Today marks a year since Slovenia’s former flag carrier Adria Airways filed for bankruptcy. One year on, the global aviation landscape has completely changed due to the devastating impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on the industry, serving a double blow to the Slovenian market, which has been hit by both Adria’s collapse and the health emergency. Following Adria’s bankruptcy, Ljubljana Airport lost considerable connectivity, routes and a steady stream of transfer passengers. Although a number of foreign carriers stepped in, with new arrivals having been planned for this summer as well, capacity, under normal circumstances, still would have been nearly 45% lower than last year.
In June 2019, Adria Airways had a dominant market position in Ljubljana, accounting for 1.509 of the 2.188 aircraft movements at the airport, or 69%. This June, based on planned schedules for the summer prior to the coronavirus outbreak, other airlines would have had 1.325 scheduled movements. This would have been a 90% increase in non-Adria take-offs and landings, but the total would still be down 39%, and seats would have been down 44%. Ljubljana Airport’s figures began to decline in September 2019 and have not improved since, with the coronavirus pandemic having exasperated the downward trend. This year, the airport is expected to record similar figures to those seen between 1991 and 1994.
The Slovenian government has been split on weather a new national carrier should be created with help from a foreign partner. The Slovenian cargo airline Solinair, which is Turkish owned, has submitted its proposal to set up a new commercial airline for the country with help from the government. Croatia Airlines has floated the idea of opening a base in the Slovenian capital, while Ljubljana Airport has been advocating for the state to provide subsidies for foreign airlines in order for them to launch new flights and maintain existing services, rather than create a new national carrier, which it argues would be too expensive. None of these have materialised thus far.
Adria’s bankruptcy procedure, which aims to raise funds in order to cover over 87 million euros in claims being sought from the failed airline, is expected to run until 2024. The bankruptcy administrator has been attempting to sell a number of assets, including its brand name, simulators, flight school, spare parts, apartments, cabin crew uniforms, catering items, pillows, airsickness bags and collectible airplane models, among others. So far, only Adria’s Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) and flight school have been sold, for 45.000 euros and 7.500 euros respectively. A second attempt to sell the company's brand name failed yesterday with no interest shown. There are indications that Air Adriatic, owned by Slovenian businessman Izet Rastoder, who acquired Adria’s AOC, may attempt to launch a new, leaner Adria with assistance from the state.
The German investment fund 4K Invest, which is ultimately being blamed for Adria’s collapse, has disintegrated since the airline’s bankruptcy. The carrier's last two CEOs, Arno Schuster and Holger Kowarsch, are under investigation on suspicion of committing two criminal offences, as well fraud by abuse of position of power. It is believed the German fund funnelled money from the airline and inked a number of highly damaging consultancy agreements on behalf of the Slovenian carrier with other companies in its ownership. Allegations of abuse of office and business fraud, including the theft of 5.000 US dollars from the company’s safe following its bankruptcy last September, are also being investigated by police. The political responsibility as to who signed off on the sale of Slovenia’s national carrier to an unknown fund and whether proper due diligence was undertaken prior to its sale has never been investigated.
"A second attempt to sell the company's brand name failed yesterday with no interest shown"
ReplyDeleteWhy am I not surprised.
Why would someone buy their brand? Especially for 50,000 EUR.
DeleteThey should really let the name and the company rest in piece.
Delete@9.13 that is extremely expensive (for the first failed attempt it cost 100.000) especially if you take into account that Adria was sold to 4K invest with planes and still in operation for just 100.000!!! Shows what criminal activity occurred with 4k.
Delete"Adria was sold to 4K invest with planes"
DeleteJP owned no aircraft at the time of sale.
Not only was it sold for 100,000 but the government was obligated to give them money. So it was basically given away for free to be destroyed.
Delete@10.55
DeleteWhen it was sold Adria had planes under lease. So it was an operational airline sold for 100,000 euros. A city apartment costs more than that.
Leased aircraft are liabilities, not assets.
DeleteSure, city appartment costs more than that, but you won't have to spend 1m EUR a month on it, just to keep the lights on when you come home.
Slovenia is bankrupt!
DeleteThe importance of Adria to the Slovenian market has been illustrated in the last year, despite what people say.
ReplyDeleteEven with Adria, Ljubljana was still missing many major European cities. So this is not good for them.
DeleteAdria 4 svet
DeleteAdria 4 ever
Delete...and still hearing about them all the time 🤦
ReplyDeleteAdria never dies.
DeleteThe government does not seem to care.
ReplyDeleteWell the people reasonable for this disastrous sale are still in power.
DeleteWhat alternative did the government have, other than to let Adria go bankrupt couple of years earlier?
Delete4K was not the only interested company in buying Adria. They also could have done a better job at finding a partner.
DeleteWho were the others?
