Expensive runway

Investments to be delayed

Zmago Skobir, the director of Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, told the “STA” news agency that the airport lost an estimated 1.2 million Euros during the hubs 2 week closure brought on by a runway overhaul. Skobir said that the loss would probably put Ljubljana Airport’s revenue for this year at around 34 million Euros, which is on par with last year's result. The renovation of the runway, during which passenger traffic was scaled down and flights redirected to Maribor Airport, in part coincided with the air traffic disturbances caused by the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland. “If the airport had been open, the closed airspace above Slovenia would have cost us between 50.000 and 60.000 Euros per day”, Skobir explains. He noted that the damage caused by the ash cloud will have an affect on the entire aviation industry and that additional pressure on prices can be expected. “However, healthy companies will survive”, he added. On the other hand, Skobir said that airports will no longer be in the position to yield to the demands of carriers for lower or subsidised costs. If development is to be upheld, Ljubljana Airport will have to follow the example of some airports abroad and increase its prices of certain services. The crisis will delay some of the airport’s investment plans. Still, the company hopes to be able to launch a 60 million Euro investment into the construction of a new passenger terminal next year.

Slovenian flag carrier Adria Airways has meanwhile updated its assessment of the damage suffered between April 15 and 21 when it had to ground its fleet because of the ash cloud. While initial estimates put the damage somewhere between 1.3 and 1.4 million Euros, Adria chairman, Tadej Tufek, told the “STA" last Thursday that the damage in fact now stands at around 3 million Euros.