In the final part of a mini-series of blogs detailing the locations in Europe where I focus my alpine attentions, we turn to the least well known of the areas chronicled, Slovenia's second city Maribor and its Pohorje massif: Pros: One of my trio of stays in Maribor was at the Hotel Orel, perfectly situated…
Slovenia: Can Maribor Airport be given the wings it needs?
The world has considerably moved on since Maribor Airport opened to commercial aircraft in 1976. For more than two decades the site, and its grassy airstrip, in the neighbouring Hoce-Slivnica municipality had been the preserve of an acclaimed air school. Only once the construction of a more conventional runway and terminal building had been completed…
Slovenia: Maribor’s residents seek to protect local countryside from wholly unnecessary airport expansion
Residents living adjacent to Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport are rightly concerned by plans to expand the facility. Doing so could not only see the loss of forest and a large parcel of agricultural land, simultaneously undermining Slovenia's hardwired 'green' credentials, but also ultimately be an exercise in futility now that the modern, fit for purpose…
Maribor Airport the real victim of VLM Airlines’ demise
To describe VLM Airlines as Maribor Airport's 'anchor tenant' somewhat stretches a definition more associated with large retail concerns, situated to attract custom to smaller, adjacent businesses. Despite offering a modern, fit for purpose terminal, VLM were though all Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport had, aside from sporadic charter flights for visiting soccer teams. Having recently…
Maribor Airport: Flights of fancy to a now flightless facility
"Mighty oaks from little acorns grow" or so the saying goes. The loss this week of the only scheduled flights operating out of Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport is another blow to the ever-increasingly far-fetched proposal to link eastern Slovenia with a roster of services from China. Far from following a growth trajectory consistent with reaching…
Maribor Airport: Where For Now Reality and Fiction Uneasily Coexist
Truth can be stranger than fiction. Although this is a case of the truth slowly seemingly becoming reality, the fidelity of what at first appeared to be an early April the 1st wind-up will not be accepted until hard evidence is seen on the ground; or to be more precise - in the air. Let…
Maribor Airport: no return of London flights but services confirmed to Duesseldorf and Split
Adria Airways have confirmed that flights operated by the Slovenian flag carrier from Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport will not recommence during 2016, dashing hopes that its 2015 route into London Southend, its first service from Maribor in fifteen years, will be reintroduced for the summer season. This decision was presumably made before Adria's new owners,…
Maribor Airport announces Express Airways services to Duesseldorf and Split
Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport has confirmed what it will hope to be a successful tie up with Express Airways(EA). Flights to Duesseldorf, the North Rhine-Westphalia city base of EA, and the Croatian coastal city of Split, will significantly mitigate the loss of Adria Airways' 2015 service connecting Slovenia's second city with London Southend.Scheduled to operate…
Maribor Airport: management await news of potential Wizz Air and Air Serbia routes
In line with the management's desire to broaden the appeal of Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport by introducing a raft of new routes, it has been revealed through the Sierra5 aviation portal that the Delavska hranilnica majority owned aerodrome are awaiting decisions from major regional aviation players Wizz Air and Air Serbia as to whether either, both or…
Maribor/Pohorje: DUTB seeks tenants for hotel portfolio of bankrupt Pohorje Sports Centre
The eponymously located hotel portfolio of the now defunct Pohorje Sports Centre has been made available for tender, although at this time it is unclear if the assets can be individually cherry-picked or come as a job lot. A process managed by the government quango tasked with overseeing the sale of assets from distressed or obsolete…
Maribor Pohorje: assets of defunct lift operator to be sold off
A diverse portfolio of assets owned by the now defunct Pohorje Sports Centre(PSC) is being brought to auction, the first items being offered today for general sale. The miscellany of resources once at the disposal of PSC include a fishing facility, holiday accommodation in the Bolfenk area of the Pohorje massif and garage. It was only…
Maribor Airport set to welcome seasonal flights from Podgorica
Life has been much quieter at Maribor Airport since the initial flurry of excitement surrounding Adria Airways' reintroduction of services after a hiatus of fifteen years gave way to the almost inevitable shelving of the flag carrier's route into London Southend, with no guarantees of a 2016 reinstatement. Berlin-based aviators Windrose Airlines plan to operator several…
Ljubljana Airport: Brnik experiencing continued passenger growth
Like for like figures highlighting a 10.1% spike in passenger footfall during September through Ljubljana's Brnik Aerodrome translated into over 157,000 travellers using 3,183 flights, itself a 14.6% climb in services exiting and entering Slovenia through its primary, Fraport-owned airport.Over the nine month period to the end of September Brnik welcomed in excess of 1.13…
Adria Airways: Southend route ends as timetabled; CRJ200 jet to be removed from service
The reinstatement of services operated by Adria Airways from Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport after a fifteen year hiatus have in the last few days come to a scheduled halt, its four month service connecting Slovenia's east with the Essex-based London Southend ended on September 29th. Thrice weekly flights linking Maribor with a southeastern airport chosen for…
Maribor Airport to receive Ukrainian charter flights
Traditional a fallow period for Slovenia's airports, the forthcoming winter season promises to be busier than usual for the eastern city of Maribor following news that its Edvard Rusjan Airport is slated to receive several charter flights between Christmas and mid-January from Kharkiv, the second-largest city of Ukraine.The exact purpose of this short run of…
Maribor Airport: negotiations ongoing with Wizz Air
Whilst Slovenia, the aviation world and the shareholders of Maribor Airport continue to wait for a formal announcement from flag-carrier Adria Airways regarding its future plans, if any, to develop services from Edvard Rusjan aerodrome or curtail them altogether, news of a possible deal between the Delavska hranilnica-majority owned facility and Hungarian budget operator Wizz…
Adria Airways defers decision over future services from Maribor
A decision whether to lengthen Adria Airways' fledgling service connecting Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport with the Essex-based London Southend facility appears to be predicated on the creation of a local fighting fund to subsidize the Slovenian flag-carrier's continued presence at the Delavska hranilnica majority-owned aerodrome.Whilst a final commitment to the service has yet to be…
Ljubljana’s Brnik Airport posts increased year on year passenger growth
Ljubljana's Brnik Airport handled close to half a million passengers during the first five months of 2015, data for May being particularly impressive that saw a 19.6% year on year increase on corresponding figures for 2014.Aircraft movements have nevertheless fallen but the replacement of larger aircraft on routes previously serviced by smaller planes has inevitably…
Adria Airways: encouraging data shows 15% year on year increase in passenger growth
Amid heightened speculation regarding its immediate and long-term future, Slovenian flag-carrier Adria Airways has posted encouraging data for the first six months of 2015, seemingly vindicating a pursued business model predicated on operating leased aircraft and increasing the number of sites from where its planes are based.Despite claims to the contrary Adria have sought to…
Adria Airways pitches Maribor flights to Graz region
The reintroduction of scheduled flights from Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport has begun with a service Adria Airways hope will be the catalyst of one of more of its aircraft being based in the east of Slovenia, their route into London Southend seen as a precursor to future operations that majority owners Delavska hranilnica insist will…
Alpine Adventures, Soccer, Central Asian Autocracies & Secessionist Politics 