Today it's been two years since the collapse of the national carrier of Slovenia. Adria Airways was founded 14 March, 1961 as Inex Adria and was operating direct flights from the capital of Slovenia to Europe and Africa since then. The airline had a modern fleet of Bombardier CRJ700s and CRJ900s as well as Airbus A319 aircrafts before its collapse. They were operating triple daily flights to Frankfurt, Zurich and Munich, double daily to Skopje, Pristina, Tirana, Podgorica, Sarajevo, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels. Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Vienna and Prague as well as few weekly flights to Moscow, Manchester and Prague. The airline was operating summer seasonal charter flights to many islands in Greece, such as Zakynthos, Mykonos, Skiathos, Heraklion, Corfu, Chania, as well as flights to Turkey, specially Antalya and Hurghada in Egypt. Adria was also operating flights from Tirana and Pristina to Frankfurt and Munich.
Adria Airways was a part of the Star Alliance and it was one of the strongest and best airlines in Europe.
The collapse of the airline has reduced the passenger numbers at Ljubljana Airport by some 85%. A few months were needed for the airport to return its connections with Zurich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Brussels after the collapse of Adria. However, Ljubljana is still not connected with Sarajevo, Skopje, Sofia, Pristina, Tirana, Munich, Vienna, Prague, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen and Manchester while Swiss, Air France, Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines and Transavia had to launch regular services to Slovenia in order to return the connections and traffic in Ljubljana.
According to Ex-Yu Aviation news, an investigation against the former German owners and management of Adria Airways is ongoing. They are suspected of financial misdeeds that allegedly led to the Slovenian flag carrier’s collapse. Those named as suspects are former Adria Airways CEO Arno Schuster, who managed the airline between 2016 and 2018, Adria Airways' last CEO Holger Kowarsch , the company’s Financial Advisor between March 2016 and December 2017, Klaus Platzer, as well as Eggo Laukamp, who was the airline’s Procurement Manager between 2014 and 2018. The prosecution has found evidence that the four of them illegally obtained funds by financially depleting Adria.
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