The owner of Slovenia's second busiest airport, in Portorož, which has no commercial flights, plans to invest in its facilities in order to cater for larger aircraft and attract carriers. The airport's single-largest shareholder, the MK Group, which also runs the nearby Kempinski Hotel, has outlined its planned investments. "It is terrible that larger aircraft cannot land at Portorož Airport. We have made it clear that we want to invest in order to enable airlines to fly there and boost tourism", Serbian millionaire and MK Group owner, Miodrag Kostić, said. He added, "We are ready to invest between 2.5 and three million euros to extend the runway, however, so far, we have been unable to obtain the necessary approvals for this project".
Portorož Airport's runway stretches over 1.201 metres. There are plans to lengthen the runway to 1.800 metres and widen it to 45 metres. "We have been waiting for a year and a half to be issued with necessary permits to extend the runway. I have also talked to the [Slovenian] Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, about the investments. He agreed the project is vital for the development of the Slovenian tourism industry, however, no progress has been made to date", Mr Kostić said. Due to its displaced threshold, aircraft landing at Porotrož Airport are forced to do so midway down the runway. Despite its small size, Portorož Airport, which was built in 1962, boasts a passenger terminal, duty free shop, as well as technical and fuel services.
Portorož Airport handled 25.450 passengers in 2017, ahead of Maribor Airport which has commercial flights. The MK Group holds a 38.3% stake in the airport, followed by the Piran Municipality (36.2%), Luka Koper (15.2%) and CPK (10.2%). "Portorož has the potential to further develop and increase its number of foreign visitors. That is why we want to develop both the airport and marina. We want to promote Portorož as a high-end destination and it is in our interest to boost the number of flights in order for the airport to work at full capacity", the MK Group said in a statement.
Here we go again, the Balkan mania of having more and more (ghostly) airports, later ripped off from the taxpayer.
ReplyDeleteI mean if MBX barely can fill a small F50 aircraft then how would POW possibly do this?
Oh yeah, if JP decide to open a "base", then maybe yes.
SLO must concentrate mainly on LJU and it´s just more than enough.
Way too many airports are in the region.
If it were BiH, then that´s another story.
It actually works. People who would want to visit slo coastline could just land there instead of landing in lju and then figuring how to get there.
DeleteOr landing in Triest or Pula. Lot of work to get to those numbers, good luck. ;)
DeleteEvery airport in Yugoslavia wants to copy INI, TZL and BWK. Everyone wants to get a big piece of the big cake.
DeleteLong time ago, when JAT was deciding on developing long-haul, two hub options were on the table :Beograd and Portoroz, because of its cachment aerea which includes Austria, at that time with no long-haul, Italy with huge NA diaspora, and the richest and touristicly most developed parts of ex-yu in SLO I and HR. It was decided in favour of BEG because of company base, capitol city, hub already and large cachment aerea as well. Just want to give reasons why POW could be success. But there is another problem here :airport is practically in Croatia and it's impossible to operate without overflying HR, either in approach or climb . And for normal countries it would be normal to make agreement on it and enable improvements neededu. But SLO is refusing to make 30 km highway Pasjak-Kozina, the most vital for Rijeka and whole Adriatic, they place blade fence on the border, they had blocked entry of HR to EU for years and now blocking enter to Schengen, they tried to bribe arbitrary body for borders to decide in their favour, and expecting HR to make any agreement on anything in these conditions is unreal. So I don't think this project will materialize.
DeleteOverflying Croatia is of no concern at all, as some of the airspace is delegated to Slovenian air traffic control.
DeleteThe problem is the runway length and particularly landing distance available when landing from the south-east side.
the fact is that slovenia will block all memberships and development regarding croatia. this is not a fairytale. and POW will stay a boutique airport due to the fact that croatians will not aprove it and will continue fu.. for virginity with court actions towards Ljubljanska banka :) nevermind. the time is on slovenian side. so much about politics. I think Portoroz has really potential, develop also helicopter landing and traffic!
DeleteIt's funny that train from Pula can reach Zagreb only by passing through Slovenia. There is no direct railroad from Istria to Zagreb.
DeleteLooking at the terraine in Portoroz I find it difficult to understand how they will expand the airport.
ReplyDeleteExactly. The nature reserve also prevents any significant runway lengthening.
DeleteInteresting that all commercial airports in Slovenia are now privately owned. So far its only worked out for LJU.
ReplyDeleteIt worked because of Fraport. If Fraport didn't exist then LJU would probably be left much more behind.
DeleteReally? So what is Fraport doing any different than it was doing Aerodrom before?
DeleteAerodrom Ljubljana posted a profit in every single year of its existence, that's how bad it was when it was publically owned (or how "left behind" it would be).
DeleteI'm surprised at how much traffic they have. Over 20,000 is a lot considering there are no commercial flights.
ReplyDeleteCharter and private taxi doing extremely well.