DeletePeople forget that the government tried to privatize Adria in 2012 (4 years before it was sold to 4K) but politics stopped that in the end. Actually there were 10 companies interested (in 2012).
Delete@Anonymous 09:37:
DeleteIntro Aviation. They took over Cityjet.
Yes, because no binding offers were presented. the most serious was that one buyer will buy JP for 1 EUR if the state covers all the debt beforehand. and that would be 1) economically disastrous and 2) non according to EU state aid rules, because in gods name no one could successfully argue that this arrangement is something that a normal private company would do, so that capital injection would be deemed illegal state aid just as in the case of Malev.
DeleteCroatian government injected 33 million into OU last year despite being banned to do something like that because less than 10 years had passed from its restructuring.
DeleteCRO's arrangement is quite a bit different, and it wasn't a lump sum injection. Check your facts. And the case is still pending. OK, now with corono it will be more easily justified, but non the less. If Ryan&Co get pissed again...
DeleteSo much for people's predictions how the market would take care of itself and LCCs would jump in to take over.
ReplyDeleteIf it were not for covid people would have a greater choice in terms of airlines and more competitive pricing now that Adria is gone.
Delete@anon 09:15
Deletewe saw that from October19 till Februar20 how interesting we are for foreign carriers. While other airport had 20% increase, we had 50% decrease.
@Anonymous 09:15:
DeleteLOL,competitive pricing. LH, Swiss, Transavia, Aeroflot, Air France were competing against who exactly?
SN tickets to BRU were cheaper than JP.
DeleteWell, that makes it alright then.
DeleteOn the other hand, I'm not so sure, since some people were posting Adria's prices for "direct" flights to BRU via DXB.
@anon 12:18
Deleteyou are comparing two different products. If SN was cheaper, why the hell most passengers went from ZAG and not used SN flights out of LJU?
Goes to show how dominant Adria was in LJU.
ReplyDeleteUsed to be much more dominant few years ago. Before 4K, their share used to reach up to 60% at LJU.
DeleteThis is why a new national airline is required.
ReplyDeleteNo thanks
Deleteyes please!
DeleteYes, please!
Deleteyes, make 2 of them to be sure. we have too many nieces and nephews without jobs!
DeleteLol, nieces and nephews. We aren't talking about one of those government appointed positions :). Yes to the new carrier.
DeleteNepotism was never a problem in Adria. Also, I just saw a pig fly past my window.
DeleteIf nepotism is the only reason why not have national carrier than I don't think that many companies would exist in Slovenia if follow same rules. Slovenske zeleznice are much worse from this point of view.
DeleteTwo wrongs don't make it right.
Delete@Anonymous12:12:
DeleteCan you provide some proof of that or is it just hearsay?
We can safely assume it's the latter.
DeleteMiss them.
ReplyDeleteThey are needed now more than ever
DeleteVery interesting data
ReplyDeleteAnd who has the most capacity from Slovenia overall at the moment?
ReplyDeleteLufthansa I believe.
DeleteOne year on barely anyone flies to Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteThat's because of covodi, not Adria.
DeleteThere were not any sign of Covid between October and February and we saw had huge decrease. Even now LJU has less flights than many smaller cities in Ex-yu. Of course huge reason for that is due to Covid but with carrier based in LJU we could react much quicker to any business opportunities.
Delete@Anonymous 09:19:
DeleteWrong, every other airport had less reduction in traffic than LJU.
Corona or no corona, situation on the Slovenian market is poor. When you loose your airline, you also loose innovation and education in this sphere. The market is too small to support LCCs which fly with A320s/B737s. So we are destined for Lufthansa Group which has been so committed to Ljubljana that it currently operates a single route.
ReplyDeleteNot surprised LH has left Ljubljana high and dry. It was expected that as a result of the virus small markets such as Slovenia would be the first to be cut by the big airlines as they try to survive financially.
Deletethat is a price of destroying its own national carrier
DeleteWe will survive.
Deletewe will, but we could live better with decent connectivity.
DeleteSomeone stole 5k from the safe? A mess
ReplyDeleteProbably the 4K guys. Kowarsch had the audacity to file a request with bankruptcy administrator to get his last two paychecks.
Deletehaha that's crzy
Delete4K stole 5K :D
DeleteAnd people said Slovenia was better off without Adria.
ReplyDeleteExpected. Hopefully things get better in 2021.
ReplyDeleteDon't count on it.
DeleteIt will get better even without national carrier. But while other airports will grow significantly, we will be happy with one or two new routes. Is that what we want?
DeleteThis is the reality.
ReplyDeleteAnd nothing of value was lost...
