Adria Airways is negotiating the wet-lease of its aircraft and crew to several airlines for the upcoming winter season. Such contracts have helped the carrier boost its revenue over the past year. Adria recently concluded a so-called ACMI agreement with Lufthansa, where the Slovenian carrier will provide an Airbus A319 aircraft and its crew to the German carrier from mid-October until the end of the 2018/19 winter season on March 31, 2019. The jet will initially operate out of Frankfurt for a week before being stationed in Munich for the remainder of the season. There is a possibility for additional Airbus aircraft to be wet-leased from Adria to Lufthansa.
The Slovenian carrier is also in talks with a number of other airlines, primarily from within the Lufthansa Group, over potential ACMI contracts. These include Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Swiss. Furthermore, Adria is planning the extension of its existing wet-lease arrangement with Luxembourg's Luxair. In addition, over the winter, the Slovenian airline will have a Saab 2000 aircraft based in Paderborn, Germany, from which it will launch flights to Zurich, Vienna and London Southend. The recent addition of six Saab turboprops to its fleet have allowed Adria to expand its ACMI contracts. This summer, the airline has been wet-leasing two Bombardier aircraft to Austrian Airlines and one to Luxair.
Adria's CEO, Holger Kowarsch, said recently, "In line with modern economic principles, the direction of growth is also in the ACMI segment, where Adria Airways sees its competitive advantage since we are a company that adapts well to changes in an increasingly demanding environment". He added, "For the time being, we have a well-balanced hybrid business model between scheduled operations, ACMI and charter. All three pillars are essential for our business. Generally, our focus is on growth and, in line with the trends in the aviation industry, we are intensively checking the possibilities for the expansion of ACMI services". Adria recently noted it was satisfied with its operational results for the first half of the year and will focus on "restoring customer's confidence" over the upcoming winter following a number of operational issues this summer.
I know people won't agree but I say good on them. Concluding ACMI contracts in winter when many airlines have too much capacity is not easy. Adria has too many planes, this way they will earn some money in the slowest part of the year.
ReplyDeleteAnd I say bad on them (without being able to prove it) that they offer their own aircrafts dirt cheap during winter season below market value and below operating costs - that is possibly still cheaper for them than having them all parked in LJU the whole winter. Good indicators for that claim are a) no other proper European airline manages to get ACMI leases in European Winter to other European airlines and b) their balance sheet of -5 mill. shows that they dont seem to generate sufficient money and that costs are higher than income with that strategy.
DeleteAdria ACMI Airways.
ReplyDeletegood one
DeleteSo I'm guessing they won't start any new routes this winter. Someone mentioned LED.
ReplyDeleteWe will see when did they announce Kiev and when did they start it?
DeleteThey announced it in late August and started flights in late October. I don't think they will be launching any new routes this winter but for sure next summer.
DeleteLJU will lose a chunk of pax on London routes next year after brexit
ReplyDeleteAlso Zagreb
Deletehahaha, yes yes, because???
DeleteIf no deal brexit goes through, easyJet might cancel some flights. Not all. Not even 50%, but there will definitely be lower demand. Both from here and from UK.
DeleteBecause?
DeleteBecause the economy will stagnate
DeleteThe British economy won't stagnate and I can guarantee the same demand will be there regardless of Brexit!
DeleteDon't know, to me it seems as if they are still clueless about where they want to go as a company. I also fear those SAABs will become a headache for them down the road since spare parts are limited and the plane is expensive to operate. ACMI business only proves they have way too many aircraft for their market.
ReplyDeleteThey easily got ,and quite cheap by the way, those Saabs that they can offer to the ACMI market. They now have 50, 70, 90 and 150 saeters which make the offer to lessees more attractive.
DeleteWhat do you expect them to do with a fleet of 21 planes from Ljubljana. They have to find ACMI contracts.
DeleteRumor is 3 Airbuses will eventually be flying for LH this winter. Don't know if it's true.
ReplyDelete:o if that's true that would be the entire Airbus fleet!
DeleteWell for example I'm looking at their Moscow operational schedule in November and all flights will operate with CRJ900.
DeleteOn which routes does Adria use the Airbuses?
DeleteLjubljana to Frankfurt, Zurich, Pristina, Moscow. And also on PRN-FRA, PRN-MUC.
DeleteThanks anon 9.53.
DeleteSo it seems anon 9.06 is correct. I just checked all those routes in late November and all are operating with CRJ. There don't seem to be any Airbuses in the system for Adria this winter.
