Adria Airways — BrandWiki

Adria Airways

Adria Airways d.o.o.[1] (formerly Inex-Adria Aviopromet and later Inex-Adria Airways) was the flag carrier of Slovenia, operating scheduled and charter services to European destinations. The company's head office was at Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport in Zgornji Brnik, Cerklje na Gorenjskem, near Ljubljana. On 30 September 2019, the airline declared bankruptcy, ceasing all operations. Since Adria's collapse, Slovenia has not had a flag carrier.

History

Early years

The airline was founded in March 1961 as Adria Aviopromet (Adria Airways). In August, the company purchased two DC-6B from KLM and flew their first commercial flight with a Dutch crew. At the same time, the first Adria crew and technical teams were trained by JAT Yugoslav Airlines and the air force. Adria carried out its first flight with a domestic crew in December 1961. At the same time all other activities necessary for the company were set up and organised, from the commercial to the accounting department.[2]

frequent flyer	Miles & More

alliance	Star Alliance (2004–2019)

subsidiaries	Darwin Airline (Jul 2017–Dec 2017)

1990s

As Yugoslavia began to break up, the tourist industry on the Adriatic slumped, which was also felt by air carriers.

In 1991, Adria had 13 aircraft: three Airbus A320s (two were delivered in September 1990), four MD-82s, one MD-81, three DC-9-30s and two Dash 7s. Two A320s, expected to arrive in June 1991, were sold to other airlines.

Flights began in 1992, when Adria Airways re-established its activities on a truncated market. The majority of charter destinations from Western Europe to the Adriatic coast had become inaccessible as they were now situated on the territory of other countries. The fleet was too big, so many aircraft were leased out across the globe.

Adria Airways became Slovenia's national air carrier and its operational structure changed. From being largely a charter airline it transformed itself into a scheduled operator. Adria began to set up a network of scheduled flights around Europe to serve the needs of an independent Slovenia. Later in 1992, the company joined the Amadeus global travel distribution system. A period of restructuring and rehabilitation of the company began.

In the next years, Adria's A320s were mainly leased out, as well as MD-82s. An MD-81 and an MD-82 were sold in 1994. The other three MD-82 and a DC-9-30 were sold at the end of 1995. As part of an ownership restructuring, in February 1996, the Government of Slovenia obtained a 100% share in the company.

In 1996, in line with the administration's rescue programme, a rehabilitation procedure was started the aim of which was to enable the company to run on market principles. The main emphasis was on the rationalization and modernization of the operations and the adaptation of the fleet to market requirements. The number of employees has been reduced from 931 to 618. In 1996, the fleet consisted of three Airbus A320 with 168 seats (at least two were leased out most of the time), two DC-9-30 with 105 seats and two Dash-7 with 46 seats. Adria started a corporation with Lufthansa later in 1996.

In April 1997, Adria ordered two new Bombardier CRJ200LR planes with an option for one more. Planes were delivered in 1998 when two Dash-7 and two DC-9-30 left the fleet. Another CRJ200LR arrived in late 1998.[11] Bombardier CRJ200LR were chosen as the best option for flights operated from Ljubljana, which allowed for more flights to be flown directly and more frequent. CRJ200LR are in 48 seats configuration which give space for a larger baggage compartment needed for charters. In 1999, Adria's fleet consisted of three Airbus A320, which were now operating back home, and three CRJ200LR.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the airline head office was in Ljubljana.[12][13][14]

2000s

Adria started to connect Balkan cities with Western Europe via its hub Ljubljana in the late 1990s. Cities like Sarajevo, Skopje, Ohrid, Tirana were connected with Scandinavia, United Kingdom, Germany and France. After the Kosovo War ended in 1999, Adria was the first airline fly to Pristina in the winter period of 1999.[15] In March 2000, the 4th new 48 seats Bombardier CRJ200LR arrived.[3]

Maribor, the second largest city in Slovenia was connected with Munich for a short period of time in the summer of 2000. There were 5 weekly flights around noon.

