Portorož Airport eyes expansion and commercial flights
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, which include a longer and wider runway and apron. "It is unfortunate that larger aircraft cannot land at Portorož Airport. We have made it clear that we want to invest to enable airlines to fly there and boost tourism", the Serbian-owned company recently said. It 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 faces an uphill battle in securing permits to expand its infrastructure. The project is strongly opposed by environmentalists as the airport is surrounded by the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park, which is home to 270 bird species. Furthermore, the government has been unable to adopt a new spatial plan for the area for the better part of the past decade. The airport hopes to bypass this obstacle through upcoming amendments to the country’s Aviation Act. It has been lobbying the government for some time for investments and other maintenance work to be classified as being in the public interest, which would not require a building permit. If such an arrangement were to apply, it would only have to draft project documentation and gain approval from the Slovenian Civil Aviation Agency. However, the government has already said it strongly opposes the development of airport infrastructure without necessary building permits.
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 years to be issued with necessary permits to extend the runway”, the MK Group 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. Prior to the pandemic, in 2019, it handled 28.881 passengers arriving on private flights. "Portorož has the potential to further develop and increase its number of foreign visitors. That is why we want to develop the airport. 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 operator previously said.
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