:(
DeleteMakes sense actually. They don't need aircraft with so many seats in winter.
DeleteI've read many times that JP has very unfavorable lease contracts for those Airbuses which they wanted to get rid of several times.
DeleteAnonymous21 September 2018 at 09:21
DeleteIt is truth, for all winter they will use CRJ900
Do not forget that at 28.10. rout LJU-SVO starts operate SU too
PS: Today ADRIA opened special promotion just 188EUR LJU-SVO.
And of course this rout is full service.
And some people still argue Lufthansa isn't behind 4K and Adria deal.
ReplyDeleteIt's looking more and more like that. Lufthansa airlines keep close especially around ACMIs. For example Swiss will be wet leasing an Austrian Dash for flights from Lugano to Zurich.
DeleteNow we know why they do not fly to INI which is rather a no-brainer from LJU...keeping Swiss safe and competition free?
DeleteMakes sense. They don't need them stealing transfer pax.
DeleteSwiss leases 4 Austrian Dashes for years now... they use them for really short flights from ZUE (NUE, STR, LUG) and sometimes to SJJ (on tuesdays).
DeleteDidn't know that. Interesting. And Austrian seems to have an exces of these aircraft?
Deletebingo, SWISS remains the only legacy in INI
DeleteINI should be happy it has any legacy carrier flying there at all
Delete@ 10:19: OS only integrated 4 additional Dashes the exact month when wet lease of 4 Dash planes to LX started. None of them is painted in OS livery, but in Star Alliance neutral livery and they can be used anywhere in LH Group Airlines.
DeleteSpeaking of Star Alliance livery, I'm surprised Adria no longer has it on any of its aircraft.
DeleteDoesn't S5-AAV (CRJ900) have Star Alliance livery?
DeleteLong term survival is going to be difficult. One has to keep coming up with these ACMI deals in order to keep the income.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly these leases are becoming more and more long term.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Luxair has applied their full livery on Adria's plane.
DeleteDo they use Adria crew?
DeleteI think so.
DeleteThat lease has been going on for a while. They leased the plane last winter. They are extending it now so it will be operating for them for a year and a half at least.
DeleteACMI=Wet Lease=Crew Also. For sure Flight Deck in most casess Cabin too
DeleteDon't like these ACMI deals. They lease out newer planes and then lease for themselves old junk.
ReplyDeleteThat's how you make money. You buy a good car and rent it out and get good money on it, while you use a crappy old one and deal with it because you like seeing the money come in
DeleteThey have too many aircraft. And on top of everything they are getting 3 more planes next year.
ReplyDeleteIs the wet-lease related to engine issues Lufthansa is facing with its A320neos or is it something they regularly do over winter?
ReplyDeletethey need planes for Eurowings
Delete@kraspeed. Yes, LH has bis issues with its 320neos. With deliveries postponed into nex year and the 1989/90 320 being phased out, LH needs capacity to meet its timetable. Next year LH wont need Adria.
DeleteThat comment someone wrote a few weeks ago that they will lease over 10 planes doesn't look so unrealistic now.
ReplyDeletePlus they may open Bern base so another plane might be based there.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how they perform in Paderborn first and if they will stick for more than one season.
DeleteI don't remember them ever leasing out Airbuses in the past.
ReplyDeleteThey did.
Delete1 to Eurowings last winter.
DeleteSeems they will also lease almost all saabs.
ReplyDeleteTo who?
DeleteIt's surprising that Croatia Airlines has never done this. The airline has too much capacity during winter but they have never even considered ACMIs to others. Why?
ReplyDeleteIt's not easy to find ACMI contractors in winter, that's why Adria should be commended there.
DeleteBecause there was never any creativity at OU. Before Kucko left he did say that Croatia Airlines has to develop in the ACMI segment but that initiative ended when he left.
DeleteInteresting.
DeleteIf much smaller and without any state back-up Trade Air can live, survive and make profit with 3 planes doing exclusively AVMI, I don't see why Croatia Airlines couldn't have done that as well, except for the negligence and incompetence of its politically appointed "managements"
DeleteZasto? Ako vas kupi 4k moci ce bez problema. Adeia=4k=Lufthanza
DeleteAdria has been operating Austrian's afternoon/evening flight from Vienna to Belgrade this summer. It has been nice seeing their livery back in BEG. By the looks of things it seems like we may be seeing them in winter too.
