Slovenija radi na uspostavljanju letova iz Kine

Slovenia is moving forward with plans to secure services to China next year. The Slovenian State Secretary within the Ministry for Infrastructure met with the head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China in Beijing last week to discuss the establishment of flights between the two countries. The representatives of the CAAC "responded positively to the initiative to launch scheduled services between the two countries and provided assurances that there were no reservations in this matter", the Ministry for Infrastructure said. The State Secretary put an emphasis on Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport, presenting its development potential. The CAAC representatives welcomed Slovenia's activities targeted at the expansion of commercial aviation in the country and said they would offer technical assistance and support if necessary.

The talks come after an airline expressed interest to launch services between Xi'an and Ljubljana. The Slovenian Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, said, "We are especially interested in improving land, sea and air connectivity with China. We expect that direct flights between China's north-western city of Xi'an and our capital city Ljubljana will be established soon". He added, "Connectivity with China will enhance bilateral tourism and people-to-people exchange, which is another very important aspect of our cooperation. Slovenia wishes to establish itself as one of the major logistic hubs of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in this part of the world". In May, Slovenia's Minister for Infrastructure, Peter Gašperšič, visited China where he held talks with China's Minister for Transport and the head of the CAAC. They discussed improving airline connectivity between the two countries.

Maribor Airport also expects to link Slovenia with China after SHS Aviation took over and established an airline with the aim of launching services to the Far East. Andrej Fištravec, the Mayor of Maribor, said, "I believe that SHS will start with flights inside Europe and once the infrastructure at Maribor Airport is developed, I think they will start continental flights to China". SHS has previously announced plans to commence services from Slovenia's second largest city to Xi'an, Chongqing and Nanchang in China. On the other hand, Ljubljana has been attempting to secure flights to the country for several years. In 2013 the airport's General Manager, Zmago Skobir, sent an invitation to China Southern Airlines to introduce services to the Slovenian capital. Last year, the Chinese Embassy in Ljubljana launched an initiative for flights between the two countries to be established, with a proposal for Hainan Airlines to operate its service from Beijing to Prague via the Slovenian capital.