Adria Airways' CEO, Holger Kowarsch, has said the airline's fleet is too small and needs to grow in order to support its expanding route network. Speaking on the sidelines of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) conference in Vienna, Mr Kowarsch told the "ATW" Magazine, "I think critical mass for us would be in the range of 25 to thirty aircraft in the future. The market is showing a strong interest in Saab 2000 aircraft. Part of this fleet will operate in our network, while others will be available for charter and our ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance lease) business, which is growing in Europe. Overall, our strength remains our network with 25 routes".
Adria Airways previously outlined plans to add the fifty-seat Saab 2000s to its fleet in March, but later pushed back their entry into service to June. However, the deployment of the aircraft was recently differed again to September. Despite this, Mr Kowarsch believes the turboprops will likely arrive before the third quarter and will be utilised on Adria's seven new routes this summer, as well as several other services within the region. The aircraft will arrive from former Swiss regional carrier Darwin Airline, which was declared bankrupt in December 2017. It was partly owned by 4K Invest, Adria Airways' owner, and branded as Adria Airways Switzerland.
The Slovenian carrier currently operates three Airbus A319 aircraft, three Bombardier CRJ700s and nine CRJ900s, the latest of which is expected to enter into service on May Day. Out of those, Adria operates two CRJs for Austrian Airlines and one CRJ for Luxair under ACMI long-term contracts. The airline recently filled forty additional pilot positions for its CRJ fleet. The upcoming Saabs will be dry-leased, meaning Adria will operate the aircraft with its own crew. Apart from its growing fleet, Mr Kowarsch recently said the carrier would look into adding new destinations in the future on top of its current summer expansion.
Great news for both LJU and the wider region. More flights means more seats which should bring the prices down.
ReplyDeleteI like their current expansion ambitions. Soon LJU could be passing 2 million and heading towards 2.5.
with the reported loads here of the new route LJU is not going anywhere near 2.5
DeleteThose were initial loads and some reported on here were not that bad. Don't forget Transavia will also fly in winter and LJU will most likely keep its double digit growth throughout the year. I hope they come close to 1.9 this year.
DeleteSo with the Saabs they will already have 21 aircraft. Wow
ReplyDeleteSo much for people saying they won't get them.
DeleteThey won't get them. You think if a CEO of a shady investment fund says something, it's automatically truth?
DeleteJust like we are already enjoying multiple long-haul flights from MBX with VLM :)
DeleteI still don't see why Adria's fascination with Saabs.
ReplyDeleteBecause this type has the right size for so e thinner routes...
DeleteMihael
And because they still think they can get them more or less for free.
DeleteNice!
ReplyDelete"The airline recently filled forty additional pilot positions for its CRJ fleet."
ReplyDeleteWow
Weren't some writing on here how they could not get enough pilots to apply? Again, so much for that.
DeleteIt was about pilots For SAAB 2000 !
DeleteHopefully by then they will stop using wet leased ancient equipment.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThese Saabs are not much newer than that ancient equipment.
DeleteHey Adria go and take some healthy mix of CS100/300s and get rid of that cheap CRJ700/900 crap.
ReplyDeleteCS is probably too expenaive for them.
DeleteAnon 9:20 ... I totally agree with you
DeleteWhy the CRJ is crap?
DeleteMaybe it's noisy?
DeleteBecause they are product of 1990s and now it is almost 2020 and they collect them just because they are cheap to get. Efficiency ZERO, passenger expirience ZERO compared to CSeries. And pilots will gladly change them too for anything.
DeleteIt's interesting how Yugos suffers minority complex and compensating it with branding. Same time would pay 100 quid and fly with CSeries. Adria cannot afford six Saabs and you would lease CSeries to please pilots? They were that smart in nineties with Busses and didn't pay off.
DeleteWhat an unhealthy decision from SAS to use 22 new CRJ900s.
DeleteAs anonymous (9:21) wrote, due high lease rates the CSeries should be too expensive for Adria - even if they would be cheaper to operate.
DeleteMihael
Lufty still operate CR7 and CR9. You can see them in BEG from time to time on the MUC-BEG flights.
DeleteI personally flew one and find it a bit claustrophobic, but not bad.
