Edward Rusjan Airport will be alone until the spring of 2026

“Today I have to address a choir of tourist workers. About a hundred or more. When will our airport come to life again? What should I tell them? ”So is the mayor of Maribor Sasha Arsenovic Dane provoked present at the Consultation of the Development of the Maribor Airport and the wider area. Did not receive an answer. It will be one year on June seventh since the hail was shaking the roof and a lot of water has run into the interior of the airport building and the passenger terminal. Edward Rusjana Maribor Airport has since been closed to passenger transport or in general has been operating on a very limited extent.

« In the fall, the roof will be rehabilitated, » he provided at a consultation prepared by the Maribor Transport Infrastructure Society, provided Tomaž Pečnik from the Directorate for Air and Maritime Transport at the Ministry of Infrastructure. The announcement of the passenger terminal will follow. But it seems that at least until the spring of 2026, the Maribor airport will be alone.

The airport is temporarily managed by the state -owned investment management since 2019, when the rental has resigned from Airport Maribor owned by Chinese investors. The DRI has a contract by the end of next year. The country is looking for a concessionaire for the airport, but this search has been unsuccessful so far. « We list two interested parties a month, but what can we call them, when the airport will start operating with full power, » said Pečnik.

It is already stuck with a change in the national spatial plan that would allow the hangers and access to the airport track and its extension. The spatial plan is in the phase of supplementing the concept of spatial arrangements, but it could be completed according to the promises of the representatives of the state in 2026. According to Pecnik, the use of some otherwise private land, including parking lots before the airport building, is still negotiating with owners or former Chinese tenants of the airport.

Marko Soršakthe mayor of the municipality of Hoče Slivnica, discussed that the adoption of the national spatial basis for all conversations with investors. He illustrated what the modern international airport would be for him, which was also a message of all participants in the consultation. « At the renovated airport, a large shopping center would be built on the land, now owned by a Chinese citizen, and not far away with a business center, » Soršak said.

Unable to neglect passenger traffic

Only Peter Medved He stated from the Maribor City Administration that the airport in Graz, Austria, is managing a public municipal holding company. The bear sees Edward Rusjan Airport as a kind of economic node. Matej Skocira representative of the Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sport, emphasized that the entire area at the airport must be the so -called development zone of national importance. According to him, every investor is looking for at least two things, “this is a large enough personnel pool and the immediate vicinity of scientific research institutions. And that’s here. « 

Bozidar Dokl From Slovenia Guide, he advocated passenger transport at the airport. According to his calculations, the airport is able to accept up to ten aircraft per day. « It is necessary to address those who are now traveling from the airports in Graz, Budapest and Venice that Maribor is actually in the intersection of all three airports, and so best, since there is no need to make longer automotive driving to airports, » he underlined. As a good connoisseur of tourism, it is clear to him that we can only attract passengers and guests with a rich offer.

“It is necessary to step together. In Austria, the hotelier must contribute money for the construction of a cable car, from which the guest on offer provides the best view. ”So the air carrier who flew in or from Maribor should receive financial national incentives. Skočir replied to the leg that a new program was being prepared to promote greater aviation connectivity, and agreed that financial incentives were necessary if we wanted to attract carriers.

Last year, only 2330 passengers received Edward Rusjan Airport, and a rather interesting information was presented at the consultation. In 1990, 85,000 passengers and 700 tonnes of freight were listed at the Maribor Airport.