December 4 (SeeNews) - The Slovenian government said it approved a 5 million euro ($6.1 million) state aid to partially compensate Fraport Slovenija, the operator of airport in the capital Ljubljana, for losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The approved state aid will cover only 32.76% of the total loss that Fraport Slovenija will incur due to the pandemic, the government said in a statement on Thursday, adding that the financial support still needs to be endorsed by the European Commission.
"Due to the current situation linked with Covid-19, i.e. the drastic fall in aircraft operations and in the number of transported passengers, as well as in the volume of cargo, Fraport Slovenija will suffer an estimated damage of 15.261 million euro in 2020. The calculation is based on the drop in EBIT in comparison with 2019," it added.
The government noted that the airport operator sees the number of its passengers down 80% due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and has therefore started implementing a number of measures to cut operating costs.
Fraport Slovenija will use the aid to support its liquidity needs, i.e. to cover costs for material, services, wages and taxes, as well as finance urgent investments.
Ljubljana airport accounts for 97% of Slovenia's total air transport.
Last month, Germany's Fraport Group said that passenger traffic at Ljubljana airport decreased 82% to 278,600 in the first ten months of 2020.
In October alone, passenger traffic at Ljubljana airport plunged 89% to 10,775, aircraft movements decreased 47% to 935, while cargo transport declined 5.6% to 861 tonnes. In 2019, passenger traffic at Ljubljana airport fell 5.0% to 1,721,355.
($=0.8224 euro)