Adria Airways is considering the introduction of new routes but says it has to be "smart" when growing. Speaking to the Slovak "Akutality" daily, the airline's Chief Commercial Officer, Christian Schneider, said, "We are interested in a destination on the Iberian peninsula in the southwest of Europe, a point in Italy, and more further afield we are looking at Dubai. So far, we have decided to strengthen links between Western and Central Europe with the Balkan region". Asked whether the carrier would consider launching flights to Bratislava since it has been operating scheduled charter flights this summer from the Slovak capital, Mr Schneider said there are no such plans at the moment.
Commenting on future growth, the Chief Commercial Officer noted, "We are open to new opportunities and cooperation, but we need to be smart when growing. Before opening a new route, we always focus on a detailed analysis that shows us which markets and destinations could be interesting and sustainable for the company. This year we opened seven new routes, expanded our fleet by another nine aircraft, and saw new crew members join the company". Adria Airways is set to continue growing its fleet with the addition of a further three Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft next year. The Slovenian carrier has signed an agreement with lessor Regional One to acquire the jets, with their arrival scheduled for 2019.
Points in Germany continue to be the busiest for Adria, however, several new destinations have also proved popular with passengers. "The most popular destinations from Ljubljana are Frankfurt, Munich, Geneva and Zurich. When speaking about incoming flights, we see great demand from Sofia, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Geneva", Mr Schneider said. He added, "The first half of this year was successful for Adria Airways. The number of passengers grew by 9% and the number of flights by 2% over the previous year. With such results we are optimistic for the winter season. Adria Airways is a well-known, stable and recognised airline with 57 years of experience. Our primary goal is growth based on strong and stable foundations".
Very interesting about Dubai. They should have launched it years ago in my opinion. But it is also an indication to me that Fly Dubai has given up on all plans to fly to LJU.
ReplyDeleteCould the CRJ900 make it to Dubai?
DeleteOh gosh, horor of 5+ hours in CRJ. Hopefully, they would employ A319 on that route.
DeleteThat would be a nightmare.
DeleteCRJ can barely make it to Egypt with full load of pax and bags...
DeleteJP launching Dubai would be another of their failures, as with no connections, a lot of people will still go to ZAG or VCE for EK...
JP could offer a lot of connections in the region.
Deleteaha as if flydubai didnt serve almost every capital in YU and beyond
DeleteJP could actually consider Abu Dhabi and Etihad codeshare.
DeleteEtihad would work out, yes. It's not like there's an airline in the vicinity of Slovenia which is owned by them.
DeleteThere is a difference between cooperation/feeding network and having company as equity/management partner.
DeleteI'm also glad they are considering Dubai. It would have been beneficial if they did it 3-5 years ago because they could have captured passengers travelling to/from Croatia.
DeleteI'm happy they plan to grow but their reputation is going down the toilet. Every single day they are cancelling flights. Just the other day they cancelled Zurich, yesterday Frankfurt and we will see what gets cancelled today. Every day at least one flight is cancelled. I don't know if its lack of aircraft, lack of crew or what but it is becoming extremely irritating for passengers
ReplyDeleteI think it is lack of crew at the moment.
DeleteYet they are doing ACMI, in spite of crew shortage. Recently I went to Bologna for business and both flights from Belgrade to Vienna and Vienna to Bologna were operated by Adria. It seems that one of their CRJ stays overnight in Bologna.
DeleteYes I think all season Adria has been flying the afternoon flight to Belgrade for Austrian. Was the crew Slovenian?
DeleteYes, new(-ish) CRJs and Slovenian crews are leased out and Slovenian passengers flying on a national carrier are being flown by 30 yeard old Romanian junk.
DeleteThis is how you build the brand!
@anon 10:04
DeleteCabin crew was mixed. There was a Polish girl on one of the flights. Co pilot on Vienna - Bologna flight was not Slovene (surname sounded German) so I was really happy to see the international crew. The purser on Belgrade flight was Slovene and communicated with passengers in Serbian which was a really nice feature.
Thanks anon 11.23. I believe they have a few Polish crew from their former Lodz base. They got offered contracts to relocate and stay with Adria. Some agreed,
DeleteThat is very nice. True benefits of EU job market.
DeleteSo much for people claiming they will launch LED.
ReplyDeleteMaybe next summer, although he does not mention Russia.
DeleteIf Geneva is so popular, why did they end it?
ReplyDeleteAnd brac Bwk
DeleteThats why they closed down GVA..
ReplyDeleteSo Madrid, Rome and Dubai?
ReplyDeleteCould be Milan.
DeleteAnd the Iberian destination could be Barcelona or Lisbon.
DeleteGlood luck Adria!
ReplyDeleteDid he say Geneva? o_0
ReplyDeleteMy reaction too. First they planned it as year-round, then they planned it as seasonal until late October and then they cut it till mid September. Don't understand how that shows it's a successful route.
