Lufthansa turns down Slovenian flag carrier proposal
Lufthansa has reportedly rejected the Slovenian government’s proposal to jointly set up the country’s new national carrier. The development comes following talks on the matter last week in Frankfurt between a Slovenian delegation led by the State Secretary within the Ministry for Economy and Lufthansa executives. According to the business daily “Finance”, the German carrier informed the Slovenian Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, that it was disinterested in setting up a new airline at Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport several weeks ago and reiterated its stance at the meeting last week. The Lufthansa Group is gradually adding flights to the Slovenian capital, with Swiss launching operations from Zurich last Wednesday, which will be followed by Lufthansa itself from Frankfurt and Munich, as well as Brussels Airlines from Brussels, over the coming two weeks. The four routes accounted for around 40% of Adria’s scheduled flights and seats this summer.
Mr Počivalšek has led efforts to establish a new national airline in Slovenia in the wake of Adria Airways’ demise on September 30. He is believed to have proposed the creation of a new flag carrier which would launch towards the end of February 2020 with a fleet of ten to twelve aircraft. The minister previously said any new national airline should be established only in partnership with Lufthansa. Commenting on last week’s meeting with the airline, Mr Počivalšek said, "I can't make any statements about what happened. First, we have to talk to the group of people that attended the meeting and then we will decide the best way forward", he said.
The travel analytics firm ForwardKeys has revealed that Adria Airways’ bankruptcy will lead to a significant reduction in connectivity from Ljubljana Airport this winter. Key source markets such as Austria, Germany and France will be impacted, as Adria accounted for 99.6%, 87.3% and 50.8% of seat capacity on flights from these countries. Despite the rapid response from various carriers to Adria’s bankruptcy, scheduled capacity in Slovenia is still set to fall by almost 40% this winter. “Given the attractiveness of Slovenia as a destination, I expect other airlines to fill the gaps left by Adria Airways but how long it will take to get back to the previous level is anyone's guess”, the Vice President for Insights at ForwardKeys, Olivier Ponti, said.
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