Amelia International eyes Slovenia - US charters

Slovenian-registered carrier Amelia International, which is part of the Regourd Aviation Group, is interested in operating VIP charter flights from Ljubljana to the United States in the future with an Airbus A319 aircraft configured to seat 66 passengers, if it is granted regulatory approval. The carrier was established in 2008 as a line and base maintenance organisation for helicopter operators. It transitioned into a continuing airworthiness management organisation (CAMO) in 2012 after it received a Slovenian Air Operator’s Certificate. With a growing fleet, which includes ATRs, an A319, as well as Embraer ERJ145s, Amelia International today operates ad-hoc charter flights to destinations in Europe and the Middle East, as well as Public Service Obligation flights on behalf of Air France.

Amelia recently began introducing Airbus jets to its fleet. “Last year the opportunity arose to invest in the A319, so we took that one on lease to test the waters to see if the charter market was going to hold. We had a very successful year, so we decided to invest in a second A319, with a bit of a difference. Our long-term view is to serve the charter market, not as much the ACMI market, but really the specific charter market. With the second A319 we will convert it into a VIP shuttle - 66 seats with additional central tanks in order to do long haul. We see a lot of appetite for the customer base we have for this type of cooperation, so this is a long-term goal”, Matija Kranjc, Amelia International’s Managing Director, said. He added, “Due to the current situation on the market, if you have an A319 that you can lease over the summer and just postpone the transformation for another year, I think everyone would take that advantage”. The carrier also plans to add an A320 to its fleet.

Amelia International sees potential in utilising the transformed long haul A319 aircraft for flights between Slovenia and the United States. “Our customer base for this aircraft is going to be similar to the customer base we currently have on charters. With this aircraft we will be able to operate from Europe to the East and South of Africa, as well as into the US. If we manage to get traffic rights to fly to the US from Slovenia, that is definitely something we want to do and explore the market there. It is a very niche market. Currently in Europe there are only a couple of these VIP shuttle planes but you have an A340 operator in Malta that is looking to add additional seats, so we believe there is a strong enough market to invest in”, Mr Kranjc noted. Ljubljana was last linked to the United States through a nonstop scheduled air service prior to the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, when JAT Yugoslav Airlines maintained operations to New York’s JFK Airport. The Big Apple remains Ljubljana’s busiest unserved destination outside of Europe. Some 23% of Ljubljana’s US passengers fly either to or from New York, followed by San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, Washington, Boston and Atalanta.

Amelia International had considered introducing scheduled flights from Ljubljana following the collapse of Adria Airways in September 2019, but ultimately decided against it. “When we knew Adria Airways was in trouble and there was no way for them to come out of it, we did a lot of market analysis and projections. We tried to figure out if we could operate profitably out of Slovenia. We spent a good half a year trying to find a solution and see if we could find an economically sustainable model to fly from Ljubljana, and we couldn’t. We are not saying it can’t be done, we are just saying we couldn’t find a way to make it happen. At the time we didn’t see it, but we thought someone else would. Time has basically shown us that no one wanted to take on the challenge”, Amelia’s Managing Director said.