The airline filed a petition at Kranj District Court in Slovenia's fourth largest city. The court has three days to consider the application, ERR's online news in Estonia reports.

Slovenia's aviation authority has also withdrawn the airlines license and grounded its fleet.

Adria is particularly significant to Estonia both because it is one of several airlines Estonia state-owned carrier Nordica has had a leasing agreement with, and also because its CEO is an Estonian, former Nordica board member Sven Kukemelk.

Adria had been given a week to submit a restructuring plan or face having its license revoked by the aviation authority in Slovenia, and that country's government rejected bailing the company out, saying its financial situation was worse than first thought, with bankruptcy the only option.

Adria reportedly owes Nordica €7.8 million. The Slovenian government privatized the company in 2016, selling it to German investment fund 4K, but its losses reportedly continued.

Adria Airways was based primarily at Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, and flew mostly scheduled flights within Europe, also offering chartered flights to Egyptian resort towns such as Sharm el-Sheikh.

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