“Adria on its deathbed”

Minority shareholders call for Adria’s CEO to resign

A group of minority shareholders have written a scathing letter to Adria Airways’ CEO, Tadej Tufek, calling for his resignation and urging for a swift company restructuring plan, the “Žurnal24” newspaper reports. The letter states that Adria Airways ended 2009 with a 14 million Euro loss. The airline also reported losses in 2005 and 2008, while it ended 2006 and 2007 with a marginal profit. The letter reads that the airline has already registered a 7 million Euro loss in the first half of 2010. “The numbers speak for themselves and Adria requires a restructuring plan. Otherwise, its days are numbered”, the memo states.

Shareholders have blamed Adria’s management for a lack of vision and holds them responsible for their inability to restructure the company. They accused CEO Tadej Tufek and the President of the Board of Directors, Maks Tanjikar, of bad management and highlighted that both are members of the ruling political party. “Adria is on its deathbed while the same management team is at the saddle”, the letter states.

Meanwhile, Adria has received a major blow after the largest Slovenian bank, NLB, rejected to issue a multi million Euro, short term, loan to the national carrier. The bank itself is a 7% Adria shareholder.

The Slovenian national carrier today launches flights from its new base in Priština. By the end of October 2010 the airline carried some 1.026.016 passengers, up on last year’s result.