Deputy PM: Slovenia seeking Adria replacement
The Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, has said the government is looking at ways to replace former national carrier Adria Airways and improve the country’s air connectivity. It comes almost two years since Adria’s collapse in September 2019, which marked the start of a sharp decline in passenger numbers at Ljubljana Airport, which has been further exasperated by the coronavirus pandemic. “If we want to have better air connectivity in Slovenia, we will have to do something in this sector and find a way forward to enable progress, in cooperation with a private stakeholder. Currently, we do not have a national carrier, and air traffic is severely affected by the pandemic”, Mr Počivalšek said.
The Deputy Prime Minister noted it was impossible to rescue Adria Airways in 2019. “Adria was sold by someone: the responsible person or government, some say the Minister for Economy, who, however, had nothing to do with it. It was sold to a company that provided just 20.000 euros in initial capital. We need to check how and why this was done. However, the fact of the matter is that when we got involved in rescuing Adria, we found the financial situation was so dire, we failed in our attempts to save it. It had enormous debt of over 100 million euros”, Mr Počivalšek said.
Plans to establish a new national airline using European Union Covid-19 recovery funds were dropped earlier this year following the block’s objections. On the other hand, Slovenian cargo carrier Solinair held talks with the government last year over the possibility of launching scheduled flights or establishing a new flag carrier. It proposed two strategies for improving the country’s connectivity following Adria’s bankruptcy and requested financial support from the state for the project. However, ultimately, no agreement was reached. The government also held talks with foreign carriers including Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Air Serbia in a bid to secure more flights. Slovenia has been one of the most affected European aviation markets by the coronavirus pandemic. During the first six months of the year, Ljubljana Airport reached just 9% of its pre-pandemic traffic from 2019.
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