Adria Airways is set to continue growing its fleet with the addition of a further three Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft. The Slovenian carrier has signed an agreement with lessor Regional One to acquire the jets, with their arrival scheduled for 2019, "Ch Aviation" reports. The airline is also considering adding more of the seventy-seat CRJ700 aircraft to its fleet. Adria's CEO, Holger Kowarsch, said in April that the airline's fleet is too small and needs to grow in order to support its expanding route network. "I think critical mass for us would be in the range of 25 to thirty aircraft in the future. We're a small carrier, we have to grow, strengthen our operations and improve our connectivity ", Mr Kowarsch said.
Adria added two CRJ900s to its fleet this year. It currently utilises three Airbus A319 aircraft, three CRJ700s and nine CRJ900s. Out of those, Adria operates two Bombardiers for Austrian Airlines and one for Luxair under ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance lease) long-term contracts. 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, which has seen it add seven new routes. The company has also outlined that its future focus will be on three key pillars. These include the addition of new routes from Ljubljana, the provision of flights for other carriers through ACMI and charter flights.
Adria Airways previously unveiled 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 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.
wow congratulations Adria!
ReplyDeleteGreat news for LJU too.
Delete+1
DeleteThey must be planning new destinations for next year.
ReplyDeleteFrom my information LED is confirmed... and we will see what will be more/next
DeleteDefinitely, very exciting times for Slovenian aviation.
DeleteWell, well, well ... LED is the right destination! Like we have discussed it here...
DeleteThey will be competing against Croatia Airlines on the LED route if they start it.
DeleteNothing has been confirmed yet
DeleteTrust me they will start will LED maybe even in winter 3weekly and in summer 5 weekly
Deletewhy should I trust you? do you work at Adria? nothing new is starting in winter, as it has already been finalized; LED will be considered for next summer, but summer plans have not been finalized yet.
DeleteYes i work at adria... LED will or should starst with winter season like KBP did
DeleteVery impressive growth strategy!
ReplyDeleteAdria will soon be the true leader of western Balkans.
I can easily see them surpassing Tarom soon with this growth. They will be the largest legacy airline based in the Balkans.
DeleteLegacy, by which standard? :)
DeleteGoogle is your friend!
DeleteLargest in the Balkans?
DeleteDo you know that Greece, Croatia and Serbia also belong to Balkans?
Slovenia was never Western Balkans :)
DeleteIt is not even geographically Balkans.
With the Saabs and these 3 CRJ900s they will have the biggest fleet in ex-Yu - 24 aircraft.
ReplyDeleteAlso youngest fleet in ex-Yu.
DeleteHopefully by then they will stop using wet leased ancient equipment.
ReplyDeleteAre they still wet leasing Carpatair?
DeleteYes
DeleteYes. But it’s only 27 years old, so not that bad. Mint condition.
DeleteI think it's more dry lease it will stay with JP all summer season
DeleteHi,
DeleteI flew with Carpatair from LJU to BRU last week and beside a little bit wear they were quite comfortable, even more than CR9 I would say. Even flight was smooth as silk...
+1
DeleteWhat about Trade Air F100. Is it still flying for Adria?
DeleteI don't think so.
DeleteJust from time to time.
DeleteThis is such a misfortune! You wet lease three of your planes and then have to do the same.
DeleteNew Adria management has some balls and some vision. Sadly, OU management is so bad, they can't see beyond their own nose.
ReplyDeleteImpressed with Adria Airways stance, they're doing what airBaltic is doing right now.
airBaltic ordered up to 30 CS300 from Bombardier, with 30 more options.
Except airBaltic has orderd brand new aircraft, not unlike Adria leasing old junk nobody else wants anymore.
DeleteIzvini molim te...od kad je Crj900 old junk....ajde da si rekao Crj100/200 ali ovako si smesan.
DeleteWell, it’s not definitely not CSeries. And with oil prices on the rise again, we’ll see how profitable CRJ will be in the future.
DeleteOn short routes CRJ is actually cheaper to operate - much lower landing/handling fees. Adria has very few long flights so it's perfect for them
DeleteProbably Adria's first preference is ACMI and white label flying as there is demand for RJ job. CS300 is not for hub feeding from small regional nearby cities, so Air Baltic must be betting on some different model. Also, financing is not clear, whether they need more state schemes because markets in the end are not interested, as has happened until now. Getting cheaper planes may be more realistic approach.
DeleteCongratulations Adria. Growing fleet and route network. Very nice developments from them lately.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey have introduced some good passenger friendly services lately too, regarding payments and on board benefits.
DeleteWould be nice if they eventually replaced the CRJs with a mix of CS100/300s.
ReplyDeleteWay too expensive for JP.
