Slovenia close to establishing new national carrier


The Slovenian government is close to jointly establishing a new national carrier with a foreign regional airline, the country’s Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, has said. Speaking to the “Mladina” weekly, Mr Počivalšek noted that talks with the regional carrier have come “a long way”. “We are working on establishing a new company, a new Adria. The government has two options. One is to let the aviation market take its own course and the other is to try and re-establish a national airline in cooperation with a foreign strategic partner. I support the latter because I am convinced that Slovenia’s connectivity will never be as good without our own airline. In any case, the state will have to spend a certain amount of money in the aviation sector on an annual basis. Therefore, the government will look at these numbers and make a final decision relatively soon”.

Mr Počivalšek said setting up and investing in a new national carrier would be carried out in accordance with European Union regulations. “Adria brought in almost 400.000 tourists per year to Slovenia, which had a significant impact on tourism in Ljubljana and its surroundings. In addition to tourists, we must take into account the needs of the business community, as well as congress tourism. We now have issues whether some planned congresses will take place in Slovenia due to the lack of a sufficient number of flights”, the minister said. He added, “If we start up a new airline, we will of course be counting on former Adria employees, which is why we need to make a decision on this matter as soon as possible. The key to our final decision will be our financial calculations, and if it all adds up, we will set up the company with a partner. Talks with a potential partner have come a long way. At this point, I cannot name them, but it is a regional airline”.

Commenting on reports that Lufthansa has refused to help set up a new Slovenian flag carrier despite requests from the government, the minister noted, “Lufthansa never expressed interest in being part of a new Slovenian airline. Lufthansa is Europe’s most important carrier with whom we want to coordinate our plans. All the conversations I’ve had with their CEO were with the intention of presenting our ideas to them. I can only say that Lufthansa will support all our plans aimed at revitalising our national carrier and it joining Star Alliance in the future. If we decide against setting up a new airline, Lufthansa will do its best to help cover the aviation sector in Slovenia, in line with their interests”.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Who could be the regional carrier?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:03

      Air Bosna :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:03

      Might be related to Lufthansa since they mention it so much and value their opinion so much.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:10

      Media reported weeks ago Lufthansa is not interested.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:10

      Wasn't Cityjet mentioned as a partner numerous times before Adria went bust?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:12

      @9.10 I know it's not Lufthansa. If you read the article the minister even comments about it. But since he mentions how they are coordinating the new airline with Lufthansa my guess is the regional airline is in some way related to LH.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:13

      Yes, and Cityjet has denied expressing any interest.

      It was more Adria's employees and Slovenian government's wishful thinking.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:27

      Aeroflot with 15 SSJ100, :-)

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    Bad idea

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      Good idea. Most of what the minister said is true.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      Exactly.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous06:28

      They just can't let go.

      Delete
    4. Not just bad, terrible.

      If there was interest in Slovenian tourism or any industry, hotels could invest establishing a joint company that would service their needs! Let's put a viable business plan on the table in first place.
      If government wants an expensive airline for their needs we have good examples of their incompetence. Prime minister's/presidential Falcon is one such case.

      Exorbitant costs will be paid by state loans thus on state debt ending on taxpayers.
      Sure Slovenian banks now have money they don't know who to lend it to since Bank of Slovenia limited personal loans for the ordinary poor citizen, just because they fear they might have to 'save' citizens savings thus Slovenian banks when real-estate bubble bursts.

      Servicing some some routes on Balkans just doesn't make any business sense. If there is any need to service ie. LJU - SJJ, LJU - PRN, LJU - SKP etc., let's get counterpart countries investing into new company company their fair share!

      Or perhaps even companies like GoOpti, Nomago, etc. Since they are able to use DATA to predict where and when customers need to travel to!

      Alsi it seems Slovenian tourist and foreigners rather need connections to VIE, MUC, VCE ...

      Comparison of apples and potatoes doesn't make sense, but the latest had better TripAdvisor reviews tha Adria.
      Even from Bosnian customer:
      "I would rather walk to my destination then travel with Adria Airways again"

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:02

    Adria 2.0

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      I wonder if they will double Adria's losses as well.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:03

    why my first thoughts were LOT ?

    but then: Sky and One World have almost zero coverage of the Balkans here is your chance ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      You are probably right. It probably is LOT. I guess we will know soon enough.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:05

      Cause it's a good fit?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:06

      but is it really a "regional" airline

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:08

      I hope it's not someone like Nordica...

      Delete
  5. Air Dolomiti?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      If it's a Lufthansa related company then it will probably be them.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:07

    Whatever they do, it will fail ... or will be heavily subsidized in order to survive.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:10

    European regional airlines:

    Widerøe
    Binter Canarias (they were interested in Adria years ago)
    Air Nostrum
    Aurigny
    KLM Cityhopper
    CityJet
    Lufthansa Regional
    HOP!
    Nextjet
    Eastern Airways

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      its all about synergy. the sole role of this new airline will be to feed (the Balkans) into some bigger network...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:18

      So, Slovenia should once again spend money to feed Balkans to the West?

