Ljubljana Airport begins terminal overhaul

Ljubljana Airport starts two-year terminal upgrade

Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport has begun upgrading its terminal building with the refurbishment to be carried out in several phases, until its completion in 2018. Slovenia's busiest airport has already added an additional arrivals and departures gate and is clearing space in a bid to expand commercial and retail areas, as well as improve passenger comfort. Furthermore, the airport will tackle "bottlenecks" at check-in and security with the aim of cutting down on queuing time. The brunt of the work will take place next year, when both the check-in area and baggage handling facilities will be expanded, while additional capacity will be added at baggage claim. Work will also start on moving a nearby road so as to enable better access to the terminal building and allow for the development of a commercial and logistics complex to the north.

Prior to the airport's takeover by Germany's Fraport in 2013, minority shareholders rejected plans for the construction of a multi million euro new terminal building, citing unfavourable economic conditions. The new terminal was meant to cover an area of 31.200 square metres, with its opening planned for 2015. The original price tag for the project stood at 73 million euros but was reduced to 57 million. However, the Managing Director of Juže Pučnik Airport, Zmago Skobir, says a brand new facility is still planned. "In the next phase a plan will flow, in accordance with passenger growth, for a second terminal, which will probably be a bit different from the exiting one", he notes.

Ljubljana Airport's terminal building was opened in 1973 but has since been reconstructed and refurbished. It stretches over 13.000 square metres. Ljubljana Airport handled 1.438.304 passengers in 2015, an increase of 10% on the year before. It welcomed 73.567 travellers this January, up 0.6%. The airport says it expects "moderate" growth during the year. Adria Airways is set to boost frequencies from Ljubljana this summer season and will introduce flights to Cologne, while LOT Polish Airlines will launch services from Warsaw in two days. It aims to carry 30.000 travellers on the route during its first year. Furthermore, Aegean Airlines will introduce flights from Athens in June.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:06

    I'm happy this has finally started. The entrance and check in at LJU is very outdated. The gates and departures area is a completely different story and looks great so I'm glad a lot of work will be going on.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:10

    Still think they should have just built a new terminal. From what I heard, they have given up on plans on a new terminal and will expand the current one by 2030.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      +1
      They should have built a new terminal and turned this one for LCCs, Could have attracted much more passengers and low costers that way.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:28

      I don't think there is a need for a new terminal. The expansion of the current one would be sufficient.

      Delete
    3. JU520 BEGLAX10:08

      For sure there is need of a new terminal. But lets see first what they plan now. Definitely they need a larger security check zone, definitely they need a much larger Schengen Busgates Zone, they need more shops as nowadays airports need commercial retail zones to secure part of their incomes. In ZRH incomes from the commercial part of the airport are around 45% of the total incomes. And for passenger convenience 4 jetbridge gates should be added, so that Bus Gate boarding is brought down to a minimum. I dont know where they take all the space for the additional urgent tasks they need to do, but as said lets wait and see. Definitely a new terminal with much more space would hve been the best.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:37

      Agree completely with JU520

      Delete
  3. JU520 BEGLAX09:11

    1963 opened not 1973 right? Or was airport opened 63 and the terminal in 1973?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      New terminal (this one) was opened in 73. The airport was opened in 63.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:11

    OT: An insider info, TAP returns to ZAG in 2017!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:39

      I expected that. Flew few times (ok, in peak season), and the plane was always about 90% full, once it was even A321, economy completely full, business few empty seats.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:43

      any news of returning to BEG?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:46

      Bravo Hrvatska!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:50

      Great news for Zagreb airport! hope to see some other (new) carriers next year!

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:44

    OT: Swiss cancels Geneva-Sarajevo flights, from March 20!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:49

      But I thought they had good loads there... one can only assume that the yields were trash.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:58

      Ti letovi su bili sasvim dobro popunjeni. A preko ljeta su avioni bili puni. Ako su htjeli da smanje kapacitete trebali su bar letove prebaciti na sezonske, ali da sasvim ukinu ovu liniju je cudno. Cudan i pomalo interesantan potez od strane Swissa!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:09

      Dobro, pun avion ne znaci i da je profitabilan let. Moguce da nisu pravili pare. Ovo je svakako dobra vest za JU i OU.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:56

      Well, SKP should be worried. If I'm not wrong, the flights from Geneva to Skopje and Sarajevo started around the same time, and I think that SKP is only once a week (initially i believe it was 2/week). So, it should not come as a surprise if Swiss cancels SKP as well.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:58

      How come there are no Zagreb-Geneva flights?

      Delete
    6. Nemjee12:02

      There are two possible scenarios here. Either Swiss' ex-YU expansion proved to be a total disaster as as results of which so many destinations are being dropped (BNX, LJU, SJJ, TGD(?)).

      Or Lufthansa is being smart and is slowly withdrawing Swiss from these markets so that they are eventually taken-over by Eurowings. I know they don't have a base in Switzerland but they might deploy them from their bases in Germany, especially since Eurowings will be a hybrid airline offering connections.