In 2001, Adria Airways recorded a large decrease in the number of annual passengers as a result of the September 11, 2001 attacks. In the winter of 2001, Adria started flying in the EU market, starting with the Vienna-Frankfurt route. In July 2002, Bombardier Aerospace selected Adria as the first authorized heavy maintenance facility for CRJ aircraft in Europe.

In the spring of 2003, Adria leased a Bombardier CRJ100LR with 50 seats from Bombardier; the lease lasted until January 2011. In August 2004, Adria was among the first airlines in the world to obtain an IOSA certificate. The 6th Bombardier CRJ200LR with 50 seats was leased from GECAS. On 18 November 2004, Adria Airways joined the Star Alliance.

In 2005, 7th brand new CRJ200LR with 50 seats was delivered to Adria. Adria ended with a loss of around €10 million and a new CEO was announced later in 2005. Tadej Tufek became the new CEO in 2006. Two Boeing 737-500 (112 seats) aircraft were leased from Ukraine International Airlines and Cirrus Airlines to fill the gap between the A320 (162 seats) and CRJ200 (48/50 seats). An A320 was leased to Afriqiyah Airways until late 2009 while another joined Afriqiyah in the winter of 2006 until the summer of 2008. In 2006, the company recorded a minimal profit and transported its first annual millionth passenger since the late 1980s.[3]

In 2007, Adria ordered two Bombardier CRJ900 which were delivered in May. During the summer the fleet consisted of an Airbus A320 (162 seats), a Boeing 737-500 (112 seats) leased from Ukraine International Airlines, two Bombardier CRJ900LR (86 seats) and seven Bombardier CRJ200LR (48/50 seats) aircraft. In November 2007 Adria announced the purchase a new CRJ1000 NextGen and two new CRJ900 NextGen aircraft. Adria ended the year with a small profit.

In 2008, Adria converted its CRJ1000 NextGen order into a 5th CRJ900 and made a loss of €3 million again.[16]

In March 2009, Adria Airways signed a letter of intent with Airbus to purchase a new Airbus A319 aircraft, in order to replace the Airbus A320 fleet. The seating configuration of the aircraft chosen was of 135 seats. Two Airbus A320 were sold to Myanmar Airways International in 2009, S5-AAC in October and S5-AAB in December.[3] In November 2009 new headquarters at Ljubljana Airport were opened. A loss of €14 million was made in 2009.[17]

2010s

Adria started a new decade with a huge accumulated loss. However, the future looked bright as two brand new Airbus A319s were planned to arrive in April 2010. In March 2010, Adria added Belgrade to its schedule, which was last operated prior to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. In April 2010, all operations were moved to Maribor, as Ljubljana airport was having its runway renovated.[18] Later that month, Adria like many other airlines in Europe, was grounded due to the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland.

Adria took delivery of two new Airbus A319s[19] with a slight delay due to the volcanic eruption in April/May 2010 (Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption).

In June 2010, as a part of reorganisation of the company, Adria Tehnika and Adria Flight School were created as separate companies.[20]

New flights to Banja Luka[21] started in July, which were operated in co-operation with Sky Srpska. Flights ended a year later. Later that month, flights to Marseille were started, offering Turkish truck drivers a connection from Istanbul via Ljubljana. These flights were cancelled at the end of 2011. In the summer of 2010 Adria's fleet consisted of an Airbus A320 (162 seats), two Airbus A319s (135 seats), four Bombardier CRJ900LR (86 seats) and seven Bombardier CRJ200LR (48/50 seats) aircraft. On 11 September 2010, Airbus A320-231 (S5-AAA), was retired and is stored at Ljubljana Airport. With the beginning of the winter timetable, flights from Marseille were moved to Toulon. From 10 December 2010, Adria started serving new routes from Pristina, Kosovo. Destinations during the winter were Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich.[22] During summer, Brussels, Copenhagen and Paris were added to those started in the winter season.

