Adria Airways and Adria Airways Switzerland, which recently purchased a majority stake in Lugano-based Darwin Airline, are exploring mutual synergies and efficiencies, as well as enhanced network choice and services. The Adria-appointed CEO of Darwin Airline, Heinrich Ollendiek, told the "Corriere del Ticino" that, "Darwin is much more than a company just offering flights between Lugano and Geneva. We have a very strong ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance lease) business and a competent team. We want to utilise Adria's operational network and strengthen the ACMI business. We also want to optimise the flight network between Adria and Darwin", He added, "We want to develop and expand Lugano Airport's potential, but our operations will not be limited to Lugano", he added.
Darwin Airline, currently branded as Etihad Regional, will take on its new name - Adria Airways Switzerland - in the coming weeks. Asked whether the carrier could launch services between Lugano and Ljubljana, the CEO said, "We will launch flights only if they are economically viable. If Lugano - Ljubljana makes economic sense, we will, otherwise, we won't". Mr Ollendiek recently noted that the Slovenian carrier will be a much better “fit” with the Swiss regional airline than its previous equity partner, Etihad Airways. "It will be a much better relationship. Darwin will be integrated into Adria Airways and will, in the future, fly under the title of Adria Airways Switzerland. Both companies will derive mutual benefit from the deal, more than Etihad could ever have dreamed of, because they’re a similar size", he said.
Adria Airways Switzerland is looking to cooperate with the Slovenian carrier's fellow Star Alliance member Swiss International Air Lines. "We are interested in domestic flights and we have a lot of respect for Swiss. It is a strong company and we see the potential for us to develop our offering from the Canton of Ticino and Switzerland with them", Mr Ollendiek said. Recently, Swiss told EX-YU Aviation News it was monitoring Adria's takeover of Darwin "with great interest". "While we do not comment on other market player's business, Swiss works closely together with Adria Airways as our current wet-lease partner", a spokesperson said. Darwin boasts a fleet of ten regional turboprops, half of which are on wet-lease with Alitalia. The arrangement will come to an end next month when the aircraft will return to Lugano.
It makes sense for JP Shweiz to collaborate with LX. Both JP and LX are star alliance members and both will benefit from a new domestic Swiss market which apparently has lots of potential.
ReplyDeleteI think JP was clever enough to buy EY regional.
What would make sense is to connect LJU to GVA and increase current flights to ZRH or simply code share with LX.
2018 will be grand for Slovenija, that´s for sure! It was high time that the most advanced country in the region gets some decent and serious business around.
There will be a significant increase in the number of flights between Ljubljana and Zurich this winter.
DeleteHow many flights per week?
DeleteAround 20.
DeleteNice! So almost 3 per day.
DeleteAny other increases planned for the wintet?
Delete*winter
DeletePretty much every route.
DeleteSo there we go. After reading this, my conclusion is that Adria Switzerland will just wet-lease planes to Swiss and operate domestic and regional flights for them seeing as they are putting emphasis on ACMIs. This was a great cover for Swiss not buy into Darwin and avoid regulatory issues while gaining access to the entire Swiss market. Of course this was pushed by Lufthansa during talks with Etihad.
ReplyDeleteAdria has always played to LH's tune. They flew feeder flights from Polish villages to Munich for a year or two after all to test the market.
Delete+1
DeleteI agree with anon 9.20. Etihad is talking to LH, will probably join Star Alliance as well, and is trying to sell its European shareholdings. I wouldn't be surprised if LH gave Adria the nudge. It will also help Swiss which will have less competition.
DeleteI still don't know what to think of this arrangement. Only time will tell.
DeleteWould there actually be potential for the Lugano-Ljubljana flights? Is there demand?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Ljubljana - Geneva will be one of their first new routes. To offer good transfer possibilities for travellers from Switzerland to the Balkans or to other destinations in Adria's network.
DeleteThat would be smart. There are not too many flights to ex-Yu from Geneva but there are big diasporas.
DeleteI highly doubt there is any market between Ljubljana and Lugano.
Deleteand why would anybody transfer from Switzerland to the Balkans via Ljubljana when there are direct flights from Switzerland to even places like Nis
DeletePusti ih da sanjaju. Adria i Adria CH ulaze u zimu sa puno aviona bez angazmana. Ili ce leteti za Eurowings ili lete u gubitke i istoriju.
