"We're happy that regular routes are returning to Maribor airport. We believe both destinations are very interesting, mostly because of further connections from Munich, and of course because of the strong existing ties of our region with Bavaria," Bobek said.

The route is operated by Belgian-Slovenian VLM Airlines, whose parent SHS Aviation runs Maribor Airport.

The airline will fly a 50-seater Fokker between Antwerp and Maribor with a stopover in Munich every workday, leaving the Belgian city at around 10 AM, stopping in Munich around midday and landing in Maribor at 2:20 PM. The return flight will start half an hour later and is expected in Belgium at around 7 PM.

However, the inaugural flight faced some issues. It took off from Maribor as scheduled, but the airline had some problems, because the plane had been stuck at London City Airport due to the discovery of a WWII bomb at the airport.

VLM Airlines is owned by SHS Aviation, which also operates Maribor Airport through Aerodrom Maribor. SHS aviation bought the airport operator in December 2016.

VLM airlines is the common trading name for the Slovenian carrier VLM Airlines and the Belgian carrier SHS Antwerp Aviation.

Excluding a couple of flights to Croatia's Split and Dubrovnik in the summer, the airline has not operated a regular route from Maribor Airport until now.