Slovenia flag carrier Adria Airways has now filed for bankruptcy. Because of this, it appears that Slovenia's main airport in its capital city is experiencing quite an impact. According to AIN Online, Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport has "lost almost half of its route network" because of Adria's collapse on Monday.

Losing a key feeder airline

Adria was in the position of a Lufthansa Group feeder airline. For several years, it had been flying several daily flights from Ljubljana to Brussels, Frankfurt, Zurich, Vienna and Munich. In fact, it is the only country in all of Europe not to have a single flight from any of the Lufthansa Group airlines, not even Eurowings. This demonstrates the strength of Adria’s relationship with Lufthansa. Furthermore, since 2010 Adria was a feeder service for Lufthansa in Frankfurt from Tirana, Albania. Additionally, since 2014 it had been feeding both Frankfurt and Munich from Priština in Kosovo. The airline also linked Ljubljana with both Tirana and Priština, giving local passengers access to other Lufthansa Group hubs like Zurich and Vienna as well. According to Business Traveller, a Lufthansa spokesperson said its airline group would continue to cover connections that Adria was flying on its behalf through additional flights. However, the source notes that a long-term plan has yet to be made.

Adria's network and connectivity

As a member of the Star Alliance, Adria had a number of codeshare agreements with its fellow alliance members. These included:
  • Air Canada
  • LOT Polish Airlines
  • SAS
  • Turkish Airlines
  • Singapore Airlines
  • Lufthansa
  • Austrian Airlines
  • SWISS
  • and Brussels Airlines
Now, because Adria has ceased all operations, Ljubljana Airport has lost its connections to several major cities and capitals. Here are just some of the destinations that Adria flew to from Ljubljana. Bolded cities appear to have lost the air connection completely:
  • Amsterdam (now only served by Transavia)
  • Brussels (Brussels Airlines will start a route in November)
  • Vienna
  • Frankfurt
  • Copenhagen
  • Manchester
  • Munich
  • Paris (now only served by Air France)
  • Podgorica (now only served by Montenegro Airlines)
  • Prague
  • Priština
  • Sarajevo
  • Skopje
  • Sofia
  • Tirana
  • Zurich
It should be noted that many of the cities listed above that are closer to Ljubljana have solid bus and rail connectivity. According to AIN Online, Brussels Airlines will start operating flights between Brussels Airport and Ljubljana commencing November 4th. This will operate six times weekly using an Airbus A319. For airline SWISS, about 10,000 passengers have been affected due to Adria Airways’ bankruptcy. In fact, Adria operated a Lugano-Zürich-Lugano on behalf of SWISS.

Conclusion

Adria’s demise marks the fourth airline bankruptcy in Europe in September, after Thomas Cook Airlines UK and Aigle Azur and XL Airways in France. For at least a little while, the skies over Europe will be a little quieter - at least until the gaps are filled by other airlines.

Reuters also reports that the government is considering establishing a new airline to improve the country’s international connections. This was taken from a statement made by Slovenia’s Economy Minister Zravko Pocivalsek. We reached out to the Slovenian Civil Aviation Authority requesting a comment on how Adria's collapse has impacted their operations but have not heard back at the time of publishing this article.

Do you think any other airlines will be folding in the next year? And which airlines do you think will best fill the gap left by Adria? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Adria Airways has grounded most flights but has a small handful still operating over this weekend. Photo: Anna Zvereva via Wikimedia Commons

Adria was operating 18 aircraft at the time of collapse. Photo: Anna Zvereva via Wikimedia Commons