Zagreb airport director Bosko Matkovic says that the entire project is based on the idea of positioning Zagreb as a destination for attracting new flights, while the new terminal will serve to achieve that goal Last week the largest co-owners of the Zagreb airport, the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the City of Zagreb, agreed on a model for the financing and construction of a new airport terminal. The Pleso airport should, by the beginning of 2011 at the latest, have a new terminal larger than 65,000 m2 with a capacity of 3.3 million passengers each year. Zagreb airport director Bosko Matkovic said that, through this €200 million project, Zagreb would become the main regional hub for air traffic, and that other types of transportation would also be improved with this development.

NACIONAL: What will be the final cost of the terminal and how have the expenses been distributed?
- This terminal should cost €212 million, which is the amount which emerged from the study. Therefore, at this moment we do not have a precise project and budget; this is more or less an amount which was necessary to guide us in defining the project. It is worth highlighting that this amount of €212 million is not actually a requirement for money because this is not a Greenfield investment. The Zagreb airport entered the project as the main subject of the project and we have our activities which will bring €47 million over the next five years. Instead of €212 million, the capital required is actually €165 million. Last year, it was agreed that the state, which owns 55%, and the City of Zagreb, which owns 35% of the airport, would be included in the financing of the project. At the same time the other co-owners, the City of Velika Gorica and Zagreb Country who each have 5% ownership, were also invited. Of the €165 million needed, we still need to see how much each owner will give; specifically, we must look at how to utilize the budgets of the state and Zagreb, and what amount will be taken out as a loan. The principle estimation now is that the state and Zagreb will participate with approximately €52 million, while the remaining €112 million would gained through a loan.

NACIONAL: Have you found a bank which will assist you in financing this project?
- The response from banks has been really good. Of course, we will keep track of the price of the capital. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has put forward their intention for financing, as have several national banks. Until now, the best offer has been given by the European Investment Bank. They have given conditions which are definitely better than all others.

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THE EXISTING CAPACITY of the airport in Pleso is two million passengers annually at best, which, due to an increase in air traffic, is a number which is expected to be achieved already this year
NACIONAL: Who created the project? - The entire project is based, in fact, on several studies have been executed. The first study was carried out by the German Roland Berger Company, and it was related to a model for the financing and functionality of an airport in light of the construction of a new terminal. The study focussed on how to fill the cash flow and which method would guarantee the most secure and highest quality management of the airport, as well as the financing of the construction of the first phase of the project, as well as later phases. Of course, studies were also made on the feasibility and technological aspects of the project, as well as a case study in order to gain a projection on how many passengers would arrive in the airport. The estimated number of 3.3 million passengers is actually conservative. One part of our marketing actually deals with positioning Zagreb as a destination to attract new flights, and for that we need to have information on what is happening on the market and where potential passengers who arrive in Zagreb and the region are located. Based on the facts received with that study, we reached the understanding that we require a terminal for 3.3 million passengers. The company who carried out the technological project and the feasibility study, Scott Associates from Toronto, made a visual proposal as to how the terminal should look, but that image does not represent the final appearance of the terminal; it is only a visualization of the project. In the end, we received the budget and reached the amount of €212 million. Based on these €212 million, we tested the model created by the Roland Berger Company in order to establish which of them secured the greatest fulfilment of cash flow and the best positioning of Zagreb as a regional leader. The entire project is actually based on positioning Zagreb as a destination, and the new terminal is actually used as a tool which will serve to realize that goal. It is really important for us to be positioned as the leading airport in the region and that is why we are completing all prerequisites to fulfil this goal.

