The Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, has said the government is looking at ways to replace former national carrier Adria Airways and improve the country’s air connectivity. It comes almost two years since Adria’s collapse in September 2019, which marked the start of a sharp decline in passenger numbers at Ljubljana Airport, which has been further exasperated by the coronavirus pandemic. “If we want to have better air connectivity in Slovenia, we will have to do something in this sector and find a way forward to enable progress, in cooperation with a private stakeholder. Currently, we do not have a national carrier, and air traffic is severely affected by the pandemic”, Mr Počivalšek said.
The Deputy Prime Minister noted it was impossible to rescue Adria Airways in 2019. “Adria was sold by someone: the responsible person or government, some say the Minister for Economy, who, however, had nothing to do with it. It was sold to a company that provided just 20.000 euros in initial capital. We need to check how and why this was done. However, the fact of the matter is that when we got involved in rescuing Adria, we found the financial situation was so dire, we failed in our attempts to save it. It had enormous debt of over 100 million euros”, Mr Počivalšek said.
Plans to establish a new national airline using European Union Covid-19 recovery funds were dropped earlier this year following the block’s objections. On the other hand, Slovenian cargo carrier Solinair held talks with the government last year over the possibility of launching scheduled flights or establishing a new flag carrier. It proposed two strategies for improving the country’s connectivity following Adria’s bankruptcy and requested financial support from the state for the project. However, ultimately, no agreement was reached. The government also held talks with foreign carriers including Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Air Serbia in a bid to secure more flights. Slovenia has been one of the most affected European aviation markets by the coronavirus pandemic. During the first six months of the year, Ljubljana Airport reached just 9% of its pre-pandemic traffic from 2019.
They have been saying this for a long time now and yet nothing happens. It's all for PR.
ReplyDeleteWith traffic at 9% within the period of Slovenian EU presidentship.
DeleteEven the best PR cannot pretty up those facts.
9% was until the start of EU presidency. We will see if the share increases in these six months :D
DeleteMaybe to 12% or 13%
DeleteSlovenia should do what N.Macedonia did with Skoplje. That is cheaper than new airline for government and passenger numbers are speaking for themselves. If Zagreb gets 10 new routes next two years, Ljubljana Airport is done!
DeleteSlovens wake up! Make a good subsidy model sometime like a Skoplje Airport case, try to take the biggest lcc players and then make of Ljubljana small Vienna Airport.
Delete*Anonymous 00:55
Delete*sometime-something
9% isn't tragic for a small country if you consider that the world in corona times is at 12%. Slovenia has a bit unfortunate geographical location where there are quite a few big enough airports around it, but not enough close to take care of the core needs of Slovenian population. Even Ljubljana airport is too far for many Slovenes. But keep in mind that Slovenia isn't really suffering much of not having a national carrier. The potential just isn't optimised. That's all.
DeleteSlovenia will establish an airline sooner or later. Probably the very next year. A small fleet that will service what needs to be serviced.
The importance of Adria to the Slovenian market has been illustrated in the last year, despite what people say.
ReplyDelete+1 ... Completely agree with you!
DeleteI think the Solinair arrangement was their last chance. Why did they pass that opportunity?
ReplyDeleteIn the end they calculated the losses would have been the same as Adria.
DeleteThey waste money on all sorts of things yet its impossible to give anything for Adria 2.0?
DeleteSolinair has a bit of challaning ownership structure.
Delete^ Why?
DeleteSolinair is Turkish. Parent company is MNG Airlines.
DeleteSo it is not compatible as a partner to setup a NATIONAL airline.
If it would be setup under Solinair it would be a foreign NATIONAL airline
and there are EU laws also.
Like national football teams around the world :)
I'm sure a solution could be found to that.
DeleteI suggest this government to search the ways to replace themselves first. Bullshit all over.
ReplyDelete@anon 10:04 Jesus, settle down, government tax money will pay for that, its either that or you get yourself on a 2 hours drive to ZAG or 3 hours to Trieste, and fill the pockets of other governments. Whats the matter with you Slovenes.
DeleteYou mean the people's tax money.