DeleteToo expensive, I doubt their business model supports anything else then leasing ancient old aircraft. Look how much are they pushing with Saabs instead if going with ATR72-600 or Q400.
DeleteIf you believe SB20 is worst than AT7 or DH4 than you have no clue what are you talking about. 1.) Q is way too expensive and you need a F1 team to maintain it 2.) you don't wanna operate any ATR arround Alps.
DeleteAnd 25 year old Saabs are the best aircraft on the market? Design proved by hundreds of orders?
DeleteDarwin seemed to have no problems operating in the Alps with the ATR...
Saabs are good value for money paid. This is the most important advantage over all other models. Buying an aiplane is not like buying a car, where personal preferences and design play an important role. It's about money !!
DeleteOn the other side, it seems that JP couldn't secure enough pilots in order to operate Saabs.
Sure, but surely had Saab 2000 been such a successful aircraft, more airlines would have ordered it?
DeleteSaabs really have a very good performance but if you wanted to buy new aircraft back in the days, they were simply way too expensive compared to the competition. Manufactured by Swedish workforce, you know how much they earn in Scandinavia...!
Deletewaiting for MXP,BCN,MAD,LIS,DUB,LED
ReplyDeleteYou’ll have to wait for FR for this to happen.
DeleteAs far as I remember Adria said they plan to add one distention in Italy, Spain and Portugal.
DeleteItaly; FCO or MXP
DeleteSpain; MAD(they cannot get good sloth in BCN)
Portugal; LIS or OPO
Maybe even ARN or OSL
Naslednje poletje naj bi CR9 letel za Luxair
ReplyDeleteI think in winter already
DeleteGood news. CR9 is my favorite JP aircraft
ReplyDeleteNow airport has to expand apron as it has become too small with these add aircrafts. Also hope they will build 4 more jetbridge gates for passenger convenience
Completely agree about the airport. TIme to fast-track those plans to build the new terminal.
DeleteAgree but also, LJU Departure and Check in area is not adequate, Access control for pax is at the level of aeroclub or maybe hangar.
DeleteTotally agree, in rush hour the security control becomes totally crowded, it is a shame. They should have built new terminal years ago. They are already late now and no news about the new terminal are coming.
DeleteIn dec 2018 they start with new terminal... source-working at lju airport
DeleteZAG BEG DBV SPU PRN SKP hve done, so dont see why northern, most developped ex YU and 14 year old EU member SLO could not do it. I think new term is delayed too. They did not start yet and by 2020 all was promised to be ready. At least I saw them 2 weeks ago cutting trees in direction of Senćur.
DeleteIf shereholders didn’t vote against the proposed terminal few years back... at least they did renovated and build a part on new terminal back in 08.
DeleteAnon 9:25: hahahhahahahaha hilarious!!!!
DeleteI think also, Ljubljana airport should expand, expand number of parking positions to accommodate extra aircraft, especially if they plan to have 25 aircraft in near future.
DeleteAdding 4 additional jetbridges as part of the original design would also be really nice. This would increase the capacity to 5 million pax, sufficient for Ljubljana airport to operate for next 10 years before terminal capacity is reached.
Zagreb airport terminal is to expand this Autumn by additional 2 gates/jetbridges for wide-body aircraft or four single isle aircraft.
Would be nice to see these developments going ahead.
25-30 aircrafts?? is this with OU included? *hint
ReplyDeleteWell if you include the 6 Saabs and the 3 CRJs they get next year, that's already 24 planes in the fleet.
DeleteThe real question is how many of these planes will actually be operated by Adria for Adria and how many will be wet leased.
ReplyDeletewaiting for SPU & OHD
ReplyDeleteMaybe they launch the seasonally next year.
Deletehope so
DeleteSPU is congested
DeleteGreat job, it will be the true competitor to OU and ZAG. I expect many destinations from LJU
ReplyDeleteI think they will add new routes but definitely increase the current successful routes next year: KBP, SOF, OTP (maybe), BWK.
ReplyDeleteSpain is definitely needed!
There was a lot written about succes of KBP route, but nothing bout OTP. Are you sure about OTP expansion? Vhat about Varna, Chisinau, Ankara, maybe Cairo?
DeleteInformation about the new routes is very limited. First they were saying that SOF is a new gem, but in the recent interview it was said that SOF, BWK and OTP are among the worst.
DeleteBtw, does anyone know why the flight LJU to London Gatwick is delayed every single time? Last week it was delayed by 4,5 hrs. Any idea?
ReplyDeleteOn Easyjet page you have a nice flight tracker where the reason for every delay is explained in details.
DeleteIt's due to storms around Europe and England in particular. Since most flights to LJU are in the evening, delays accumulate.
