Stylish at 50

Adria applies retro livery for 50th birthday

Slovenia’s national carrier Adria Airways is celebrating 50 years of existence and has applied a special retro livery to one of its Airbus A320s (registration S5-AAT) in that honour. Adria commenced flights 50 years ago as Adria Aviopromet with a DC6 which wore the same livery as the Airbus pictured above. It was the first airline, other than JAT Yugoslav Airlines, to be based in Yugoslavia. Operating as a charter airline, Adria expanded not only out of Ljubljana but out of Zagreb and Sarajevo as well.

After the breakup of Yugoslavia it became the national carrier of Slovenia, operating a modern fleet of short haul aircraft. Today the airline has a base in the Slovenian capital as well as Priština. Adria is a Star Alliance member and has been trying to position itself as a regional leader through a strong regional network.

Adria today faces an uncertain future as the carrier struggles with mounting debt and possible privatisation, however, the airline has achieved a lot in the past 5 decades. This year, Jat Airways will celebrate 84 years of existence on June 17, Croatia Airlines 22 on July 20 with B&H Airlines and Montenegro Airlines celebrating their 17th birthday on August 12 and October 24 respectively.