DeleteProtect your tax money at all cost, but spend your own money to travel 3 hours to ZAG
DeleteWe need a new national airline.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Slovenia as a small market needs a national airline that will operate with small profit or even small loss. If we want to have good connectivity and not only most profitable routes we need to set up a national airline.
DeleteAnd who is going to pay for it?
DeleteSlovenia needs a small airline with 4-5 planes to cover major European hubs and regional network. If the Government was serious, they could make it happen with controlled expenses they could make a small profit.
DeleteAnd who is paying for subsidies for foreign airlines.
Delete9% of 2019 traffic is shockingly bad
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.
DeleteGoes to show how dominant Adria was in LJU.
DeleteUsed to be much more dominant few years ago. Before 4K, their share used to reach up to 60% at LJU.
DeleteWhich wasn't great either. When Adria was around LJU lacked foreign airlines. Now it mostly lacks any airline.
Delete@Anonymous14:41:
DeleteWhich just goes to show that the only airline willing to establish all the necessary routes to & from Slovenia is a national airline. Any other solution does not meet strategic needs of Slovenian economy.
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.
ReplyDeleteTrue unfortunately
DeleteAbsolutely 100% correct.
DeleteWhat happened to Adria's pilots and crew? Did they manage to find new jobs. It must not have helped that just a few months later corona started.
ReplyDeleteDidn't someone say that many of them went to Lauda/Ryanair and that a few will be based in Zagreb now?
Delete50% have started carriers in different sectors, 20% are still in aviation, 20% retired, 9% are still searching, 1% is actively involved in airline design.
DeleteI heard of an ex Adria pilot: he told the workload (hours flying) with Adria was small but pay was big (compared to the amount of flying done). He thought that after Adria no such job anymore. But now he is flying to exotic African countries for int. organizations etc. mostly cargo and the amount of work is even lower and money so big as never before. He has strong connections in Adria structure before.
DeleteSo all went perfect for him .
Do you mean carriers or careers?
DeleteAir Montenegro started flying in just 6 months while these guys after 2 years still don't know what to do.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the same could have been done in Slovenia? Close the indebted airline (I think MGX had more debt than Adria) and open a new airline, take over Adria's planes?
DeleteI'm not sure what they did in Montenegro is allowed under EU rules.
DeleteOK, having airport almost without is perfect within EU rules...
DeleteBasically he only wants to shift any responsibility from himself.
ReplyDeleteExactly. As if he wasn't there when Adria was being sold to crooks.
DeleteAdria died 2 years ago and they are still talking about it.
ReplyDeleteBecause we are still feeling the effects of their bankruptcy.
DeleteAdria was dead a lot of years ago not only two...
DeleteThey have had 10 years to establish strategy for national or private or amy carrier. Intheir case, just two turboprops will do job, all hubs are pretty close and LF will not be problem never.
LJU fell from 3. busiest airport in region to 12. in just 10 years. Bravo LJU, bravo Slovenia!
ReplyDeleteSad but true
DeleteThey couldn't keep adria alive. They would only need to put in money but no as we are slovenia.
ReplyDeleteSeriously? Just that, right? My money, your money, whos money? Into a company that was clearly taking this money out and management put it directly into their pockets. So, no, thank you. If they plan to build "Adria 2.0" from scratch, go ahead. If it will be loosing money again, I hope the story will repeat.
DeleteAgree that puting any money to Adria in 2019 would be crazy. But a good goverment would be prepared, and new company would fly before new year... The cost? Not bigger than ammount of subsidies for foreign airlines, not to mention that a lot of that money would stay in Slovenia, which is not the case now.
DeleteThe funny thing is that people say not with my money. As they think they have any control where state money goes.
DeleteAnd yes your money is also used for water cannons that disperse the crowd.
