Slovenian gov't mulls new flag carrier

Slovenia's cargo specialist Solinair (SP, Ljubljana) is pondering launching a passenger subsidiary, Air Slovenia (Ljubljana), with a fleet of five DHC-8-Q400 turboprops connecting Ljubljana with key gateways in the region, General Director Janez Jelenc said during a V2 conference in Slovenia discussing the future of the market after the collapse of Adria Airways (JP, Ljubljana).

Jelenc said that the airline also evaluated the CRJ900 and ATR72 as potential aircraft for the start-up but concluded that the De Havilland Aircraft of Canada turboprops offered the best economics. Air Slovenia would initially operate to Lufthansa Group hubs at Brussels National, Frankfurt Int'l, Munich, and Zurich airports, where the airline would hope to establish a commercial parntership with Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int'l), Brussels Airlines (SN, Brussels National), and Swiss (LX, Zurich). In addition, Air Slovenia is also evaluating potential flights to Tirana, Amsterdam Schiphol, Skopje, and Pristina.

In order to launch the project, Solinair would...