      I thought the point was to connect Slovenia... I could be wrong there.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:34

      isnt it a too small market for "only" connecting Slovenia.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:47

      If the government is willing to subsidise airline (which will probably be loss-making) to connect Slovenia with the world, that's fine.

      But subsidising a base in PRN, connecting the entire Balkans while making a huge loss - a big no-no.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:09

      Air baltic

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:11

    Taxpayers, hold onto your wallets...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      Taxpayers would also have to pay subsidies for foreign airlines. At least this way some people will get a job.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:15

      OK, now calculate all the money Adria got from the government in the past 15 years and think what would happen if they out the same amount of money to Wizz Air or Ryanair.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:28

      Subsidies probably won't get approval by parliament. Almost all parties oppose them. Interestingly, almost all parties support creating a new national airline.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:43

      & the
      subsidies are on the magnitude of a couple of thousand EUR per route, not 93 million what was the aggregate of capital injections in only 10 years.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:44

      correcting the upper post: couple of hundred thousand EUR of course

      Delete
  9. What a joke. Why then did they shut down Air Adria? Ex-Yu area is too small and too poor for all these micro national airlines. Joint venture is needed.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:13

    They really should have just kept Adria, kicked out 4K and found a partner because that way they could have kept IATA code, codeshares, agreements etc. Now it's all from square one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      IATA code yes, worth millions. So much certain (very profitable) airlines don't even use them.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:19

      Such as?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:21

      Easyjet.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:18

    What a waste of money and a pointless idea, as soon as the new airline comes and re-establishes FRA, MUC, ZRH, BRU Lufthansa, Swiss and Brussels airlines will pull out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      But...But... You will once again have the privilege of paying 800 EUR for a ticket to BRU, just so somebody will say Dober dan instead of Hello when you board the aircraft.

      Some things are just worth it.

      Delete
    2. Ajde reci mi kad je karta do Brisela bila 800 €? Nevjerojatno što sve internet može podnijeti

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:15

      For years it was over 800 EUR. Even after they introduced BOB.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:20

    What's the point of establishing a new airline if only 9 of the former carrier's routes have not been covered yet, and several of them will by next summer.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:24

    In a couple of years we will be bailing it out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      They will require a lot of money (think tens of millions EUR) from the start already. And probably couple of million per year, in line with Adria's tradition.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:25

    Good luck

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:31

    'Does the Slovenian public support this idea?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:40

      Mostly no.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:41

      The public hated Adria and were cheering for its collapse. When that happened then everyone started saying how it was a travesty to let Adria go bankrupt.

      Delete
    3. Adriju je mrzila glasna manjina neznalica prije svega desničarske provinencije

      Delete
    4. Nobody hated Adria Airways.

      Public does not support throwing money away, but is not politically capable changing things.

      Also government and prosecutor aren't preventing and processing fraud in court according to Penal code.

      KZ-1 (Slovenian Penal code)
      226. Bankruptcy through fraud or fraudulent business
      227. Damage to creditors
      228. Business fraud
      232. Stunning customers

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:31

    Would not be surprised if they get some 4K affiliated company to manage it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:33

    ", the state will have to spend a certain amount of money in the aviation sector on an annual basis"

    Thank you minister for sending a message to governments in Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia: keep subsidizing your national airlines, that's the only way to go forward. Also a message to all those who criticize subsidizing national airlines in ExYu: shut up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:01

      Collective stupidity.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:36

    Would they be able to use the Adria brand with JP and ADR as codes?

    If they set up the airline properly, the reputation can be regained. However, profitability on short sectors with their previous fleet, highly questionable.

    Can they use ATR72-500s?

    Rgds,8

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:40

      I doubt they would do too many changes to the fleet since Adria pilots have certificates for Bombariders.

      Delete
    2. Actually according to a statement from liquidation director on today's evening news on public Slovenian television, brand is for sale as are some licenses.
      And according there is quite some interest both from Slovenia and abroad.

      Hope it's not just marketing and all gets sold to some business with aviation experience and not to Slovenian government or related agency, etc.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:39

    I wonder what they will call it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:49

      Weren't there rumors it will be Air Slovenia?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:19

      That was just a working title by the gov, but some journos are really bad at their work.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:21

      Since this is all about Pocivalsek building his own monument it will be called Bademeister Regional Ervejz (icao code BRE)

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:38

      haha true

      Delete
    5. Anonymous18:10

      Ljubljavia!!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous20:16

      Aeroslov? Adriaflot?

