Update: Adria Airways has filed for bankruptcy.
On Tuesday Adria Airways “temporarily” ceased most of their operations. Adria Airways is a Star Alliance member airline and also the national carrier of Slovenia, though the country refuses to bail them out, given their lack of a strategy to return to profitability.
Adria Airways Continues To Suspend Flights
Adria Airways’ problems just keep getting worse:
- Initially Adria Airways was going to suspend operations on Tuesday and Wednesday
- Then it was announced that operations would continue to be suspended on Thursday and Friday
Now Adria Airways has announced that they will continue to cease a majority of their flights through Monday, September 30, 2019.
The airline notes that on both Saturday and Sunday they’ll operate a single roundtrip flight to Frankfurt, given that this flight provides a lot of feed to Lufthansa (presumably they’re bankrolling the flight).
Adria Airways also claims that on Monday afternoon they’ll operate the following flights to Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Brussels, Zurich, and Tirana:
JP124/125 LJU-FRA-LJU
JP1089 LJU-MUC-LJU
JP136/137 LJU-VIE-LJU
JP394/395 LJU-BRU-LJU
JP306/307 LJU-ZRH-LJU
JP726 LJU-TIA
It sure sounds to me like they might be optimistic here, since I’m not sure what makes them think they’ll be able to operate those flights, when they’ve been unable to operate virtually all of their other flights?
What’s Next For Adria Airways?
The Slovenian Civil Aviation Authority has given the airline a deadline of Wednesday, October 2 to submit a restructuring plan, or else they will suspend their Air Operators Certificate (in which case they’d be toast, since they wouldn’t be allowed to fly anymore).
At this point a majority of Adria’s fleet has been repossessed, including all of their A319s and most of their CRJ-900s.
Bottom Line
Short of the Slovenian government or Lufthansa bailing out Adria Airways last minute, it sure seems to me like the airline will formally cease operations next week. The airline notes that they’re “still leading active discussions with potential new owners and major creditors and remains dedicated in reaching positive solution for all.”
These aren’t easy times for European aviation, eh?
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