On 14 January 2011, CEO Tadej Tufek and Executive Director Marjan Ravnikar resigned because of bad results in their last years of leadership. Klemen Boštjančič became the new CEO, and a new executive director, Robert Vuga, was named. Adria sold its shares in Adria Tehnika to Ljubljana Airport and the Government to cover part of the loss.[23]

In February 2011, CRJ100LR (S5-AAH) was retired and returned in August 2011 to Bombardier Capital. In March 2011, Adria celebrated its 50th anniversary. An exhibition in The National Museum of Contemporary History was made showing the history of Slovenian national carrier.[24] As a part of immediate actions by the new management, two new Airbus aircraft were leased. An Airbus A320-231 (S5-AAS, ex EI-DOD) is leased from April 2011 for 3.5 years.[25] It has 180 seats and is mostly operated on charter flights. At June, a second Airbus A320-211 (S5-AAT, ex CS-TNB) was supposed to be leased for 18 months but it was stored in October. It wore Adria retro colours from the 1960s. On 26 January 2012, S5-AAT was returned to the lessor GOAL which sold the aircraft.[26]

In summer 2011, Adria operated with two Airbus A320s (180/162 seats), two Airbus A319s (135 seats), four Bombardier CRJ900 (86 seats) and 6 Bombardier CRJ200LR (50/48 seats). The 3rd Airbus A320 (S5-AAA) was still owned by Adria, but wasn't operational and was stored at Ljubljana airport.

A total loss of €63,073,630 was made in 2010. The majority of the loss was due to a revaluation of the fleet, which showed a decrease of €45,443,441 mainly because of poor market value for the CRJ200LR. Due to revaluation and accumulated losses, a financial restructuring plan was made in August. It involved the Government of Slovenia and the banks from which Adria had taken loans in the past years. According to the plan, the Government would invest €50 million and the banks would convert 25%-50% of the loans into equity. On 21 September 2011, Adria finalised the deal with the banks and the government. Together Adria got €69,720,983– €50 million from the government, and the rest as converted through the loans-to-equity swap.

With the beginning of Winter 2011/12 timetable, Adria dropped flights to Banja Luka, London, Paris, Toulon and Warsaw. The Vienna-Frankfurt route was also cancelled.

For the 2012 summer season, Adria returned to three seasonal destinations: Barcelona, London Luton and Manchester.

In August 2012, Ljubljana Airport reported that it had a new airline to operate on a London-Luton route, and therefore Adria removed it from the winter and summer 2013 timetable.

On 24 September 2012, a leased Bombardier CRJ200LR registered S5-AAI was returned to lessor GECAS. Adria now operates five owned CRJ200LR planes and two owned CRJ900LR, two leased CRJ900LR (next gen) planes and two leased Airbus A319s along with a bigger leased Airbus A320 for a total of 12 planes.

For the 2012–13 winter season, the company operated nearly the same frequencies as in the last winter season and served the same destinations. The operational fleet was four CRJ900 and four CRJ200LR. The Airbus fleet operated on charters and would be leased out while the remaining CRJ200LR would be used on ad hoc charters (sport clubs, business/corporate, etc.) and as a back-up.

In spring of 2014, Adria began operating from Frankfurt to Tirana, Albania.

In summer of 2015, Adria began operating from Maribor to London Southend Airport, England. However, flights were terminated by the end of the season.[27]

2016

In March 2016, 4K Invest, a Luxembourg-based restructuring fund, acquired 96% of Adria Airways' shares from the Slovene state.[28] The new owner appointed Arno Schuster as the CEO of Adria.[28]

On 1 July 2017, Adria suspended its base in the Polish city of Łódź, from which it held flights with its stationed CRJ700 aircraft, registered S5-AAZ, for the previous three years. During this time, Adria had also opened two other bases in Poland, one in Rzeszów and one in Olsztyn; however, both were terminated fairly quickly.[29] Adria is now set to focus more on its main hub on Ljubljana Airport, which has already seen a boost in the frequencies of flights to a couple of destinations served by Adria. These destinations include Amsterdam, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo and Skopje.[30]