Why do individuals in Slovenia always so loudly state their opinion about where "their" taxpayer money should be invested, as if it's only their money and it should only be spent on services they directly use? How can anyone be so selfish and by no means doesn't even want to understand the needs of other sectors of economy in Slovenia. If such selfish opinions would always be taken into account, then nothing would ever be done in Slovenia ... I haven't used public land transport, either traveled by train or bus for almost 20 years. Yet I completely agree with subsidies and investments from government into public transport. Because good transport network is what keeps running the economy ... Back in 2019 there were a few articles in Slovenian newspapers, can't remember which one, about the effects that former national airline had on Slovenian economy. It stated that Adria Airways in the last 15 years paid something like close 4 or 5 times as much money directly into state budget (through taxes, contributions, various fees etc.) than state invested back into Adria via recapitalization. And even more striking fact was that Adria's connections and connectivity had such positive effect on other sectors of Slovenian economy, that state was able to collect more taxes from other sectors, hence the ratio wasn't only 4 or 5, but it was something between 10 and 20 ... Only an uneducated taxpayer can state opinion, that the only way forward is to get rid of the national airline.
DeleteHe should have been thinking about Adria's replacement months before it went bankrupt as everyone knew it would go bankrupt.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The writing was on the wall for at least a year and by the start of the summer it was obvious their days were counted. He could have done something if he wanted to.
Delete9% of Pre COVID traffic is simply disastrous!
ReplyDeleteSomething must really really be done.....
Really is tragic
DeleteSo much for people's predictions how the market would take care of itself and LCCs would jump in to take over.
DeleteWe shouldn't have sold Adria. It wasn't even making any loss if you add the profit it made at LJU.
DeleteAt this point we can probably just close the airport.
ZAG, VCE and GRZ can probably provide more at no cost. Maybe we should just invest in fast rail so we can leave the country faster.
I wonder what the situation would have been now at LJU if Adria was salvaged in some way. Would they have survived Covid? I'm certain there would be more passenger traffic and flights at Ljubljana Airport. At least they would be doing the summer charters and money would be kept in Slovenia rather than a Croatian airline being paid to do it.
ReplyDeleteAdria would have survived Covid because they would have been given money. EU would have approved it. I don't know what volume of traffic they would have had but we certainly would not have had several days per week of no flights like we did during the first 5 months of this year.
DeleteYou are assuming the government would be willing to provide funds to a private airline. Not saying it couldn't happen, but I doubt they would just bankroll it forever, even without EU rules.
DeleteEveryone keeps forgetting how much money was pumped into all the other sectors of economy, to all the companies who had to suspend their business, how much money was given to all the other stay-at-home employees. I mean, the economy of the whole country and world was forced to shut down. No one takes into account how much money this will cost Slovenian taxpayers down the line. Short term it'll cost Slovenia to start-up the economy close to 6 billion EUR. Which means realistically down the line we're talking more than 10 billions ... Yet the same people who were given state partial or whole reimbursement of salary compensation due to work order to stay at home due to Covid-19, are now writing comment how "we" dodged the bullet by not saving former national airline. An airline whose saving would only need somewhere btw. 1% to 2% of upper mentioned numbers.
DeleteMiss seeing those Adria birds :(
ReplyDeleteThey are needed now more than ever
DeleteEven if eventually the government does launch Adria with or without someone they can't use the name anymore since it has been sold :(
ReplyDeleteThey can buy it or rent it. Remember 4K sold the brand name too :D
DeleteThey sold it to a ghost company owned by 4K. It was money laundering.
DeleteThey should talk to that Estonian magician that came to Adria in its dying days. I'm sure he would know what to do.
ReplyDeleteLOL
DeleteI get so angry whenever I hear the politicians talking about Adria. They are responsible for it not being around anymore.
ReplyDeleteIf wonder if Skobir/Krašnja and Co. are still againts new airline while LJU has 8-9% of pre-covid traffic.
ReplyDeleteThey are celebrating arrival of Iberia... that will fly for the whole of 4 weeks.
DeleteYou all forgot that Fraport never focused on passenger flights. They are here for cargo. They dont care for IB, JU flying or not.
DeleteIt is well known that these two are completely incompetent, they can't even find a new airline for STN-LJU route that had 130k passengers per year.
DeleteSkobirs most famous words "Market will sort it our", destroyed his reputation as a credible person.