NACIONAL: How large will the terminal be and what content will it include?
- We carefully considered the size of the future terminal, and it is foreseen as a multi-phase construction process. We are now discussing phase 1A which is actually the most difficult part of the project because it deals with moving to a new location. This new location is 2.5 kilometres northeast of the current terminal, along the landing strip, specifically in the location of the current Pleso military base. Based on the fact that this new location requires specific infrastructure, it was necessary to solve these conditions and of course, the physical plans of Velika Gorica and the County. Protection of interests of the airport was a difficult process because there were many interested individuals whose interests opposed ours for the location of the other landing strip, and that will have to be solved in the future. When the new terminal begins operations, the old terminal will not be discarded; it is foreseen that it will continue to function. The maximum capacity of the current terminal is slightly over 2 million passengers and we have to keep investing in it. This year, we will have around 2 million travellers. If this growth continues, which will certainly occur with EU accession, we can have a situation where over the next 3-4 years, the time it will take for us to construct the new terminal, we will have 3 million passengers. It may occur that immediately upon completion of the new terminal, we will have to pass over to phase 1B. With the capacity of the old terminal, we will have a total capacity of 5 million travellers. We would then begin with phase 1B and would slowly designate the old terminal for low cost carriers and other activities. We expect that we will soon issue the architecture tender which will show the real visual appearance of the future terminal. The idea is to have a building which will be a symbol of the city. The terminal should have 65,600 m2 and 11 air bridges. It will be a construction which will have separate spaces for arrivals and departures based on the example of modern airports such as Terminal 2 in Munich. The architecture tender will give the answer to how much the final building will cost and whether it will be slightly larger than the projected size. The importance of the space does not only depend on the capacity for passenger reception; it also must allow for additional activities because, in the wave of cheaper air travel, airports cannot be more expensive than air transportation. We also have to go to the lowest possible prices.

NACIONAL: What about the necessary permits and when can we expect construction to begin?
- In the beginning of the project, we considered deadlines. At the moment, the location permit is at the authoritative ministry, and we can seek the construction permit upon completion of the architecture tender. We planned that the terminal should be completed by the beginning of 2011, but we will try to complete it before.

NACIONAL: How much does this project mean, not only for Zagreb, but for Croatia?
- While the project was being prepared and when I lobbied for it, I pointed out several aspects. First, until now, the airport has fulfilled Zagreb’s needs and has, in a sense, been a means of transfer towards other airports in the region. Because of the fact that the traffic in Zagreb greatly differs from traffic in the other airports, we have to think about creating networks and remember that we are the domicile airport of the national air carrier, Croatia Airlines. We do not favorize Zagreb over Split, Dubrovnik and other airports; we want to develop a quality network together with Croatia Airlines in which our air space would be the referent air space in the entire region. Zagreb is, for cargo transportation, a very interesting destination because Zagreb has a high quality position. We are actually considering a complimentary advantage which we have in relation to the intermodal traffic system; the hub near Domovinski most (Homeland bridge) could be a geometrical hub to the Croatian highway system. If you take into account the potential train and river traffic which will emerge in the future, we reach the understanding that we are located in the centre of a network of different types of transportation and, in that sense, the Zagreb airport has the best position in this part of Europe; it is a potential which the future is being built on. In the same sense, for construction, we are also counting on quality national construction companies and Croatian engineering which have already proven themselves in the construction of highways and other demanding projects; there is no reason why the project cannot be realized in a maximum “national” version. There, of course, exists specific equipment which is produced only in several places in the world which we will order, but the basic construction work and engineering can be definitely done by nationals.

NACIONAL: Have you considered any other possible locations for the new terminal?
- When we began the project, we very carefully analyzed where we would position the new terminal. We even considered a completely new airport because this one is squeezed between two cities. We investigated several locations in the vicinity of Jastrebarsko, Sisak and Čakovec and we concluded that the current position is the most appropriate. We also looked at whether the current terminal could be adapted, and concluded that it is inappropriate because of the new technology which we will implement. That is the reason why we decided to construct a new building. Alongside the building, we will also build a waiting area, an access to the strip for transporting airplanes, as well as 11 air bridges; this means a direct telescopic exit to the aircraft, which has been standard service practice in modern airports for a long time.