      Lufthansa is many things but being reckless is not one of them. They are most certainly not going to withdraw from the ex-YU market which is quite important for them. Eurowings is still a small airline with a fleet of 28 aircraft spread across 4 different bases. As their fleet and network grows, ex-YU will also get some love from them. Anyway, the ex-YU market is far more compatible with EW rather than with LX.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:23

      OS je glavni za EX YU trziste moze biti zbog toga a moze i biti da je zbog lose popunjenosti ali to znaci da im BEG najbolje ide onda .
      Neverujem da ce doci sa EW brendom u glavne gradove zato sto ce karte morati da snize onda a ovako odlicno zaradjuju na svim Trzistima.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    8. Nemjee13:07

      OS and EW would be after a totally different market (even if EW will offer connections) and anyway, I don't think EW would expand into ex-YU from VIE. It would be from one of their other hubs, primarily in Germany.

      That said, Eurowings already has an ok presence in the aforementioned region. I wouldn't be surprised if next summer their STR-BEG flights are extended throughout the summer season. DUS could be another potential route to be launched. I am sure that Lufthansa won't tolerate for much longer JU having a monopoly on these routes which have a considerable amount of O&D passengers.

      The real question is, who will expand first in the ex-YU, Eurowings or Ryanair.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13:23

      Swiss also cancels the seasonal Geneva-Belgrade... easyjet is now alone on that route

      Delete
    10. Nemjee13:43

      Last anon,

      Thanks, I completely forgot about that one. Wasn't it mentioned somewhere that they will bring it back next winter, or am I wrong?

      Delete
    11. Anonymous14:12

      No no, it was mentioned that they will bring it back for this summer season but unfortunately it's now cancelled.
      I took this flight with them servral times last year, it was always full

      Delete
    12. Anonymous14:42

      Gde su sada prdonje koje su predvidjale propast JU, jer dolazi mocni LX na exYu trziste. Znaci JU otvara uskoro Lyon.

      Delete
    13. Nemjee15:05

      Anon 14.12

      Thanks, it's a shame and I really wonder if it's because of bad loads/yields or because of a lack of aircraft. Then again, these are some good news for easyJet as these last few seasons they had a hard time making BEG work.

      Anon 14.42

      If I remember correctly people were more worried about JP's and OU's performance to Zurich rather than JU going belly up as a result of LX's Balkan expansion. And no, JU will most likely not open LYS any time soon.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous17:47

      Anon 2:42, is there any rumor for Lyon?

      Delete
    15. Anonymous18:12

      Ali cudi me da je LX tako slabo se pokazao na ovim prostorima jedino je BEG stalno Airbus .
      Ili ipak mislim da je trziste prepusteno OS ali nekako ce morati sad da pune svoje 77W .
      Da je ASL pametna da otvori vise letova za D,CH, A pre EW i da se dobro pozicionira ali izgleda nema interesa za rizik.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    16. Anonymous18:13

      Toliko precih destinacija od LYS u Evropi ima i nista se nije spominjalo kao prica weat leasa JP flote .
      INN-NS

      Delete
    17. Anonymous01:07

      INN li je za tebe u tih "precih destinacija od LYS"?

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:47

    Good to see some reconstruction going on. Ljubljana has a nice terminal but I agree that the exception is check-in which is kind of outdated. When can we expect LJU to overtake the 2008 record?

    ReplyDelete
  7. JU520 BEGLAX10:20

    Dear Admin

    Is there some graphics to see where and how they plan the overhaul? Tx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately, not yet. When they do I will make sure to publish them.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous11:56

    Good news

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous12:21

    Trebali su se koncentrisati na dovodjene novih kompanija posle je lako renovirati postojece objekte.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
  10. LJLJ lost Swiss and those two new carriers (LOT & Agean)will just fit the gap...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous17:02

    Hopefully Ljubljana handles 1.5 million this year and 1.7 million in 2017.

    They should invite some low cost operators in, EasyJet, Vueling, GermanWings, RyanAir....

    Numbers could sky-rocket if they do what Krakow, Gdansk, Vilnius, Riga and few other airports did, base for LCC operators.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous19:07

    http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/13/Ekonomija/2218670/Aerodrom+spreman%2C+avion+za+SAD+u+prvoj+nedelji+maja.html
    The article mentions that A330 will come in first week of May and that "pripremni radovi" will be done. Does that mean that for more than a month the aircraft will sit in BEG or will they eventually do a few flights where there are more pax? Another question is whether JU is planning on doing some flights during the other 2 days when it has no flights to JFK? It would be a waste to see A330 sit at the tarmac during summer season when it could do a few hops and back to for example Tivat.
    Lastly, is there any truth to what some guy was saying about Adria wet leasing jets to JU for flights to OHD and 2 other destinations? Seems unrealistic to be honest

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:10

      You have that news published here earlier this week and you have the entire discussion there too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:54

      Look at what other airlines do when introducing new widebody and use your imagination. Let's just say late spring will be very interesting for plane spotters looking to catch a glimpse of YU-ARA A332.

      As for BEG airport: everything since last summer has been paused if not required for USA flights. D gate was one of those requirements and new scanners, detectors, fire truck, CCTV and perimeter fence likely to eat most of the remaining budget for 2016. Doubled C gate boarding areas will be used for two A330 so no immediate need for C concourse terminal extension.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:55

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:57

      Da uzece i 77W od LX na wet lease kao i od JP.
      Verovatno ce raditi vezbe na pojedinim Destinacijama za Pilote SVO i AUH.
      INN-NS

      Delete

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