adriinega-leta.html

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous11:54

    Meanwhile, two of Adria's bank accounts have been blocked by the second time in July, and it's only the 4th of July

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous15:44

    This is the end my friend: https://www.24ur.com/novice/slovenija/adria-je-izbrala-vzdrzevalca-letal-ki-se-nima-ustreznih-certifikatov.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:31

      they already had licenses but they returned them. They will reapplied for licenses , and they will get it.

      Slovenia gov. wants Adria back, so they will wash the money for himself and family ... how would you know whether the costs was 30milions or 33milions

      Kumunizem....

      I hope the Serbia+Eti buy it

      Delete

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