ReplyDeleteyou are being missed Adria
ReplyDeleteThis really was their own fault to begin with. The writing had been on the wall for many years and the management refused to do anything.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings about JP. From one hand, it connected LJU with some parts of the continent and having partial transfer traffic and a LH feeder, but on the other hand its model was a bit old-fashioned and chaotic. Trying to build a hub with some regional, relic jets with a mixed fleet of Saab, Bombardier, Airbus is insane.
ReplyDeleteThen having random, strange bases in Poland, Germany and Kosova was the other extreme.
Finally, it was managed by a dodgy, Estonian guy and some strange company that God knows where and how the money went.
It is sad how the story of a 60 year old airline ends up like this.
Restructuring was essential especially around 2016–2019.
What Fraport needs to do is to fill in the gap with newer airlines or to negotiate with OU to base an aircraft or 2.
But wouldn't be smarter to negotiate with someone like Wizz Air, which would launch numerous routes all at once.
DeleteOf course, Wizz will place few aircrafts in LJU and suddenly A320 will be 90%+ full. Slovenia is to small for LCC. On other hand it would be much cheaper to establish new airline with similar product as we had before (without Poland bases). That what Slovenia and its economy needs ASAP.
Deletec'mon guys, all hellish optimists. where would you fill 180 seats to? and of course you want daily departues to each destinations. the market is too small, it has always been too small. JPs average LF was 64% and the vast majority of available seats were on 86 seat CRJ. where the hell do you see 180 seat passenger potential?
DeleteYou cannot compare LF of a traditional carrier versus LF of an LCC. A lot of people in Slovenia preferred to drive to Treviso or even Bergamo and Bologna and fly with LCCs from there than to fly with JP, as it was cheaper.
DeleteIf tickets from LJU were cheaper (say, if it had more LCC routes), I'm sure people would rather fly from LJU than drive to Bergamo.
That being said, I doubt there is enough demand in LJU for an LCC base.
@Anonymous 12:23:
DeleteCorrect, there is not enough demand in LJU for an LCC base. Otherwise, someone would have done it long ago. Adria was never a threat.
Things could change quickly if new national airline is set up.
ReplyDeleteYep, that will work during a global pandemic.
DeleteDo keep in mind that setting up a new airline takes time. It is expected that if you start today, your first flight will be in 1 to 1,5 year.
DeleteSo it would not be that stupid to start today, to be ready when Covid goes by by.
yes, things will quickly change. our taxes will get higher in the next second to continuously pour in the money laundring and money losing machine all over again.
Delete@Anonymous10:43:
DeleteAnd with all the corona help people are getting, taxes won't increase? How much do you really think a new carrier would contribute to an increase in taxes?
:(
ReplyDeleteIn the short term it won't be easy to replace capacity, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteThe capacity will never be replaced, LJU is sandwiched between larger markets and is losing its base. There was some hope with a domestic carrier, but no chance now
DeleteCan anyone estimate what the decline will be in September in LJU? Will it be worse than August?
ReplyDeleteAround 80%.
DeleteI remember the eurphoria when 4K bought Adria.
ReplyDelete...or when they had those plans for Russian planes...
DeleteThe situation is dire and no matter what you think of Adria it definitely would have been better with them.
ReplyDeleteSay the government bailed them out, I'm not sure they would have survived corona.
Deleteit couldn't - the fime period for state aid hadn't pased yet at that time, so it's a void question. but now it would be bankrupt in one second flat.
DeleteIf Adria had not gone bankrupt in September it certainly would have now
ReplyDeleteThe management were visionaries...
DeleteNot necessarily. Had Adria survived until corona, the government would now certainly give them bail out money.
DeleteThey would need so much money that it would be unsustainable even for the government to provide them with that amount.
Deleteif JP managed to survive until covid19 crisis, they would survive as a airline, and they would have some future
DeleteSomeone calculated from their balance sheets on this forum a while ago, and I agree with the numbers: their costs/expenditures were on the magnitude of 15 million EUR a month. With 0 income per month, what do you think how much money does the SLO government have to throw around. Especially to a company who cannot do business at the time and would not be able to at least untill spring/summer 2021.
DeleteNot to mention their entire business model from the past years (ACMI for LH group) has completely collapsed as well, and we all know the Balkan connecting flights is a relic from the past times that was likely never profitable.
DeleteDo you think that EU flights would be profitable without Balkan flights? You can't survive only from P2P passengers. On other hand, connectivity to Balkan is also crucial for Slovenian economy.
Deleteno balkan flights are curicial for SLO economy. those flights were basically pure transfer with one or two business men per flight. also without transfers, the ZRH line would not be profitable and also very probably MUC. profitable without transfers would be BRU and FRA. And those 4 stated routes were the only ones making profit for JP from the scheduled routes.