CR9 is a good aircraft. I like them. They have a system which can neutralize to a certain point turbulences. And u notice that during flying.
DeleteThe Saab are indeed old. I think most of them were delivered in 1995. Thats almost 25 years ago and technic which is 30 years old. Time for scrap...
No more CR7 in the LH fleet. The cabin of the LHs CRJ9 is however quite nice. Nicer than AirNostrum.
DeleteMihael
Agree about Saab, not sure if their operating costs are affordable.
DeleteOverall, CR9 is not a bad choice, there are much worse and tragic fleets in Europe. Example, Windrose with E145, Aviolet, IB with their super old ATRs...
CRJ from a technical viewpoint is an overstrected business jet with 80's avionics and despite being manufactured in Canada, as all Bombardier products it doesn't like cold environments. All of which limits the operation in one point or another compared to much more versatile E-Jet.
DeleteThat being said, it's probably the best aircraft for Adria at the moment, capacity-wise and given they are becoming a bit old, the lease prices are going down as well.
I wouldn't dream about any new aircraft in Adria in the near future. Just look at how JP can still feel the effects of last amazing new aircraft purchase deal.
Embraers also have its downsides as they are heavier compared to other planes of their class. They are still fuel efficient but landing fees, ATC costs are higher due to weight disadvantage.
DeleteSo more Bombardiers?
ReplyDeleteOU needs to take note of all this as they are their first neighbor.
ReplyDeleteI doubt Saabs will be dry leased. That means first to be listed with an Operator and next leased to JP. Another wishful thinking is to find pilots to operate six Saabs.
ReplyDeleteDuring the first 10 days of June, they are upgrading LJU-SOF from CR7 to CR9, anybody know why? The EU-Balkans summit is on 17/05, couldn't find more info.
ReplyDeleteNew CEO said routs to SOF,HAM,GVA are the most selling so maybe thats why
Deletelol did you expect the CEO to say its the worst selling routes ever?
DeleteSOf best selling routes? haha
From 30.06 to 28.7 all saturdays to brac are with crj900
DeleteBrac makes sense, Sofia not so much.
DeleteWhy not? JP already was supposed to start flights to SOF back in 2012 if I'm not mistaken. Plus, it competes directly with JU in SOF and has the shortest total journey time.
DeleteWell the numbers provided by the guy working at LJU dont support this statement. Maybe bookings for may, june are much much better, which I doubt, but maybe routes just needed some time to develop.
DeleteHas there been any major change in LF on routes to HAM, GVA, SOF and OTP? Thank u;)
Christian Schneider, JP's CFO, said in interviews with Sierra5 and Žurnal24 (its a simmilar interview), that SOF is exceeding their expectations (to some extent also OTP). Also they are noticing O&D demand from GVA, HAM, DUS.
DeleteNice developments. As usual, in the beginning it's always difficult at the start. Lets see what happens with DUS, BWK and DBV next week. I hope the guy working at the airport informs us.
Delete28.04 ljubljana bwk nema mjesta u bisnis klasi
DeleteDo they even offer C class on leisure destination like bwk??
Deletewhat exactly is a business class on a CRJ?
Delete2cm more legroom compared to economy?
Food, lounge n newspapers :)
DeletePorcelain cup instead of a plastic one.
DeleteA350 soon for adria airways??US/ASIA flights with adria?!
ReplyDeleteand to the moon....
ReplyDeleteAnything is possible if the support of Lufthansa through 4K Invest continues.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to them.
There is no Lufthansa support.
DeleteYaeh right, 25-30 aurcraft for JP... if they are needed in Europe. Lucky them that Wizzair or Easy still did not really focus on LJU. The day they will do, JP is gone
ReplyDeleteJP is actually an unnecessary carrier.
Star All Hub connections in A/D/CH/BE could be performed by LH group and for the rest u have LCC and AF TK AY
A bit nasty comment. JP simply need to change their strategy. Being a small country, they can apply the Luxair strategy. Deploy their bigger machines for leisure and charter. Launch ski flights to/from UK in winter.
DeleteNot having flights to London is a crime, also consider secondary potential new cities in CEE like KTW, CLJ, DEB, VAR, SKG, etc.
Dont compare LUX and SLO. Small works if there is a strong economy around like LUX has it, or Switzerland.
