Adria's new MD outlines company plans
Adria Airways' new Managing Director, the 31-year-old Sven Kukemelk, has said his main priority will be to grow the airline in the coming period. Mr Kukemelk, who will manage the company alongside Holger Kowarsch, has said that in the long-run the airline should more than double its fleet and focus on turning Ljubljana into a transfer point between the Balkans and Western Europe. "When I left Nordica I started a consulting company and it has done well. We advised Adria and developed a business plan for them. The airline's owners thought I could give advice from the Managing Director position, and that also involves responsibility", the Estonian told the "Delfi" portal. He will be in charge of managing the Operations division, and will continue to lead Adria’s Flight School.
Commenting on the airline's future plans, the newly appointed Managing Director said, "We have different opportunities and challenges here - Adria has tried to do everything - ACMI business, charters, building a hub in Ljubljana and focusing on point-to-point travel. But now there is a clear need to concentrate and put emphasis on certain services and groups". He added, "Today, Adria is clearly too small. In the long-run the airline must have forty to fifty aircraft in order to be sustainable. I wouldn't double my fleet within a two-year period, rather, it could be part of a ten-year plan. My goal now is to see the most sensible way to get this growth happening. Building a hub in Ljubljana is not easy - there are both pros and cons. Slovenia was and is the richest region in the former Yugoslavia, and there is already great demand for it in the area. We are in a relatively good position to connect the whole Balkans with Ljubljana".
Despite plans to revive the company's hub-and-spoke model, Mr Kukemelk noted, "For us, serving the Slovenian home market is still our main mission". He conceded that last year was complicated and unprofitable for Adria, however, he noted that this year the carrier has kept its nose above water. "Currently, the company's financial position is relatively normal. We have a whole bunch of development projects to work on. Since Adria is privately owned the decision-making process is much faster and changes can be implemented immediately when compared to state ownership. Leading Adria is a big challenge, no doubt". Mr Kukemelk jokingly concluded, "When I was younger, I always wanted to become the CEO of a national airline. At the time, I was not thinking of anything other than Estonia's airline".
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