Originally Posted by
luitje
Why would they? It is a pretty small market in roughly the same area where LH has already got a hub (VIE). Hate to say it, but baby JATs are doomed. With the level of animosity between the governments of former Yugoslavia republics there's very little chance likes of Adria and Croatia will be consolidated under Air Serbia, and on their own they are two small to survive.
Agreed on all fronts. Historically, LH Group has always had an impressive presence in terms of network here in the Balkans and I honestly cannot see what they would be achieving with a tiny carrier operating from a 'weak' and indeed mostly leisure-orientated market (i.e. Slovenia/Ljubljana). Incidentally, Croatian [Airlines] has also been struggling for quite some time now and, same story, they often come out publicly saying that they are in need of a 'partner', which needless to say is a desperate call for financial help. Air Serbia has a somewhat larger network out of Belgrade and has been expanding recently, they are however virtually owned (49%) by Etihad and, knowing their far from impeccable records when it comes to managing other 'basket cases', I'm not really sure it will be a success either.
G