Adria Airways (Ljubljana) continues its search for a strategic investor after a deal with Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (Zhukovsky) fell through, CEO Holger Kowarsch told STA newswire.
Under the previous plan, the Russian manufacturer would have injected EUR10 million euros (USD11.3 million) into the Slovenian carrier as a part of a transaction for a long-term dry-lease of fifteen SSJ 100/95s.
Kowarsch said that Adria quit the deal after Sukhoi failed to meet the end of February deadline for the injection of the funds.
Sukhoi previously claimed that it had decided to drop the transaction due to concerns about Adria's financial standing.
In late 2018, the Slovenian Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) publicly questioned the financial sustainability of Adria Airways and requested the carrier to submit a detailed business plan. In response to the CAA's concerns, Adria's owner 4K Invest recapitalised the carrier with EUR4 million euros (USD4.6 million) in the last quarter of 2018 and pledged to inject an additional EUR10 million euros (USD11.5 million) in the first quarter of 2019. The latter tranche was to come from Sukhoi.
