Slovenia close to establishing new national carrier
The Slovenian government is close to jointly establishing a new national carrier with a foreign regional airline, the country’s Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, has said. Speaking to the “Mladina” weekly, Mr Počivalšek noted that talks with the regional carrier have come “a long way”. “We are working on establishing a new company, a new Adria. The government has two options. One is to let the aviation market take its own course and the other is to try and re-establish a national airline in cooperation with a foreign strategic partner. I support the latter because I am convinced that Slovenia’s connectivity will never be as good without our own airline. In any case, the state will have to spend a certain amount of money in the aviation sector on an annual basis. Therefore, the government will look at these numbers and make a final decision relatively soon”.
Mr Počivalšek said setting up and investing in a new national carrier would be carried out in accordance with European Union regulations. “Adria brought in almost 400.000 tourists per year to Slovenia, which had a significant impact on tourism in Ljubljana and its surroundings. In addition to tourists, we must take into account the needs of the business community, as well as congress tourism. We now have issues whether some planned congresses will take place in Slovenia due to the lack of a sufficient number of flights”, the minister said. He added, “If we start up a new airline, we will of course be counting on former Adria employees, which is why we need to make a decision on this matter as soon as possible. The key to our final decision will be our financial calculations, and if it all adds up, we will set up the company with a partner. Talks with a potential partner have come a long way. At this point, I cannot name them, but it is a regional airline”.
Commenting on reports that Lufthansa has refused to help set up a new Slovenian flag carrier despite requests from the government, the minister noted, “Lufthansa never expressed interest in being part of a new Slovenian airline. Lufthansa is Europe’s most important carrier with whom we want to coordinate our plans. All the conversations I’ve had with their CEO were with the intention of presenting our ideas to them. I can only say that Lufthansa will support all our plans aimed at revitalising our national carrier and it joining Star Alliance in the future. If we decide against setting up a new airline, Lufthansa will do its best to help cover the aviation sector in Slovenia, in line with their interests”.
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