DeleteSofia really does seem to be doing well for them since they will increase it in winter.
ReplyDeleteBy how much? JU will also fly it daily in stead of six weekly.
DeleteWith JU and OU doing well in SOF, what's the chance of seeing OU launch flights as well?
DeleteThey are sending CR7 and CR9 but not 1 single S200 to SOF.
DeleteJU in turn, will upgrade from AT7 to 319 on Mondays and Saturdays next spring.
There is clearly a competition between JP and JU in SOF. Really interesting.
It seems there is a lot of demand from SOF to the Balkan capital cities.
I did fly on BEG-SOF several times, there is quite a number of connecting passengers.
DeleteI'm happy for Adria. The airline is expanding routes and fleet.
ReplyDeleteWithout the proper preparations to operate this many flights. Today every afternoon flights was delayed by about an hour.
DeleteWhat about LED,BCN, DUB and MXP?
ReplyDeleteBCN has problems and tourism is getting worse.
DeleteLocals are fed up of tourists and separatists are attacking local, regional police.
Its beauty is getting slowly destroyed.
I agree with DUB and MXP.
Is there a sufficient demand for Milan?
DeleteFrom MXP they could code share with Air Italy for Miami and NY.
DeleteFrom MXP they could codeshare with AlItalia for Miami and NY as well, but those are different alliances.
DeleteIn one interview from few months ago, CEO or CFO, said that they need a better slot at BCN to make connections work.
DeleteWell, they were complaining in Barcelona that they have too much tourists. Here they go.
DeleteScandinavia needs much better coverage from LJU. I'm hoping they resume Stockholm.
ReplyDelete+1 it's odd that there are few flights to Scandinavia. And no SAS or Norwegian flying. There is Finnair but they stubbornly don't want to go year round.
DeleteI think Lisbon is a contender for the Iberian peninsula destination as well, not only Madrid. Since TAP Portugal is in Star Alliance, like Adria, that may have more potential.
ReplyDeleteLisbon could work. Have they ever flown there?
Deletejudging by the amount of Slovenians in Ohrid this summer they should seriously start thinking about opening a seasonal route to OHD (the Saab would fit nicely)
ReplyDeleteWhat about Maribor and Portoroz?
ReplyDeleteAgreed. They should at least eye regular Portoroz charters during the summer season with the Saab 2000. That aircraft cannot use its entire range from there, but shorter routes should not be a problem. After all, charters pose less to no risks than scheduled flights.
DeleteThey should add more destinations from Ljubljana Airport to Romania,Poland,Spain and Italy, the Saab2000 is excellent aircraft.
ReplyDeleteSpain on a turboprop, people are already queuing outside of ticket office.
DeleteCan the S200 fly from LJU-LIS?
DeleteYes, it easily can (=2093km distance but plane has 2869km range). But it is commercially surely not viable with only 50 seats.
DeleteThanks.
DeleteDo you think Lisbon is a potential regional connection?
Connecting on TAP flights in LIS would be great, since TAP has some great offers to South America! GO JP!
DeleteThe Fokker 100 aircraft operated by Adria Airways has comfortable passenger seats.
ReplyDeleteIf new routes are a success, why have they then already cancelled Geneva, will phase out Hamburg with winter schedule and downgrade Bucharest & Sophia in winter? Saabs are anyhow a joke, delayed whenever deployed, not to mention engine problems last week just after take off.
ReplyDeleteThere was a debate about JP until we saw the financial result a couple of weeks ago. Now it's simply tik-tak until bankruptcy
ReplyDeleteLooks like all ex-yu airlines are going in the same way.
DeleteExactly just a matter of time until bankruptcy. There is still too many airlines in Europe, only in ex YU we hve 4. 3 making losses, in MNE, SER government helps, OU just at the edge of being profitable. In ex YU we need max one airline if at all. JP sold now more or less all assets, if this year another 5 mio loss, they wont end 2019
DeleteOU is not at the edge of being progitable, they are losing money as well.
DeleteLast time I checked JU had 16 mil EUR profit! xD
Delete"There is still too many airlines in Europe"
DeleteTrue. Just taking out LH Group would do wonders for CEE airline market, both short and long haul.
Swiftair has modified its schedule so now it operates CGN-LJU-BEG in stead of CGN-BEG-SOF. Belgrade now has 2 daily cargo flights to Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteĆe letit sa Saabovima za Dubai? A zašto su prestali GVA kad je tako super išlo? Ajme, ajme. Balkanci vjeruju svemu što švabo kaže
ReplyDeletenije svabo nego nijemac
Deleteda se malo poznajes u menedzment avijacije ne bi popravljao takav glupa pitanje.
Daj. Razsvetli me. Lepo te prosim.
DeleteThey act really fast, Trade air F100 is just landing in LJU to help in this expansion process! :-)
ReplyDeleteRyanair suspended its service from Ts to Rome during winter. This is a good opportunity for Adria.
ReplyDelete