DeleteGood news for Adria.
ReplyDeleteThe new German owners have managed to grow the airline year after year.
DeleteNice news coming from Adria and Ljubljana lately.
ReplyDeleteAlso don't forget that Slovenia has currently one of the highest economic growth in CEE (4%)!
ReplyDelete5%*
Deletehow come? 2 years ago it was a different story, well done SLO
DeleteSlovenian methodology and model of calculating GDP growth is different to most EU members, they also include segments of the economy not considered contributory to overall GDP.
DeleteActual real growth was around 3%,which is about what is expected from much of the EU. Croatia also grew at 3% last year,and expected to grow around 3.4% this year.
However,Tourism projections for this year are wild, also though heavy storms and rains over much of the southern Europe might have an impact for June numbers, across the Southern Europe, the overall numbers should still be very good. Croatia is registering 22% increase in booking and demand for flights to Croatia. First 5 months numbers for the country are above all expectations, 25% increase in overall arrival and stays.
So growth this year could be in the region of 3.7%. Still not 5%. Unemployment is also down to 7% and still falling.
Maybe, it is better to just compare comparable, e.g. https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-performance-and-forecasts/economic-performance-country_en Someone can clearly see huge difference between Slovenia and Croatia (also concerning GDP expectations 2,9 : 4,7 %).
DeleteCrazy growth from Adria and they do it so quietly.
ReplyDeleteGood to see more CRJs being added.
ReplyDelete4K samo pravi da lici da se kompanija razvija. A LH ih kupiti nece.
ReplyDeleteko je rekao da lufthansa hoce adriju kupiti?
DeleteLH is in fact managing JP through 4K already, without taking any risk (liability)...smart move.
DeleteSo basically OU goes on strike while its closest competitor grows. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteThat is positive development for Croatia.
DeleteOverall it's going to be a great summer for Adria. They have the most CRJs in the fleet in this region I think.
ReplyDeleteExcept for OU I don't think any other airline in the region has CRJs.
DeleteIt's always good to see an airline expanding its fleet.
ReplyDeleteOnly if it is doing so profitably and with 4K, nobody really knows if this is the case.
DeleteThey may also be going down this path because they want to built out their atory as quickly as possible, as it will help in an eventual sale of the asset.
Given that 4K are a fund and not a long term owner of ghe asset, i believe this is the reason behind their growth.
There are already whispers in aviation circles that they are looking for a buyer ...
Does anyone know what are the loads on the new routes from LJU? How is each performing?
ReplyDeleteThey all seem to be performing well since all of them will be kept over winter (except DBV and BWK which are summer seasonal)
DeleteBWK is the best performing of all routes launched
DeleteI said it before
Delete:)
Bravo Slovenija!
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day it is the financial results that matter. So let's see how they perform there before giving them too much praise.
ReplyDeletewell, given the fact that 10 million euros disappeared from Darwin's accounts, I would say Adria's financial status is going to be splendid in this year's report.
DeleteBut I doubt the Swiss won't investigate this a duly punish anyone who has been playing with the books and finances.
DeleteOdd they don't go for the CRJ1000. It's a very good aircraft and could lead to the retirement of the A319s.
ReplyDeleteCRJ1000 has about 40 seats less than the A319 and the leases for 2 A319s are appareantly very costly to withdraw from.
DeleteNot to mention CRJ1000’s performance is poor to put it nicely. Forget about going to short Greek runways or taking full pax and bags to Egypt.
In addition to the performance limitations vs. the CRJ900, the CRJ1000 is still quite new, so I doubt there will be any used aircraft available in the market.
DeleteAny hint about Pula ...
ReplyDeleteNo, Pula CEO said in my interweave that there is no plan, that they even did not talk with Adria about any route and especially not about base in Pula.
Deleteverujem, samo planovi toga tipa nisu dostupni za medije bas u svim fazama
DeleteAnyone knows where planes are comig from? Air nostrum?
ReplyDeleteI presume at least one will be from them. RegionalOne has one of them listed http://www.myairlease.com/available/regional_one
DeleteI don't know where the Adria jets will come from, but I know that in addition to used Air Nostrum aircraft, former SAS aircraft are available since they have replaced their CRJ900s with new ones (now operated by CityJet).
DeleteWhat surprises me about Adria continuing to grow is not just that they do so in spite of rapidly rising fuel prices (with a fleet that doesn't have the best fuel economy per seat), but that they manage to source pilots for the expansion. At the same time, we read about other European airlines (including majors like Lufthansa Group) wanting to grow, but being limited by lack of pilots. Where do they get all pilots from? CRJ captains must be hard to find. Do they upgrade their first officers to captains and hire fresh first officers from flight school?
ReplyDelete