Maribor, 29 May (STA) - The long-troubled Maribor Airport could finally see progress with approval of a crucial state spatial plan expected in 2026, officials indicated at a development conference held at the largely dormant facility on Thursday.
The conference came as the country's second biggest airport has endured decades of false starts and unmet promises, with passenger numbers plummeting from 85,000 annually after it opened in 1976 to just over 2,000 in recent years.
A new terminal opened in 2012 with EU funding and a capacity for 600,000 passengers and there was talk of EUR 660 million plans by Chinese investors between 2017 and 2019, but all to no avail.
New plans for the Edvard Rusjan Airport are now in the making, with Tomaž Pečnik, acting director of the air and maritime transport directorate at the Infrastructure Ministry, telling the development conference that authorities are in the final stages of approving the spatial plan, with completion realistic within 12-15 months.
He insisted the state has not abandoned Slovenia's only state-owned airport, describing it as an "unpolished diamond" with excellent positioning for passenger traffic, logistics, and aircraft maintenance.
However, planning permission remains the key hurdle before serious investor talks can begin. "If someone with money wants to build and asks when they can start, but we tell them zoning changes are still needed, they'll probably look elsewhere," Pečnik explained.
Operations remain severely limited, worsened by last year's storm that destroyed the passenger terminal roof, which remains unrepaired. Pečnik expects repairs by autumn, with renovation tenders already underway.
Addressing speculation about potential investors interested in establishing aircraft maintenance operations at the airport, Hoče Mayor Marko Soršak acknowledged this might not sound particularly attractive, but highlighted the economic opportunity, noting such jobs average EUR 3,000 monthly net pay.
He stressed the mounting frustration with the prolonged stagnation: "We have dead infrastructure costing the state two to three million euros annually."
The mayor of the municipality that is home to the airport, located just south of Slovenia's second largest city, suggested progress might be faster "if we had a prime minister or relevant minister from Maribor," calling the prolonged stagnation "a wound in Maribor's economy that has lasted too long."