      Delete
  20. Anonymous09:43

    Didn't all former JP pilots already find jobs elsewhere?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:48

      Highly doubt that.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:49

      Maybe they would come back if new Adria is established :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:53

      It's airBaltic..4-5 A220-300 from their order will be based in LJU

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:56

      Are you sure? Air Baltic said a few weeks ago which countries they are thinking about establishing bases in the next couple of years and Slovenia was not one of them.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:02

      It's a star alliance airline from the region. Austrian or Croatia?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:07

      I doubt it is star alliance airline because minister said they would need LH support to enter Star Alliance. If it were a Star Alliance airline they would not need LH.

      Also regional in this sense means a regional carrier not geographically but business wise.

      Delete
    7. JU520 BEGLAX10:26

      anonym 0943h
      last week I talked to Adria Pilot and he said more than 40 out of about 150 pilots were already employeed abroad.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:52

      The able and willing are already gone.

      The less able and the dreamers are still waiting for Air Slovenia.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13:34

      40 out of 150 pilots?
      Adria had 150 pilots!?

      Delete
    10. Anonymous13:58

      Yep 150 pilots and 300 cabin crew if I remember correctly.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous20:32

      150 active pilots? How many hours x month they used to fly? Many were sick all the time? I can't remember Adria flying that much, charters included.

      Delete
    12. stuckmic15:20

      arn't you a clever and knowledgeable one....they all flew 4 sectors a day

      Delete
    13. Based on numbers we can guess a good percentage of pilots was on paid stand-by?

      It seems tgat besides bad management issues went from bad to worse after sindicate requests? So would be nice to know what is the demanded paycheck and benefits before rushing into any new state-founfed venture.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous09:55

    It's airBaltic..4-5 A220-300 from their order will be based in LJU

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous09:57

    My guess is that if it happens, it would be a Balkan version of Air Dolomiti. Point to point feeder to LH bases from the stations where JP had upper hand, with additional limited hub connectivity through LJU. That could even work.

    Name it "Alpine Slovenia" like the current promotional tagline for Slovenia and you got yourself a brand.

    Rgds, 8

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous10:04

    Please no. This is just a bad dream... :( My taxpayer money again? :'( NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:48

      +1000

      Delete
    2. We citizens and taxpayers should start a petition for a referendum against any state founding.

      If there is any business need the business in question can found a company or invest into an existing airline(s) to increase services.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:09

    Exciting times. Hope they set up the new company on some healthy foundations and I wish it much luck in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous10:16

    The market has already moved on, it's time the Slovenian government does the same.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:25

      Yeah, I am afraid they are pretty determined here. They also change the story, before it was mainly business community, now that Lufthansa said they will introduce morning flights in the future, its turists and congresses. They come with 400k number (this number was significantly lower a few months ago), and also this is a drop in 5million of turist visits per year to Slovenia.
      What he doesn't mention with a single word is that as a government employee its pretty inconvenient to travel to Brussels with the current and forseable future schedule... (I guess this is one of the main reasons for forcing a new airline).

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:29

      he forgets to mention that adria's 400k passengers are basically counted twice (inbound and outbound), so that's actually only 200k people in the end.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous20:36

      Airline made for congresses? Crazy! Can't believe that Slovenia is in the EU.

      Delete
    4. We shoul wonder what are these business congreses about: i.e. "laundry", "recycling", "bitcoin tax evasion", "skipping homework, when selling strategic companies" ...

      For any business congres it's usual to hire charter airlines.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous10:16

    Very expensive idea with uncertain return.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:19

      No need to burn taxpayers money again, Millions of EUR have been burned already.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:21

      But if they have a foreign partner, expenses would be shared.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:49

      Yes, because Lufthansa and alikes don't run a business, but a charity and they are happy to burn millions per year on unprofitable projects.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:57

      Well the foreign partner obviously thinks there is potential and that they can make a profit.

      Delete
  27. JU520 BEGLAX10:24

    seems that Pocivalsek is hungry after some attention other from that I can not comment his BS talk. Interestingly in September when Adria was already grounded and cancelled plenty of flights, Slovenias Tourist figures were rising (foreign tourists 4.3 %). What are the top 3 Tourist Arrival nations: Germany, Austria and Italy. Most of them use cars and all the interncontinental tourists they dont come just to SLO or HR, but they visit several countries together so they do not necessarily need to arrive by plane in LJU.
    And for Meeting tourism Slovenia is meanwhile well connected again, Paris double daily, Frankfurt double daily, MUC/ZRH/BRU daily, AMS almost daily, LON more than daily, WAW daily, IST and BEG double daily and for SUTT 2020 there will be more.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:29

      As I mentioned in the previous comment, there is one route that will not be optimized according to wishes for the forseable future - as a government employee its very inconvinient now to travel to Brussels - and he doesn't mention this with a single word.