DeleteLON JP has lost the fight. No reason to return there.
Not true. London has 6 airports and a city with potential, especially for an EU member state having a decent living of standard like Slovenia.
DeleteLCY or SEN can work nicely. LCY is a pure business route.
Luton is an excellent example where flying low cost makes sometimes no sense. Friend of mine arrived there late evening and there was no public transport anymore to Downtown, so he had to use Taxi ;-)
DeleteI am sorry to disappoint your friend but you can pass him this link:
Deletehttps://www.london-luton.co.uk/to-and-from-lla/coming-from-central-london-via-bus
Besides LTN is not the best option for a legacy carrier like JP. I think SEN is quite a nice alternative, it is 50min away from/to Victoria.
LCY with what aircraft? They had problems sending CRJ to SEN to begin with...
DeleteMost of the people going to London from LJU are tourists or gasterbeiters. None of which will pay the premium price of JP flight, if they can get cheaper ticket with EZY/W6...
Adria wil soon overtake JU! nice work Adria!!!
ReplyDeleteHe is lying. They will use the news about Saabs not coming, which will come in a couple of weeks, as an excuse for downsizing and then bankruptcy. They do not have crews for Saabs, there are virtually no pilots out there with a Saab type rating. Darwin crews went to SkyWork.
ReplyDeleteKowarsch is trying to offload Adria ASAP, which is the reason behind why we are being bombarded with so many 'great' news from Adria.
Slovenia shouldn't have such great seasonality with ski tourism. They should be able to optimse the fleet much better than OU or JU for that matter. Besides Slovenia resorts, Nassfeld is 1.5hr from LJU.
ReplyDeleteAli Slovenija nema ozbiljno skijanje got it? Nikada mi nije padalo na pamet da idem tamo na skijanje. Austrija, Italija, Francuska da, ali ne i Slovenija jedna staza na Kaninu na 2000 m i to je sve.
DeleteAnd it dosen't have? Where on earth did you get that from?
Delete@3:03 Hvala bogu, da nisu svi, koji dolaze skijat takvog mišljenja ko ti.
zaista se ne razumes u skijanje. slovenija je poslednja rupa na svirali u tome. zaista nema nista zanimljivo osim Planice za skakace. Ljubljana ne moze glumiti Salzburg.
DeleteJok, živim 10 minuta od skijališta. Uzmi apaurin i mirno zaspi.
DeleteTo je sve nebitno ne trenira na njima slovenacka skijaska reprezentacija. Zbog tog skijaslista niko ne dolazi avionom.
DeleteI'm afraid anon 12.08 is right...AA is increasingly revealing to be money laundering ops...
ReplyDeleteIt will go down like this: when the remaining sabbs will be officially sold to a third party (unofficially they already have been), 4K will say this was completely unexpected. As saabs were to form an instrumental part of their fleet (complete BS, of course, no serious airline would want saabs) there will be some changes made to JP = downsizing and eventually bankruptcy.
ReplyDeleteSansa za OU da se prosiri.
DeleteDa, samo sto je OU u isto tako ocajnom stanju.
DeleteThere was the same story with Port of Rijeka and Port of Koper. We will see what future will bring.
DeleteWell, Adria is strategically completely unimportant to the EU, but it would be a high political price to pay if a government would drive a company like Adria to bankruptcy. So they give it to a vulture fund.
DeleteAdria is freaking important for Slovenia and should be in its national interest. In the opposite direction they sold it below the table; same mastery like with most other state owned companies.
DeleteAgainst all odds, JP remains the best carrier in ex-YU dating back from 1961. Yes, it has a shorter history compared to JU but:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.adria.si/en/news/2017/adria-airways-awarded-with-best-buy-award/
https://www.worldtravelawards.com/profile-33839-adria-airways
https://www.airlineratings.com/passenger-reviews/adria-airways/
http://www.airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/adria-airways/
Skytrax is the only poor performer related to customer satisfaction. Yet, we see a new JP, much matured and with experience now ready for the massive regional order.
New cargo terminal at LJU?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.blog.uporabnastran.si/2018/04/23/ljubljansko-letalisce-bi-lahko-dobilo-tovorni-cargo-terminal-odlocitev-o-gradnji-bo-znana-kmalu/