FILE PHOTO: Passengers stand at an information desk at the airport after Adria Airways suspended all flights in Brnik, Slovenia, September 24, 2019. REUTERS/Srdjan Zivulovic
September 27, 2019
By Marja Novak
LJUBLJANA (Reuters) – Slovenia’s debt-laden Adria Airways said on Friday it was cancelling most of its weekend flights and many scheduled for Monday as it battles to hang on to its operating licence.
“Adria Airways is still leading active discussions with potential new owners and major creditors and remains dedicated in reaching a positive solution for all,” it said.
Slovenia’s Civil Aviation Agency on Wednesday gave Adria one week to present a financial plan to keep its operating licence, adding it needed to find several tens of millions of euros.
Adria, which is owned by German investment fund 4K Invest, has already cancelled a total of 355 flights since Tuesday, affecting some 13,700 passengers.
The airline said it would keep one return flight from Ljubljana to Frankfurt on Saturday and on Sunday and return flights from Ljubljana to Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Brussels, Zurich and Tirana on Monday.
Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Šarec told reporters the government was looking into ways to help Adria but added possibilities of helping the firm were slim.
Slovenia sold Adria to 4K Invest in 2016, since when it has sold all its planes and flown leased ones instead.
National TV Slovenia said Adria’s debt totalled 90 million euros ($98 million), adding that it would immediately need at least 35 million to resume most of its flights.
(Reporting by Marja Novak; Editing by Susan Fenton and Alexander Smith)
