February blues for Adria

Passenger numbers continue to tumble at Adria

Passenger numbers have continued to decline at Adria Airways in February. The Slovenian national carrier handled 58.013 passengers. Compared to the same month last year the airline’s figures have slumped by 5.1%. Back in February 2011 the carrier handled 60.946 passengers. However, it should be noted that this February had an extra day as 2012 is a leap year. Still, there are some encouraging signs as Adria welcomed more passenger in February than it did in January. Since February had two days less than the previous month and is usually the slowest month of the year, the trend is encouraging. In 2011, there were 5.000 passengers less in February than that of January, while this year there were 2.000 passengers more than in the first month of 2012.

The slump in numbers can also be attributed to the suspension of a number of routes. Still, Adria operated several special flights including those from Torino to Belgrade since the airline has signed a contract to carry Fiat employees from Italy to the Zastava-Fiat car manufacturer in Serbia. The airline will hope its new flights to London Luton and seasonal flights to Barcelona, Manchester and Lulea in Sweden will boost passenger numbers while continuing to implement cost cutting measures.

Meanwhile, the crisis hit Adria Airways Tehnika, which has been separated from its parent company Adria Airways, could be reintegrated into the national carrier as the Slovenian government looks for a solution to the aircraft maintenance company’s problems. Tehnika has managed to come to an agreement with aircraft leasing company ILFC for the return of Spanair jets which found themselves in Ljubljana as the Spanish airline collapsed. As has been previously mentioned, Spanair was Adria Tehnika’s second biggest customer.