M. R. Štefánik Airport

M. R. Štefánik Airport (Slovak: Letisko M. R. Štefánika; German: Flughafen M. R. Štefánik) , also called – especially in English – Bratislava Airport (Slovak: Letisko Bratislava; German: Flughafen Pressburg or Flughafen Bratislava) or Bratislava-Ivanka, located approximately northeast of the city center of Bratislava, spanning over the area of three municipalities (Bratislava-Ružinov, Bratislava-Vrakuňa and Ivanka pri Dunaji). It is the main international airport of Slovakia. Shortly after the independence of Slovakia in 1993, it was named after general Milan Rastislav Štefánik, whose aircraft crashed near Bratislava in 1919. The airport is owned and run by Letisko M. R. Štefánika – Airport Bratislava, a.s. (BTS). As of September 2014 the company is fully owned by the Slovak Republic via the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development.

Bratislava is a base for the Slovak Government Flying Service as well as Ryanair, AirExplore, and Smartwings Slovakia. During a brief period in 2011, the airport was also a secondary hub for Czech Airlines. Two maintenance companies, Austrian Technik Bratislava and East Air Company are also based at the airport. Air Livery has one painting bay for aircraft at the airport. The airport is category 4E for aircraft, and category 7 or 8 on request in terms of potential rescue.

Bratislava is also served by the Vienna International Airport located west of the city centre. Conversely, Bratislava Airport may serve as a low-cost alternative for people from Vienna and the neighbouring areas.

Location

Bratislava Airport is located to the north-east of the city center, covering an area of . It is within a one-hour drive of Vienna (Austria), Brno (Czech Republic) and Győr (Hungary), covering a catchment area of four countries. The nearest large international airport is Vienna International Airport approx. to the west.

History

The first regular flight between Prague and Bratislava started in 1923, by the newly formed carrier Czechoslovak Airlines. At that time the airport for Bratislava was in Vajnory, about 3 km away from the current airport. That airport is now closed. Preparation for the current airport started in 1947 and construction began in 1948. Two runways were constructed (04/22, 1900 m and 13/31, 1500 m) and the airport opened in 1951.

The number of passengers served at Bratislava Airport decreased temporarily in the early 1990s due to competition from the nearby Vienna International Airport (which is only away from Bratislava Airport), but passenger numbers have been quickly increasing since, partly since Ryanair started traffic in 2004 marketing it as serving both Vienna and Bratislava. In 2005, the airport served 1,326,493 passengers; and in 2008, 2,218,545 passengers. Nevertheless, due to the economic downturn and the collapse of Slovak Airlines, SkyEurope, Air Slovakia and Seagle Air, the number of passengers has declined to just over 1.4 million in 2012, increasing again after 2014, and in 2018, the airport recorded the highest number of passengers in its history (2,292,712). In January 2019, the only domestic route of Slovakia Bratislava–Košice, and the Prague–Bratislava route were closed down by Czech Airlines.

Ryanair operations

In October 2005, Ryanair introduced direct flights from Bratislava to Bergamo, London-Stansted and Frankfurt-Hahn. In 2007, the airline operated routes to Bremen, Girona, Bristol, Bergamo, Dublin, London-Stansted, Frankfurt-Hahn, Stockholm-Skavsta and East Midlands.

The European Commission has opened an investigation in 2008 whether state-owned Bratislava airport provided unlawful financial aid by giving Ryanair a fee discount. Spring 2008 saw the opening of routes to Edinburgh and Birmingham. The airline suspended route to Bremen in May 2008.

Service to Brussels-Charleroi was introduced in March 2009. Flights to Alicante, Pisa and Düsseldorf-Weeze were opened later in 2009. In November 2009, routes to Bologna, Liverpool, Paris-Beauvais and Rome-Ciampino were introduced.

Following the collapse of SkyEurope Ryanair opened routes to Bari, London-Luton, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca and Trapani in 2010.

In 2011, direct flights to Canary Islands were introduced. Route to Las Palmas lasted for 15 months until May 2012.

Ryanair established a base at the airport in 2015 and added routes to Athens and Madrid.

Route to Berlin-Schönefeld was introduced begging of October 2015 following Schönefeld base expansion.

Services to Corfu and Manchester were opened in April 2016.

Direct flights to Eilat, Leeds-Bradford and Niš were introduced in Winter 2016.

In 2017 Ryanair added second based aircraft at the airport.

From 29 March 2018, Ryanair started flights to Malta. Bratislava was among the first two routes when Ryanair entered Turkey. Later in 2018 Ryanair opened routes to Burgas, Eidhoven, Pafos and Thessaloniki. Making it 25 in total for summer 2018 season.

Route to Kyiv-Boryspil was introduced begging of Winter 2018.

In 2020, flights to Alghero were introduced.

The airline planned the launch of Bratislava - Lviv route in January 2022. Later in 2022, flights to Copenhagen, Sofia, Lanzarote and Zagreb were launched.

Service to Kaunas was introduced for Summer 2023.

Facilities

Terminals

The airport has one terminal serving arrivals and departures, completed in July 2012 and replacing the original Terminal A, built in 1970 and demolished in January 2011. Terminal B, built in 1994 and designated to serve the non-Schengen arrivals and departures and Terminal C, built in 2006, are both currently out of service.

The current terminal includes 29 check-in desks located on the ground floor of the departures terminal, one of them designated for oversized baggage. In the non-public zones of the waiting area targeted at departing passengers, there are 13 gates, 8 in the Schengen and 5 in the non-Schengen area.

The airport is also home to the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), where passengers on private, business and VIP flights are handled, as well as passengers of emergency flights and crew.

Other facilities

A new control tower was added in the 1990s. The parking lot near the terminal has 970 parking spots and is used for short- and long-term parking. The current capacity of the airport is over 5 million passengers per year. The offices of the Slovak Civil Aviation Authority are on the airport property.

Runways

The current runways enable the landing of virtually all types of aircraft used in the world today (except for Airbus A380, Boeing 747-8 or another aircraft of similar size). The airport features two perpendicular runways (04/22 and 13/31), both of which underwent a complete reconstruction in the 1980s. Runway 13/31 is equipped for the ICAO category IIIA approach and landing, while 04/22 is category I.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled, seasonal, and seasonal charter flights to and from Bratislava:

Statistics

Accidents and incidents

• On 4 May 1919, M.R. Štefánik crashed on approach to Vajnory Airport, the predecessor to M. R. Štefánik Airport. Many rumors about his death exist.
• On 24 November 1966, an Il-18 on multi-leg TABSO Flight 101 from Sofia to East Berlin via Budapest and Prague crashed into the forested foothills of the Little Carpathians west of the airport, shortly after take-off from Bratislava Airport, where it had been grounded due to bad weather in Prague. All 74 passengers and eight crew members died.
• On 28 July 1976, an Il-18 on ČSA Flight 001 from Prague crashed into the Zlaté Piesky lake just north-west of the airport while executing a go-around. 69 of 73 passengers and six crew members died in the crash. Two passengers later died in the hospital.
• On 7 February 1999, a Boeing 707 aircraft crashed on takeoff from BTS. No one was injured.
• On 6 June 1999, a BAE Hawk 200 aircraft crashed during the SIAD '99 air show, killing the pilot and one female spectator on the ground that was swept off the roof by the explosion.

External links

• Official website