According to our information, the Chinese owners of Maribor Airport paid the rent, which was determined upon the signing of a 15-year contract, regularly until September. The monthly rent amounts to 98,300 euros, but Aerodrom Maribor failed to pay the rent for both September and October.

The Chinese, who stand behind this company, were said to be planning to invest 660 million euros into the airport infrastructure, which would have been the basis for the growth of passenger and freight traffic. This investment by the Chinese was conditional on a 50-year concession and on the adoption of a national spatial plan that would enable the extension and expansion of the runway. The plan is still being prepared.

The late payment, about which the Ministry first notified the tenant on the 25th of September, can be the basis of the termination of the contract, which stipulates in its article 16 that the agreement can be terminated two months after the tenant was notified about non-payment.

We asked Marko Gros, the procurator of Aerodrom Maribor, about the reason for the delay. Gros only told us that they have well founded reasons for non-payment and that the investor is not withdrawing.

Given that this investment was brought in by the current city authorities, we also asked the municipality for a response. Their answer was that, according to their information, the investor is dissatisfied with delays in the preparation of the national spatial plan and that it is already discussing the overdue invoices with the Ministry.