Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is Slovenia's principal international gateway, sited on the plain at Zgornji Brnik in the foothills of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, some 24 km northwest of Ljubljana. It offers a single long, ILS-equipped runway and full air traffic control, making it a straightforward if busy destination for visiting pilots flying under IFR or VFR into controlled airspace.
Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, also historically known as Brnik Airport, is the largest and busiest airport in Slovenia and serves as the country's main international gateway. It is operated by Fraport Slovenia and handles scheduled airline traffic alongside general aviation movements. For a simulator pilot, its single long hard runway, Category IIIb ILS and full radar and tower service make it a good example of a small national capital-city airport with a straightforward, single-runway layout.
The airport lies at Zgornji Brnik in the Cerklje na Gorenjskem municipality, about 24 km northwest of Ljubljana and roughly 9.5 km east of Kranj, at the foot of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps. As Slovenia's principal international airport it sits within controlled airspace with its own approach and tower services.
The airfield has a single physical runway, 12/30, a hard-surfaced strip of approximately 10,818 to 10,819 feet in length. Both directions are lit, and runway 30 is additionally equipped with an ILS approach.
Radio services include Approach and Area on 135.275 MHz, ATIS on 128.175 MHz (also broadcast on the DOL VOR at 112.700 MHz), Ground on 121.625 MHz, a combined Handling and General Aviation frequency on 131.4 MHz, and Tower on 118 MHz. The field is equipped with an ILS Category IIIb approach to runway 30, together with NDB and VOR approach aids.
The airport opened officially in December 1963, replacing the older Polje Airport near Ljubljana, which had served the city since 1933 as Slovenia's first civil airfield. Regular flights from the new Brnik site began in January 1964. During the 1980s the airport featured on a long-haul Jat Airways routing that linked New York City to Belgrade via a nonstop segment to Ljubljana using McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft. On 27 June 1991, two days after Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav People's Army began military operations in the country and the airport was bombed on the first day of the conflict; the following day two journalists were killed near the airport by a missile strike on their car, and four Adria Airways aircraft sustained serious damage from Yugoslav Air Force action. The fighting ended with the Brioni Agreement on 7 July 1991. The airport passed its first annual million-passenger milestone on 8 December 2004. In 2007 it was renamed from Aerodrom Ljubljana to Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, honouring the Slovene dissident, politician and Demos leader Jože Pučnik, and the terminal was expanded that year ahead of Slovenia's entry into the Schengen Area. A privatisation process begun in 2014 resulted in Fraport acquiring full ownership of the airport.
The airport continues to operate as Slovenia's main international air gateway under Fraport Slovenia, with a Category IIIb ILS on runway 30 supporting instrument operations in poor weather. A major terminal expansion project, begun in 2019 and completed in June 2021, increased departure capacity and added new passenger-handling facilities, though these are of limited relevance to a visiting flight crew beyond confirming the airport's status as a busy, well-equipped commercial field.