DeleteKrasnjas false advertising destroyed his.
Market probably would have sorted itself out if there was no corona. Remember how many airlines started flights right after Adria went bankrupt?
DeleteHow many?
Delete@Anonymous10:25:
DeleteYes, please do enlighten us, how many airlines started to fly to/from LJU in the 6 months period btw. Adria's bankruptcy and Corona lock-down?
As far as Skobir & Krasnja goes: it's no secret they weren't inclined to Adria. You can't blame them, since they were both both forced to leave Adria. One can make its own opinion about this based on the way they are running ariport nowadays.
But the market will sort itself out... remember?
ReplyDeleteA few months ago LJU management said they were in talks with regional airline over opening a base in LJU. Still waiting...
ReplyDeleteHahahaha you believe them?
DeleteBack in 2019 i heard from someone that easyjet wanted to open base at LJU, but Fraport was againts it.
DeleteI heard the same. There were rumors about easy but that they could not reach a deal with LJU. Don't know if it is true or not.
DeletePeople from LJU can tell you that having LCC is not profitable enough, and that earn more from one Lufthasa flight than 5 LCC flights. Which might be even true, especialy if you cant sell any additional items to those LCC pax. But that is not the biggest problem, that is Fraport calculation. The problem is that the goverments take this Fraport policy as best and only solution, when deciding what to do with the airline. What is good for private entityis usualy not good for society or state if you want.
DeleteThe whole aftermath of Adria going bankrupt was handled extremely badly. This is just another example of it.
ReplyDelete+100
DeletePredicted this would be the outcome unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteThe government does not seem to care.
ReplyDeleteWell the people reasonable for this disastrous sale are still in power.
DeleteI'm pretty sure that Mr. Serpentinsek, Mrs. Black Mamba and Mr. Cerar had something to do with it.
DeleteWhy doesn't Slovenia just do what Macedonia did? Invest a couple of million per year into an LCC to open a base and launch routes. It would be much more beneficial for the public.
ReplyDeleteIt's too small of a market for any LCC to base their plane and operate with a profit.
DeleteThere are many routes that would work.
DeleteMany... off course. Thats why LCC are fighting so severely for this market.
DeleteAnon 10:11 so why did wizz open SJJ base?
Deletesome people who comment here behave like they NEVER read anything about the slovenian market. Almost no diaspora, no massive (inbound) tourism), mostly outbound tourism and business, a market of 2mio, how will you fill up 3 weekly B737??? LJU will never be a LCC base. Market is 100% different from the one in BIH, Macedonia, Kosovo. Most routes can be serve with a 50-70 seater. e
DeleteSloavio, I can disagree with you on this one. Slovenia had more than 6 million tourists in 2019 and was capable of having charter flights from Japan. 6 million is like half the number of tourists in Croatia to a much smaller country is definitely something.
DeleteNMK relies heavily on traffic from Kosovo and Albania and OHD is still not a massively visited destination.
LCCs create demand if you guys still don't know.
DeleteSloavio i also don't think you know much about slovenian market.
DeleteOf course LCC bring different pax. LJU can probably sustain 2x/week to BCN. In the summer. Probably 2-3x Berlin all year. LON for sure. AMS for sure but thats all. Do you need a base? No
DeleteCould Slovenian government apply for PSO for some routes to EU cities?
ReplyDeleteWith this air connectivity for sure. But gov is not interested. Aviation is the last thing they are interested in.
DeleteIn a year he will say the same.
ReplyDeleteThey will be seeking a partner for a long time. With Ryanair now having a base in Zagreb, there is little chance same LCC will do the same in Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteI actually think the opposite. For example I think LJU would be a fantastic opportunity for Wizz to open a base in order to compete against Ryanair in Zagreb.
Delete..and lose exemplary!
DeleteThis really was their own fault to begin with. The writing had been on the wall for many years and the government refused to do anything.
ReplyDeleteis still refusing to do anything.
DeleteI'm not Slovenian but as an outsider looking at Slovenian politics and who is PM, i would have thought they would want a national flag carrier.
