"Slovenia's Ljubljana airport to expand, offer more flights"

Monday, July 12, 2004

Slovenia's Ljubljana airport to expand, offer more flights
Slovenia - STA news agency


Brnik, Aerodrom Ljubljana, the manager of the Ljubljana airport Brnik,
will invest 12bn tolars (50m euros) in the construction of a new
terminal, car park and an office building. Speaking of the planned
connection between Ljubljana and Berlin, chairman Vinko Moze said that
the UK low-fare carrier EasyJet already announced the flight, although
the contract has not been signed as yet.

Aerodrom Ljubljana will purchase a plot to build a new road, while a
small hotel, storehouse and control tower are planned as well. However,
these plans will be realized after the year 2010, said Moze for the
Monday [12 July] issue of daily Finance.

The construction of the car park, to be carried out by construction
company SCT, will be the first in a series of renovations of the
Ljubljana airport, which is to conclude with a new passengers' terminal
to be completed for 2007.

"We have held discussions on new flights with several carriers, budget
ones as well, and probably Air France will launch Ljubljana-Paris
flights this autumn," Moze added. He did not wish to divulge which
low-cost flight operator the company held talks with.

Moze said Aerodrom did not offer anything more to EasyJet for flying to
Brnik than to the national carrier Adria Airways. EasyJet is even paying
higher airport taxes than Adria Airways, as it has less passengers, he
underlined. EasyJet pledged to bring a certain amount of passengers
under certain conditions.

"The Slovene consortium SPOT, which Aerodrom Ljubljana is a part of, is
giving the UK company money for the promotion of tourism, as some
companies feel it is important to attract passengers and tourists who
spend 125 euro a day. EasyJet covers the price gap with commissions from
hotels and restaurants that the company advertises on its website," Moze
said.

Moze believes the share price of Aerodrom Ljubljana will grow. Current
book value of a share stands at 4,600 tolars (19.19 euros), while the
market value is twice as high. New investments will surely increase the
demand for Aerodrom's shares, Moze thought.

Aerodrom Ljubljana recently reported that the number of passengers flown
in by foreign airlines jumped by 90 per cent in May over the same month
last year. This is mostly due to two new foreign airline companies
operating scheduled flights to Ljubljana since April, namely EasyJet and
Hungarian airline Malev.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************