The Slovenian government planned to establish a new national airline using European Union funds, but gave up. This may be good news for Serbia, since the Slovenian Ministry of Economic Development has established contact with “Air Serbia”.
Vladimir Banic, an RTS correspondent from Ljubljana, says that a text based on informal and unofficial information was published in the Slovenian Delo that, after a long examination of the terrain and the search for partners at the EU level, Slovenia may have negotiated possible cooperation with Serbia.
“That may be the way this topic is opened. There is no official information, what we do know is that ‘Adria Airways’ carried Slovenian development and tourism. Tourists have already started to return, first Italians, and then others depending on how vaccination will take place,” estimates Banic.
He adds that Ljubljana alone had a million tourists a year, the Brnik airport had a large influx and now that Adria Airways is not operating as a national carrier, it has only a few flights a week. The airport and everything that surrounds it suffers because there is no direct air traffic from the capital of Slovenia.
Banic notes that Slovenia, as a small country of two million people, is surrounded by several large airports such as Venice, Udine, Treviso, Salzburg, and even Zagreb.
“‘Adria’ worked well and covered many lines and it is interesting for ‘Air Serbia’, if this story is realized, it is also a flight to Pristina. Smaller countries and smaller carriers are falling apart and remain at the mercy of low cost companies. Slovenia needs a good national airline or a company that will have a good position for business people,” said Vladimir Banic, an RTS correspondent in Ljubljana.
Petar Vojinovic, the editor of the aviation portal Tango six, commenting on the conversation between the Slovenian Minister of Economic Development and Technology Zdravko Pocivalsek and the director of “Air Serbia” for commercial and strategy Jirzi Marek, estimates that it is most likely not about buying “Adria”.
“Air Serbia is not able to do that, because it received state aid based on kovid, and in those conditions, there is certainly no option to be able to think like that,” Vojinovic explains.
According to him, what “Air Serbia” had is the EU program which says that destinations that are a little less served by direct flights can be financed in the interest of the public.
“From the point of view of the state and the strict rules of the European Commission, they may have talked about making Air Serbia proactive. Here we are talking exclusively about commercial work. Air Serbia is now thinking on the market, although we have a national airline, in this business they must to act like capitalists,” emphasizes the editor of the aviation portal.
The company “RyanAir” announced that it will introduce a new line to Vienna from the airport “Konstantin Veliki” in Nis from July 3.
“Airlines do not know what the epidemiological situation and dynamics will be. They are just working at the micro level to pass two to three months. RyanAir has announced some new routes throughout the region, establishing a seasonal base in Zadar, from Banja Luka to Vienna. For now, there are no signs of recovery of air traffic, it is very important to state that,” Vojinovic points out.
He adds that only in China, in the aviation industry, the return of figures such as in 2019 was recorded.
“Everything else is improvisation. There are no more business trips, companies have completely eliminated air travel expenses, and seasonal travel, when airlines make money from March to September, depends on the ability of people to travel. Low-cost carriers will always be a little more agile from national companies and to test whether there is interest in some lines. “Air Serbia” has announced the strengthening of lines to Paris, there are also transfer passengers where it has its own network,” says Petar Vojinovic, RTS reports.