ReplyDeleteSame as Croatian, Austrian Airlines usually only needs additional wet leased planes till the end of the summer season / end of Oct. They do that regularly every year. At end of Oct they always (so far) have returned all wet leased aircrafts.
DeleteIt's a common practice in the colder countries. During the summer, the planes are used to their maximum and in winter they get leased to hot countries in SE Asia and Africa. JP knows what they're doing, no need for your pointless advice.
ReplyDeleteThey loss was over 5 million last year so I'm not sure they know what they are doing.
DeleteThat loss was probably the smallest among ex-Yu airlines, seeing as others rigged their books to show a profit.
DeleteIf it brings them money then I don't see an issue.
ReplyDeleteDoes Adria hire local crew when they make these ACMIs or do they relocate Slovenian crew for the duration of the contract?
ReplyDeleteMost of the ACMIs are shhort term (12-24 months at longest). Makes absolutely no sense to hire people for short periods and then dismiss them.
DeleteWell done to Adria for thinking outside of the box.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy when you are cosy with LH and get exclusive deals. Remember last winter Air Serbia wanted to lease 2 Airbuses A319s. They put them on the market, didn't manage to secure a single contract.
DeleteBS
Deletethere are two main considerations in any ACMI deal: price and reliability
spoiler alert: neither one is a particular strength of AirSerbia
Adria has shown in the past, that they do what is needed to keep the ACMI capcity flying no matter what problems there may be with their operations...
There are plenty of A320F ACMI operators around that have no problem signing money-making contracts in this economy. But they specialize in this, unlike Air Serbia...
DeleteTheir pilots will go on strike in a month or two. This is not going to go down well with the likes of OS and Lux.
ReplyDeletelets see how Adria may handle such a situation.
Deletemy bet is that they will keep their ACMI planes flying or get some replacement there on time
Get a wet lease to cover the wet lease :)
DeleteIf they need additional cash in winter, why don't they consider flying charters. If I remember correctly for the news about their financial results for 2017, charters provided quite significant revenue for the,.
ReplyDeletecharters with Saab?
DeleteCharters to the canary islands would be nice. Yes, rynair flies there from treviso, but chartets could still work to there during winter months.
Deletethey do charters, but they do not have the planes to do an efficient charter for touristic markets, so they stick mostly to corporate charters; and that was a significant reason they were so eager to get some cheap Saabs
DeleteI have heard they plan to open route to Ljubljana
ReplyDeleteWho?
DeleteAdria ACMI Airways
DeleteThe saabs turned out nice in Adria livery
ReplyDeletehttps://scontent-sof1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/40891048_2088766071452048_4004745180304375808_o.jpg?_nc_cat=102&oh=e7c6557ffefcdf813e10fe56ddd7df8b&oe=5C219EBB
Nice. Although they just pasted stickers over the Etihad regional livery ;)
DeleteWhen SAABs will start to fly out of LJ? Or do they already do?
Deletedon't see anything nice. if you look carefully you will see that the body wasn't painted, but rather they put adria sticker over the previous one. jeeez
Deletei see a nice thing: they do not spend money on stuff that has no value to anybody
Deleteif a cheap sticker does the trick, why should lose plenty of time and money while the machines are in the paint shop?
+1
DeleteLooking really really elegant. Typically legacy carrier. Well done JP!
DeleteNo sponsorship contracts with car companies to fly their guests this year like in 2017?
ReplyDeleteSlovenian newspaper today says, thay yesterday 3 Adria's planes had some technical issues so they cancelled Hamburg, Skopje and Warsaw flights. Does anyone know, what happened?
ReplyDeleteThe replacement aircraft Fokker100 is always ready to fly.
DeleteHaven't they returned to Carpatair F100?
DeleteYep seems like entire Airbus fleet is being wetleased this winter.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why Croatia Airlines does not lease out during winter, while aircraft and crews are "sitting" at home base and burning tax payers money?!
ReplyDeleteI think Adria should open bases in small towns rather than focusing on ACMI. They had a go with Łódź, Paderborn, Prishtine so why not give a chance to other towns too?
ReplyDeleteThere are towns in CE Europe that can become bases similar to Paderborn or ghost airports that are hungry for flights. They can open bases in: Kraljevo, Mostar, Ohrid, Niš, Osijek. The list can go on.
This way it can solid its regional image instead of going ACMI.
Did Adria cancel their direct flights from Ljubljana to Hamburg? I dont see them listed on Ljubljana' airport web site any more. What is happening with this company...(?)
ReplyDelete