Q: What is the business plan for the next year and how are the projections in respect of business levels and passenger numbers up to 2020?
Our business plan involves constant growth. The company’s vision is to increase the number of passengers from 25,000 in 2015 to approximately 300,000 passengers in 2020. The estimated growth is obtained from our own development, without considering the participation of other strategic business partners, who could eventually contribute to even more significant growth. In case of its 12 opening hours the airport has the capacity of accepting 600,000 passengers on a yearly basis, while in the case of a 24-hour opening the capacity increases to at least 1,000,000 passengers on a yearly basis.
Q: How important is the business tourism segment in the overall structure of passengers?
As there is currently a low percentage of passengers visiting for tourism and congress/business purposes, we are planning to increase the number of visits primarily in these segments.
Q: In which areas do you think your airport will grow in future years?
In future years the main focus will be on increasing the number of flights and consequently the number of passengers. The plan we are following is not based only on obtaining more passengers in the charter flight segment, but also in the regular flight segment. We are also offering the possibility of performing different pilot and flight training to some well-known aircraft companies, so we are planning to increase interest in this segment too. There is also a plan to promote our airport as a great basis for a Cargo HUB and cargo traffic in general. There are ongoing activities in identifying interesting marketing niches that we try to obtain from tourist passengers coming from Europe and other continents.
Q: What can you tell us about new airlines coming on stream?
There is an increased interest in mobility and fast flight connections in every European country, which also means new business opportunities for us and at the same time a strong competitive advantage. We are planning to establish direct regular flights from the north-eastern part of Slovenia to two or three hubs in Europe, starting with a regular airline Maribor – Düsseldorf in March 2016.