DeleteI remember Jat Airways flew Belgrade - Portoroz almost 10 yrs ago with the ATR but I think it had load restrictions.
ReplyDeleteThey got all permits to fly fifth freedom Belgrade-Portoroz-Rome which was a rearety for a non-EU airline but they never followed through with the plan
DeleteJat had heavy restrictions on its Atr, I think they carried around 20 to 30 passengers per flight which wasn't too bad given the size of Portoroz.
DeleteIt turned out to be a massive problem. They got subsidies from Piran authority to do this routing but they never followed through. I think Piran even sued them for it.
DeleteI hope they get the permits and expand the airport.
ReplyDeleteDidn't that Croatian airline Awex fly Portoroz - Zurich and Portoroz - Belgrade with Saab plane last year?
ReplyDeleteIt did. Wonder what happened to that
DeleteToo expensive for hotel operator to keep it running.
DeleteSo two airports in Slovenia that want to develop are both waiting for the government to issue permits.
ReplyDeleteSmartest thing would be to extend the runway and to attract Air Serbia to launch flights.
ReplyDeleteTrieste is some 35 km away and way back when JU flew there they had decent loads, they were between 65% and 70%.
It could work but only as a summer seasonal flight. Piran could also attract Serbian holidaymakers which would be carried on these flights.
Wow what a location for an airport. Landings must be scenic.
ReplyDeleteNot really. It's much nicer landing in SPU or DBV.
DeleteMost beautiful landing is at TIV, without competition.
DeleteIt's ZAG because you get to see the most beautiful terminal in Europe. :)
DeleteTravel more around Europe :)
DeleteAgain local dreams to extend the rwy. Makes it no sense, even to try. First bring to the lead capable manager to develop this niche airport in a smaller sense. There is a policeman in charge at POW for ten years who has no clue what he is doing. Maybe could start with that?!
ReplyDelete"Policeman in charge at POW" :D
DeleteWhy does the runway have such a displaced threshold?
ReplyDeleteHill next to the airport.
DeleteAnd it is steep. You can see in this picture
Deletehttp://slovenia-taxi.si/static/images/dest_imgs/600/307753171125707787.jpg
So what is the most suitable commercial aircraft that can operate at Portoroz at the moment? EMB120, F50, Saab ?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Adria could start a route with one of its Saabs.
DeleteOr VLM with F50...
DeleteMBX - BEG - POW - BEG - MBX
Could they fly the full plane F50 or Saab? How about AT42 ?
DeleteVLM sold the share in MBX and i supose they will finish the route after october fest and never come back. they are doing marketing just for zurich, antwerp and other new destinations...mbx not anymore.... non of touristic agencies is willing to sell their tickets as it is uncertain if the flight will take place.... MBX and city of maribor are knowing what they do ..... a pity for sure!
DeleteAnd still nothin will happen.
ReplyDeleteThey should go for boutique tourism
ReplyDeletePortoroz is not a higher end tourist destination. Would like to be but is not.
DeleteIt is. If it wasn't then there would not be over 20K pax per year without any commercial flights.
DeletePortoroz is not a higher end tourist destination. Would like to be but is not.
ReplyDeleteErm of course it is.
DeleteRome was also not built overnight. Kempinski hotel and golf course were steps in the right direction ...
Deletestart first with charters that will fulfill the flights... what is with the silver air that is starting from Lošinj the flights? they have the right aircraft for POW or by croatian local authorities killed very good project of european coastal airlines.. they could even land in Piran .... I used it to island of Rab and it was amazing and price worth.
Deletehere is the link of the summer schedule for Silver air: https://www.silverairtravels.com/fly-schedule-sum-2018/ my question is why not POW? Or did we have a chance to cooperate with some business aircraft companies or Pipistrel XXL some company? in case of schedule flights very important online booking should start for them at least 6 months earlier!
DeleteThere is absolutely no real need to extend the runway and "develop" the POW, just the "grand" plan of MK group. Based on it's natural limitations (nearby hill, sea and natural park- saltworks) it's quite well developed. Suitable for private planes and nothing more. And 25k passengers is enough.
ReplyDeleteAnd who are you to decide that 25K is enough? If MK believes there is more potential then I think he knows what he is talking about.
DeleteSo how many did Slovenian airports have combined last year - Ljubljana, Portoroz, Maribor?
ReplyDeleteI know it's an odd question but does anyone know what happened to Bled Airport? I remember seeing a vintage photo here of Bled Airport with a JAT DC-3 parked in front of the terminal.
ReplyDeletePassenger flights stopped in 1963 when LJU opened.
DeleteThe airport building is still there and is used as a restaurant.
Wow, that is interesting. Thank you!
Deletehttp://www.sierra5.net/novice-novo/novice/item/2945-zgodovinski-pristanek-reaktivca-v-lescah
DeleteInteresting....
Ja ja. Seveda.
ReplyDelete