Delete@anon 15:52
DeleteThat comment clearly show how some people have data but they are not even close to what reality is. Do you know how many people from ex-yu live in Slo? Do you know how much money did Slovenian company invest into Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania? Just to name a few of them (Petrol, Telekom/IPKO, NLB, Slovenian army etc..). So ex-yu countries are very important for Slovenian economy and share of PTP on those flights was near to 50%.
I was stating facts and statements from JP and Fraport and analysis of JP (DUTB & Ministry) themselves. There was not p&p traffic that would make profitable the balkan routes. you are overestimating the importance of those firms. there was not nearly that much business traffic as you think, or better said that would make it profitable. ans again: the numbers from JP themselves: only 4 and sometimes 5 routes were profitable as such. yes, balkan routes contributed, but when calculating revenue from LJU-SKP/SJJ/TIA/etc was lower than the cost -ergo non profitable route per se, but it did contribute to for example the ZRH route yes. As regards to the ZRH route is was officially stated by JP management that ZRH route is in the profit only because of yugo transfers (mainly PRN and TIA). those are facts, numbers and statements. your opinion is worth zero.
Delete@Anon 17:25: Slovenian military is investing in exyu countries? How does this work?
Delete@anon 18:13
DeleteDid I say that any of those routes were profitable? Fact is that in Slovenia we have market for ex-yu routes so it's a nonsense that there were only transfer passengers on those flights. In addition I told you that many companies have their subsidiaries in ex-yu countries and those are two big factors (VFR and business) why to have good connectivity with ex-yu countries.
@anon 19:28
They are not investing but for your information Slovenian army is present in Kosovo and amount of soldiers there is not negligible.
If all those companies needed so much connectivity to exyu, they would be knocking on government’s door day and night, until they sorted things oit. Looks like that is not the case.
DeleteMilitary have their own way of transporting soldiers, including NATO shared capacity (C17).
@anon 00:53
DeleteHow many times you saw C17 in LJU? Transport of soldiers is arranged by public tenders on scheduled routes. Before Adria did that part of job, later on soldiers used to fly from ZAG with OU and after OU canceled route for PRN they have to fly from VIE.
Now can you imagine what is additional cost for Slovenian taxpayer that every soldier has to fly from VIE (land transport cost + additional working hours + expensive OS tickets on route VIE-PRN). And we are only speaking about MORS, where are all other public workers..
in addition to anon 00:53
DeleteDo you think that nothing is happening in background? :)
@Anon 08:23: LJU? Never. MBX? Plenty of times.
DeleteI like your idea, optimising public sector by providing them with their own airline. Shame Slovenia doesn't have a large oil field under its land to pay for all of that.
Of course you did, it was parked next to Concorde, right?
DeleteIf our government can spend 200 mio for improper respirators and masks without certificates, then we can find 5-10 mio for our own airline as well.
C17 is a regular visitor in Maribor, as Slovenia is a part of shared NATO capacity in base in Papa, Hungary. I read somewhere there is even a Slovenian military pilot flying one of those.
DeleteCan't wait to finally see someone jailed for what happened at Adria
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't hold my breath. None of the fat cats will be processed.
DeleteExactly. None of the 4K fraudsters will come to Slovenia to face the music.
DeleteIs it so difficult to prove 4K's responsibility in Adria's collapse?
DeleteBut is it all just 4k''s fault?
DeleteThere is political responsibility too.
DeleteEveryone has saved their companies - Italy, Croatia, UK, Austria, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain... Only we in Slovenia were smart enough not to...
ReplyDeleteHow much money has UK given to BA/IAG exactly?
DeleteIt injected money into Flybe
Deleteit true that in case JP would overcome Covid crisis, they would cost us much more! there is a but in between! is the price of not having public servis of air traffic in Slovenia that is blocking the tourist destination and economic region lower price as the price of an airline that did the service with mostly not good management?
Delete@Anon 12:27: Source? As far as I know, UK government just allowed Flybe to pay their APD (Air Passenger Duty) at a later date instead of defaulting on payment. That's not the same as a financial injection.
DeleteObviously the Slovenian government saw no interest in keeping Adria around.
ReplyDeleteIs there any prospect of some serious company setting up base in Ljubljana?
ReplyDeleteNo..
DeleteIt would be great to have a local airline back in business
ReplyDeleteI love the photo collection of Adria from the past. Brings back memories.
ReplyDeleteThey should start again with the old name Inex-Adria with old logo and low cost flights.Inex should mean "inexpensive".
ReplyDeleteThat's not such a bad idea :D
DeleteAndrej767 thats grate idea. Maybe to evaluate 5 destinations for low cost segment but to run it with a bigger plane to be really costeffect and competetive? Maybe to have smaller planes to transfer group of tourists to smaller airports at the adriatic coast?
DeleteYes,it is possible ;)
DeleteSlovenia is bankrupt!
ReplyDelete