Delete:(
ReplyDeleteBLA BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA...INCAPACITY!!!
ReplyDeleteThe situation is dire and no matter what you think of Adria it definitely would have been better with them.
ReplyDeleteDoubt they would have survived Covid.
DeleteIs there any prospect of some serious company setting up base in Ljubljana?
ReplyDeleteNo, unfortunately
DeleteAfter corona ends or the globe learns to live with it, I see LOT basing one of their small jet planes and launching a couple of routes from LJU.
Delete2 years after Adria went bust this minister wants us to take him seriously?
ReplyDeleteTradeair is the only real option
ReplyDeletegood joke :)
Deletenobody takes this clown seriously any more. With his party popular approval in range of 0.5%, he is just buying his future outside politics. Its too late. They have all destroyed national carrier, with some help of neo-liberals (screaming "no money from taxpayer pocket to companies!" and at the same time money is handed out at large). There will never be Adria 2 or 3 or whatever. Ljubljana needs airliner with exactly same fleet Adria had (maybe more optimized) and it could be, with good guidance and management, on positive 0 or even in profit. This is what we will get. There will be no more routes, Ljubljana will never again see 1 mio passengers +.
ReplyDeleteThere is no need for fleet the Adria had. No need for Slovenian taxpayers to subsidise Balkan transfers.
DeleteAll you need is to cover those couple of hubs with 2 flights a day, possibly 3 for FRA, and that's about it.
@20:44:
DeleteWell, that's what you have now. Enjoy it.
yes also aviation should be a part of public services! if we can pay regional buses that are connecting suberbs with cities, for breathing the country needs also good connections within Europe and not just connections to LH Group airports.... I miss FCO/MXP/MAD/BCN/LIS/LED/ARN. Not just because of storytelling but also for slovenian commerce/tourism. It is a pity that slovenian two airports do not have international train connections that would grow interes to use flights and slovenia as flight destination. VIE is developing that very good!
ReplyDeleteThis mustn't go unnoticed ... Why do individuals in Slovenia always so loudly state their opinion about where "their" taxpayer money should be invested, as if it's only their money and it should only be spent on services they directly use? How can anyone be so selfish and by no means doesn't even want to understand the needs of other sectors of economy in Slovenia. If such selfish opinions would always be taken into account, then nothing would ever be done in Slovenia ... I haven't traveled by train or bus for almost 20 years. Yet I completely agree with subsidies and investments from government into public transport. Because good transport network is what keeps running the economy ... Back in 2019 there were a few articles in Slovenian newspapers, can't remember which one, about the effects that former national airline had on Slovenian economy. It stated that Adria Airways in the last 15 years paid something like close 4 or 5 times as much money directly into state budget (through taxes, contributions, various fees etc.) than state invested back into Adria via recapitalization. And even more striking fact was that Adria's connections and connectivity had such positive effect on other sectors of Slovenian economy, that state was able to collect more taxes from other sectors, hence the ratio wasn't only 4 or 5, but it was something between 10 and 20 ... Only an uneducated taxpayer can state opinion, that the only way forward is to get rid of the national airline.
ReplyDeleteAs far as saving former Adria in case it would live to face Corona crisis: One has to keep separete opinion about helping Adria Airways if it would continue to operate to this day. There was pre-Corona economy, during Corona and post-Corona economy ... Everyone keeps forgetting how much money was pumped into all the other sectors of economy during and post-Corona, to all the companies who had to suspend their business, how much money was given to all the other stay-at-home employees. I mean, the economy of the whole country and world was forced to shut down. No one takes into account how much money this will cost Slovenian taxpayers down the line. Short term it'll cost Slovenia to start-up the economy close to 6 billion EUR. Which means realistically down the line we're talking more than 10 billions ... Probably, due to the extension of economy lock-down, the same people who wanted Adria to fail few years ago, were given state partial or whole reimbursement of salary compensation due to work order to stay at home due to Covid-19. Yet the same people are now commenting how "we" dodged the bullet by not saving former national airline, and how much money was saved. An airline whose saving would only need somewhere btw. 1% to 2% of upper mentioned numbers.