No turnaround for Ljubljana Airport

Ljubljana Airport’s slowest January in nine years

Following a disastrous 2012, the start to the new year hasn’t brought Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport a much needed change in fortune. In January, passenger numbers continued to decline. In fact, Slovenia’s busiest airport recorded its worst January result since 2004. It handled 64.366 passengers, a decrease of 3.3% compared to the same month last year. The result is down 32% on its best January performance back in 2008. On a brighter note, cargo traffic was up by 13.9%. Despite the negative trend continuing, Ljubljana Airport believes it will soon make a recovery and anticipates handling some 1.7 million passengers in 2017.

During this year the construction of Ljubljana Airport’s new terminal is set to begin. Originally, the price tag for the project was set at 89.6 million euros. However, due to declining revenue and passenger numbers, the airport now estimates that the terminal project should not exceed 55 million euros. The European Regional Development Fund of the European Union will cover 15 million euros of the construction costs. Building work is scheduled to begin later this year. Furthermore, the government plans to build a rail link to the airport and connect it with the city.

The Slovenian government says a new terminal is necessary as the current one was originally built to handle some 500.000 passengers. The new terminal, which will be built next to the existing passenger building, will cover an area of 31.200 square metres. It will separate Schengen and non-Schengen passengers in accordance to EU rules and regulations as well as arriving and departing travellers. Furthermore, the airport will have the capacity to handle 1.800 passengers per hour compared to the current 700 passengers. Following the completion of the new terminal in the spring of 2015, the old one will be refurbished.