The signing of the contract, whose execution is conditional on a 10% downpayment that needs to be secured by 22 May, was confirmed for the daily Delo by Damjan Cehner, a co-owner of Aviofun - presently the operator of the Slovenj Gradec airport - along with the Fraktala Consulting firm.

Delo reported that the deal, in which the bidder is offering EUR 700,000 to take over the management of the state-owned Maribor airport, moreover hinges on the participation of a foreign investor with whom Aviofun is joining forces.

Cehner spoke for Delo of "serious intentions" and a strategy for the mothballed airport, which is the second largest in the country and has been the subject of several failed calls by the state for bids for a long-term lease on the use of infrastructure and management of the airport.

He said that the serious plans were also recognised by the foreign partner, but that it was too soon to say if the deal would be completed. Cehner added that one of the conditions was the state granting a long-term licence for the management of the airport.

The daily Večer meanwhile reported that Cehner offered the highest bid among a total of four bidders for Aerodrom Maribor, being sold by Prevent, which bought it in 2002 but has been in receivership since 2010.

The other three bidders according to Večer's unofficial sources were Diga Ing, a Slovenian company with ownership ties to a Turkish company from Ankara; Express Airways, a firm whose seat is located at the same address as Aerodrom's; Frankfurt-based company Burglade UG; and Aviofun were four potential buyers.

The Maribor airport, renamed to Edvard Rusjan Maribor Airport after the first Slovenian aviator in 2008, has been mostly idle in recent years. Still, a new new passenger terminal was opened in 2012 and new charter lines launched this year to Antalya, Turkey, and the Greek islands of Zakynthos and Kos.