Slovenian government undecided over new carrier
The Slovenian government still hasn’t made a decision on whether to form a new flag carrier despite plans to do so by the end of November. The Slovenian Prime Minister, Marjan Šarec, said this week, “A decision is yet to be made as experts are still examining the matter. If a company is to be established in any shape or form, it will be impossible without a foreign partner. A potential new airline would initially operate with a loss. However, when we determine the exact numbers, we will have to decide whether we are prepared to go ahead and form a new carrier. The airline business is very risky”.
The Slovenian Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, who has backed the creation of a new national airline since the collapse of Adria Airways in late September, is believed to be increasingly isolated in his pursuit to form a new flag carrier. Mr Počivalšek noted that talks with a regional carrier, as a potential part-owner in the company, 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”, Mr Počivalšek said recently.
Earlier this month, the Slovenian state-owned Bank Assets Management Company (BAMC) drafted a business plan for the country’s potential new national airline. Under the proposal, the carrier would reportedly operate a fleet of five Bombardier aircraft and count some 200 employees. Based on the Assets Management Company’s calculations, the airline would record a twenty million euro loss in its first year of operations. Meanwhile, former Adria Airways employees received their August wages this week, after the Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund paid out 1.83 million euros. The Fund noted this was one of the biggest payoffs in the past few years covering workers’ insolvency rights. The next payment will be made in late December.
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