Ready for takeoff

Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport terminal

Despite the passenger decrease at Adria Airways, Slovenia’s largest airport, Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport has recently announced that its major development plan has begun. Recently, the CEO of the airport, Zmago Skobir said that this renovation is overdue. “it’s been 15 years since the airport’s tarmacs were last improved. However, what is most important is that the airport will be able to offer new spaces for aircraft parking, which are now lacking. If we want to build a new passenger terminal, we will first need enough space to accommodate all the aircraft. The investment is worth 15 million Euros”, Skobir said. Answering to the questions from the media, Skobit said that large sums of money have been invested over the years in the upgrade of the airport’s facilties. “During the 2002 - 2008 period, we invested 86 million Euros in the upgrading of the airport’s infrastructure. We still have ambitious plans, but we have had to postpone some investments because of the economic crisis. Construction of a new passenger terminal was supposed to start this year, but that won’t happen. Our investment plans also include a new cargo terminal and a parking garage. We are confident that we can pull off these investments, worth around 120 million Euros, in the next six to seven years”.

Ljubljana Airport has also suffered a passenger and financial decrease due to the crisis. Looking at the figures for the first three months of 2009, it can be seen that the number of passengers is down by 23%, while the number of takeoffs and landings decreased by 16%. Cargo traffic, however, has taken the most serious battering, with throughput 30% lower than in the same period last year. Recently low cost Spanish airline Click Air and the Finnish national carrier Finnair ceased services to Ljubljana.

The airport’s CEO also says that he hopes there will be a railway link between the airport and the city. “I think the railway link could be built in eight to ten years. In any case, the sooner, the better. Slovenia is a small market and logistics companies usually choose bigger over smaller markets as their base. Zagreb, for example, is quickly catching up, so we must act now”, Skobir said.