Adria to be sold by 2013

Restructuring begins after Adria bailout

The CEO of Adria Airways, Klemen Boštjančič, has said that the Slovenian state carrier will begin the search for a new owner at the end of March 2012, with the process to be completed by the start of 2013. The comments come a week after the state, together with the country’s banks, bailed Adria from an impending bankruptcy. Boštjančič added that in the next few months the airline will begin a difficult restructuring process which, when completed, will make the airline more attractive to potential investors and partners. The airline cannot be sold in its current state and needs to be partially restructured before any talks with potential new owners can begin. “The restructuring process aims to cut costs and stop the airline from bleeding”, Boštjančič said. He added that Adria has had major problems with its accounting department which has, in the past, distorted the airline’s financial performance by representing losses to be much lower than they actually were.

A new collective agreement for cabin crew will see their wages slashed but should increase productivity, according to the airline’s management. Furthermore, the recently approved aircraft swap deal with Croatia Airlines should see Adria offloading some of its aircraft to its Croatian counterpart in a bid to save money. Adria should announce its destination network cuts this week. Although the airline has for now only confirmed that flights to Warsaw will be discontinued, another eight destinations will also be dumped. It is now believed that these are Paris, London-Gatwick and Istanbul from Ljubljana as well as Brussels, Paris, Copenhagen and Dusseldorf from its Priština base and its Vienna - Frankfurt flights, however this has not been verified by officials from the carrier.