On 20 July 2017, Adria announced the purchase of Darwin Airline, which operated flights as Etihad Regional and was owned by Etihad Airways. The airline marketed itself as Adria Airways Switzerland, but continued its operations as Darwin Airline with the existing air operator's certificate (AOC). Adria was responsible for the marketing and some administrative and operational tasks. However, this did not directly impact the airline's operations as a whole, as the two bases remained in Geneva and Lugano.[31]

In September 2017, it was revealed that Adria sold its brand for 8 million Euros to an undisclosed buyer in December of the previous year.[32]

In November 2017, Adria announced new flights from the Swiss city of Bern, which came as a result of SkyWork Airlines, previously the largest operator out of Belp Airport, losing its AOC. The flights to Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Vienna were set to begin on 6 November 2017, and were to be operated by the subsidiary Adria Airways Switzerland, however these plans were cancelled only days after the announcement, as SkyWork managed to regain its AOC.[33][34]

In recent years, Adria has focused on ad hoc flights, which are mainly operated for large automotive companies, such as Ford, Chrysler and Ferrari.[35]

On 12 December 2017, Adria's Swiss subsidiary Darwin Airline, which operated as Adria Airways Switzerland, was declared bankrupt and its AOC was revoked. The airline ended all operations.[36]

Corporate affairs and identity

Headquarters

Adria's corporate headquarters were located on the grounds of Ljubljana Airport in Zgornji Brnik, Cerklje na Gorenjskem, Slovenia, near Ljubljana.[49][50] In 2008 the first stone to the new Adria headquarters was laid. In November 2009 Adria moved in around 300 employees and all of its departments. The previous building, in the city of Ljubljana, was built in the 1980s.[51] In the 1970s, Inex-Adria had its headquarters on the Ljubljana airport property like it did at the end of its operations.[52]

Brand history

The Adria Airways corporate identity was created in the late 1980s. The tail mark symbolized a linden tree leaf, a national symbol of Slovenia.

Financial and operational results

Subsidiaries

In addition to its main operation, Adria had several subsidiaries, including:

Adria Airways Tehnika (not owned)[57]
Adria Flight Career Centre[58]
Amadeus Slovenia[59]
Adria Airways Kosovo[59]

Adria Airways Tehnika

Adria Airways Tehnika was a maintenance organization based at Ljubljana Airport

Adria Airways Tehnika

Adria Airways Tehnika was a maintenance organization based at Ljubljana Airport. It was the line and base maintenance provider for Adria Airways, as well as to Air Berlin, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Air Méditerranée, Brit Air and others.[57] Before September 2002 sporadic third party maintenance was provided for some aircraft at the site. It was the first recognized service facility for the CRJ100/200/700/900 in Europe. In mid-2005 a partnership was formed with Air France Industries to perform A & C checks on aircraft of the A320 family. In 2010 Adria Airways Tehnika was established as a separate company, employing around 250 employees. With two hangars they can serve from two to five aircraft depending on their size. In 2015 Adria Airways Tehnika was privatized and sold to Czech-Polish Avia Prime Group, owner of Polish Linetech, and Serbian Jat Tehnika Maintenance Organisations.[60] The name of the company was then rebranded to Adria Tehnika.

Adria Airways Switzerland

Adria Airways Switzerland was the marketing name of Darwin Airline, which operated all of its flights, and was a Swiss subsidiary of Adria Airways. It was owned by Etihad Airways and branded as Etihad Regional, with bases at Geneva and Lugano in Switzerland. All flights by this unit ceased operations on 12 December 2017.

focus cities
airline	Adria Airways
iata	JP
icao	ADR
callsign	ADRIA
founded	March 14, 1961
commenced	December 1961
ceased	September 30, 2019
headquarters	Zgornji Brnik, Cerklje na Gorenjskem, Slovenia
hubs	Ljubljana

Adria Airways

History

Early years

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2016

Final years

Asset auction

Corporate affairs and identity

Headquarters

Brand history

Financial and operational results

Subsidiaries

Adria Airways Tehnika

Adria Airways Tehnika

Adria Airways Switzerland

Destinations

Codeshare agreements

Fleet

Final fleet

Former fleet

Incidents and accidents

Further reading

External links

References

Adria Airways Switzerland