The Minister of Infrastructure,, signed a contract for a 15-year lease of the property and equipment of Maribor’s airport with the heads of the Aerodrom Maribor company, Ladimir Brolih and Boris Bobek. After signing the agreement a long-term strategy for the airport was presented at the SNG Maribor Kazina Hall.
The long-term lease of Maribor’s airport is now official. That means that the Aerodrom Maribor company will manage the airport for at least 15 years, with the possibility of extending the contract for a further 5 years. The new owner of Aerodrom Maribor, the Chinese SHS Aviation, announces major investments in the airport, which only handled around 9,000 passengers last year. SHS Aviation plans to invest almost 300 million euros and have around 1.5 million passengers and 82,000 tonnes of cargo pass through the airport by the year 2021.
The company will have to pay a monthly rental fee for using the airport in the amount of 95,000 euros. Other provisions of the contract will also have to be met. However, the goals set by Aerodrom Maribor are already much higher than those stated in the contract provisions. According to the contract the airport managers have to secure only 13,800 passengers and 80 tonnes of cargo per year, which is already comparable to the current state at the airport.
The head of SHS Aviation, Pang Siu Yin, presented the plans of the airport's new leaseholder at SNG Maribor. His announcement was: "I expect our project in Slovenia to create at least 3,000 new jobs."
In order to accomplish their goals Mr. Pang said the company needed to establish new routes across Europe and China, and spread the airport on a further 80 hectares of land. That means the construction of a new passenger and cargo terminal, a centre for training pilots, a hotel, a service centre, business offices, a shopping mall and the extension of the runway to make it 3,800 meters long. The project requires a new spatial plan, to be passed by the state in two years. Infrastructure Minister Gašperšič assures that the plan is feasible.