      Delete
    2. If there is one group of passengers I don't care about is government officials shuttling back and forth on taxpayers' expense. If we in the business world can continually optimize our travel expenses by using Skype for Business, so can they.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous20:41

      A new airline just for flying to Brussel???

      Delete
    4. Brojiš samo kvantitetu, a ne kvalitete. A kvalitetu imaju trenutačno samo AF i TK. LH, LX i SN imaju nepovoljno vrijeme za transferne letove.

      Delete
    5. Replying to anonymous Government employee:
      "as a government employee its very inconvinient now to travel to Brussels"

      So you don't get full reimbursement?
      You can hop on a bus to an airport nearby!
      Trains: oh come on. After money wasted in projects no-train to AIRPORT with connection to Brussels?????
      Keep in mind:
      Violeta Bulc is a Slovenian politician who has served as the European Commissioner for Transport since 1 November 2014!!!!!!

      What was she DOING in BRUSSELS?
      Commissioners get nominated for a reason what they can contribute not to get a nice paycheck.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous10:39

    I don't think it is such a bad idea.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous10:43

    DO NOT WASTE TAXPAYERS MONEY !!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JU520 BEGLAX12:33

      + 1000

      Delete
    2. A kad ga troše na vojsku u Afganistanu ti ne smeta???

      Delete
  30. Anonymous11:33

    For me as Macedonian this is a good move. New JP will for sure fly to SKP. More options, more competition, lower prices!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous11:46

    Počivalšek just doesn't give up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:56

      Well he is one of the people who buried Adria since he was the one who negotiated its sale to 4k Invest.

      Delete
  32. Anonymous12:31

    he should stay true to his surname and just relax and not work in this crazy idea :)

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous12:45

    Foreign Regional Airline - In this case it must be Air Serbia :-)

    JU has the most often flying frequency to LJU, JU has rescued many LJU passengers and deserved good reputation, it is the regional company, it is no Star Alliance member and Adria had good cooperation with them in the past.
    We all know that JU already tested CRJ900 and they were more than happy with it.
    And if we see thi sstatement everything is crystally clear
    https://www.vecernji.hr/biznis/air-serbia-ulazi-u-utrku-za-croatia-airlines-1039879
    So win-win

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:57

      @anon 12:45 LOL, wishful thinking...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:55

      That link is from four years ago.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:38

      I actually think this might be possible.

      Delete
  34. Anonymous12:56

    Very good idea, all Balkan Airlines have to be government owned, since their markets are too small for them to ever be profitable, so tax payers will either subsidize a loosing strategic airline or LCC flights. But each country needs a National Airline for strategic reasons mentioned by the minister.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JU520 BEGLAX17:49

      U need better medical infrastructure, new retirement homes, new rail tracks, S Bahn systems and metros or in LJU tramways. First fix this and then u can go further.

      Delete
  35. Anonymous13:27

    Sounds like the regional airline is Regional Jet. Plenty of CRJs available for Adria pilots as 10 Embraers are coming to other routes starting from December/January

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous13:54

    This will be a colossal waste of money.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Anonymous13:59

    Whatever they do it will be loss making, at least for the first couple of years.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous14:01

    I have a feeling it will be Nordia. Adria owed 7 million EUR to Nordica so I have a feeling they will make a deal where this will be considered as the investment into the new airline on behalf of Nordica, while the government will provide all the actual finances.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous14:04

    Supporting government efforts, on the basis of what Kramberger seat almost 30 years ago :

    Zapolnite si dragi Slovenci čez 50 let bomo, boste vsi hlapci, kimali boste Evropi, počutili se boste, kot tujci na lastni zemlji.

    ReplyDelete
  40. AirSerbia should not come close to this endeavor. It has its path and should stick to it and make the best of it. Raising frequencies to three daily flights to Ljubljana could be an option and then upgrade the product.

    There is no need to get involved into developing a hub at an airport with Trieste, Zagreb, Venice, and Graz so close, with competition beyond belief, in a region with excellent road infrastructure. Waste of money. Locals should do it if they deem necessary.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Anonymous20:53

    Air Laibach! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:00

      To base a new airline in Trieste would be way better. Excellent location with direct rail connections too (e.g. versus Venice and further on).

      Delete
  42. Anonymous08:51

    Ch-aviation shows that Air Slovenia already exists

    ReplyDelete
  43. Anonymous15:00

    Some people think external partner to setup new airline in Slovenia is Delta. No, not that big Delta airline from the USA! Local Delta owned by tycoon Miroslav Miskovic. Last decade he wanted to run a low cost airline, then wanted to buy Jat and turn it into Air Serbia, both attempts failed. He now expands more business in the Balkan area outside of Serbia, including Slovenia where he built new Intercontinental hotel. He talked about bringing professional Lufthansa management to run the airline in his memoirs. They might be onto something.

    ReplyDelete

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