Passengers and income have significantly declined at Slovenia’s largest airport this year, however development which is taking place is securing Ljubljana’s leading position when it comes to modernity and future prospects.Figures show that the number of passengers and the amount cargo at the airport has doubled within the last decade. This places it among the most important regional distribution and logistics centres. The opportunities this trend offers were recognised by Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport’s management, which has made plans to build a city in its own right next to Slovenia’s central airport. Aeropolis will stretch over 80 hectors of land and will radically change the appearance of the airport. This substantial project aims to develop the airport’s commercial infrastructure and provide hotel accommodation, office space, commercial premises and logistics services, which the airport currently lacks but are in high demand. “Investors have already expressed a considerable interest for the projects”, Zmago Skobir, the CEO of Ljubljana Airport said to the “Slovenian Times”.
Ljubljana’s airport will be transformed into a bustling hub catering to the needs of travellers, those involved in business as well as for the demands of freight traffic. The master plan includes a hotel area, business centre, business park and logistics park. The implementation of these four key projects is about to begin. The project will begin with the construction of a new airport terminal building. The construction of Aeropolis will take place in four phases: the first one, which should be complete in 2012, is decisive and most important because it will dictate the further development of the entire project. Its priorities are a hotel and congress centre alongside the further enlargement of the logistics park. Other milestones in the expected development are the relocation of the existing access road and the construction of a business park by 2015 as well as railway construction in the final stage. The continuous upgrade of the infrastructure is planned, however, the first two stages will dictate its extent.
Other airports close by have recognised the scale of Ljubljana’s project and the transformation it will undergo. The previous CEO of Zagreb Airport said, a few months ago, that Croatia’s main airport must start with the construction of a new terminal otherwise it might loose clients to Slovenia’s Ljubljana Airport. The airport project in Ljubljana has been labelled of national importance by the Slovenian Government.
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