The company is seeking contractors for the main construction and electrical works on the new building. Bidders have 60 days to apply and the deadline for completion of the works is January 2015.

The terminal will stretch over 31,200 m2 and have a capacity of 1,800 passengers per hour. The existing terminal, built in 1973 and expanded several times since to a surface area of 13,000 m2, will remain in use, but a part of it will be restructured for commercial activities.

"The existing terminal no longer allows us to achieve sufficient quality standards...Based on projected aviation trends, the number of passengers will continue to increase and reach 1.8m, the figure from 2008, within five years," the company said.

The main contract will be followed up by up to ten additional calls for bids for other works. Just over a fifth of the total projected cost will be covered with a grant from the European Regional Development Fund, the company said in a press release.

Terminal 2 is part of a EUR 117m investment plan through 2017 that also includes a small logistics centre and a cargo terminal.

Aerodrom Ljubljana generated EUR 14.56m in revenues in the first half of 2012, down 5.8% compared to the same period last year. Net profit stood at EUR 1.98m, down 4% over the same period last year and 8% above plans.

Passenger numbers were down 11.5% to 537,476 compared to the first half of 2011.