Jat Airways company will be the very first airline outside the European Union that was approved to connect flights between two EU countries which are Slovenia and Italy. The Italian air traffic authorities have permitted Jat Airways to have flights from Portoroz, Slovenia, to Rome, Italy throughout the winter season. The said permission was because of the bilateral agreements signed between two sides involved. In line with the winter schedule, the airline passengers can travel from Belgrade to 32 cities in 23 countries aroun the world.

The Slovenian Airport operator namely Aerodrom Ljubljana foresees an increase in 5% to 10% in the passenger traffic although world economy is still trying to recover from crisis. Approximately 1.7 million passengers last 2008 utilized the airport which was 20% higher compared to the passengers in 2007. On the other hand, last year was a drawback since there was about 1.5 million passenger declination because of the economic crisis. According to Janez Krasnja, the marketing directors, that said crisis affected greatly the aviation community, particularly its sales.

But fortunately this year, the trend is changing for the countries in central Europe since they are expecting better passenger traffic in Ljubljana Airport coming from Asian countries because of the increase in interest of the Asian people to travel to Europe. At present, the Aerodrom Ljubljana is trying to convince Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to be the first Asian airlines to land in Ljubljana Airport. Presently, no Asian carrier operates at Ljubljana Airport since a lot of flights there are intercontinental flights via Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, London or perhaps Paris.

The Ljubljana Airport, located 23 kilometers northwest the city, is the major as well as the central airport within Slovenia and is connected to all major European cities plus airports. Krasnja believes that Asian people will not just be visiting well known places such as London or Paris, but may opt to try new destinations such as Slovenia. Plus from a survey last year, approximately a million Chinese citizen chose central Europe as their holiday getaway.