Deletelook at the map where Geneva is and then try to find where Basel is and then Basel airpot ...
DeleteWhatever happened with the planned Superjet order? Was it just a pitch to get a better deal with the current lessors or will they get superjets for both Adria and Etihad regional?
ReplyDeleteI don't think that story is over yet.
Delete^do you have any additional info?
DeleteThat was just Sukhoi dreaming.
DeleteNegotiations are taking place, they expect them by next spring/summer.
DeleteInteresting. Will these Sukhois replace the CRJs?
DeleteThe Russians are not taking the deal seriously. They've been preparing a draft contract since March.
DeleteInteresting time ahead.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to see the new livery.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Adria. I hope the investment turns out to be a smart one.
ReplyDeleteWell done JP!
ReplyDeleteJP is planning to increase frequnecies a lot this winter. Wonder if there will be any coop with Darwin.
ReplyDeleteIf they are increasing winter operations does it mean they are taking some Darwin planes?
DeleteI don't think they will take Darwin planes. They already have additional planes compared to last winter. They have the one CRJ700 from Lodz plus they took delivery of another CRJ900 last month.
DeleteIf they are increasing flights out of LJU then maybe they will decrease them in TIA or PRN?
DeleteGreat work for Adria. Good luck
ReplyDeleteBusy year for Slovenian aviation with Adria buying Darwin, VLM Airlines launching flights. Good to see.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWith turbo-prop fleet, they will position themselves as Swiss/Star Alliance feeder. Nothing more.
ReplyDeleteStill a viable option? Or what? JP has done it before, is doing it atm and will most probably do it in the future.
DeleteIf Lufthansa/Swiss was behind this deal like some suggest, why would they not have done it themselves?
ReplyDeleteBecause they already own one Swiss airline and regulators would not allow them to own a second one.
DeleteThere is no LH, Iranians, ... behind the deal. It's just an investment fund trying to turn around the company.
DeleteNisu to jedine aviokompanije u Svajcarskoj i sadasnji Swiss je nastao iz Crossaira kada im se raspao Swissair.
DeleteOT
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia's saga with the autistic kid continues. I think every major newspaper reported on it. What's interesting is that in stead of trying to settle the case they have resorted to threats. Pretty unprofessional.
https://rs.sputniknews.com/zivot/201708131112271099-dete-autizam-er-srbija-antic/?ref=fbsputnik
The airline did the right thing.
DeleteSure, it's great PR...
DeleteThere's more to this than meets the eye ... who says that JU resorted to threats - the father ??
DeleteAt the end of the day, if a Doctor says that a passenger can't fly - irrespective of the reason why - then the airline is not allowed to board that passenger. Check with iATA and they will tell you the same thing. It happens all the time.
The Serbian CAD is undertaking an investigation, so we will son get the facts, not the media hysteria that has played out so far
If Wizz Air did it it would be all just fine.
DeleteWe'll see but this has been definitely a bad period for JU in terms of PR. If they were smart they would have written a check and shut them up.
Deletealso, i highly doubt a small kid would have been a threat to the flight. The supervisor made the wrong call.
Jos jedan pametnjakovic.
DeleteWhat is going to happen with the codeshare between Darwin and Air Serbia? Will it be suspended.
ReplyDeleteThey could fly LUG to TRS, ZRH to TRS, MUC to POW. I hope that Darwin and JP will focus on the Italian, Adriatic, French market and feed LX and LH with destinations which fit a turboprob size ac
ReplyDeleteSta ce Italijan iz Ticina u Trstu? zna se koje su njihove linije Olbia i sl.
DeleteSee, it doesn't take much to discuss politely.
DeleteWikipedia says they will start LUG-FCO in September 2017.
DeleteNe treba puno ni da se koristi mozak pa to ne cinis.
DeleteWow so they might not even start flying to Ljubljana? So what is the benefit to Adria here? They won't get any feed for Adria Switzerland.
ReplyDeleteYou can not know that. Question in the article was only about connecting Lugano an Ljubljana, but not e.g. Ljubljana and Geneva. It's also noted in the article that AASwiss won't only focus on Lugano.
DeleteInteresting that the Alitalia contract ends next month. Must mean that JP got a good price when buying the airline. If Darwin suddenly would have lost half of its business without any other opportunities, I bet it would have gone bankrupt.
ReplyDeleteLjubljana-Liverpool is long overdue!
ReplyDelete