Bratislava Airport

M. R. Štefánik Airport Letisko M. R. Štefánika Bratislava Airport Letisko Bratislava
File:Bratislava airport logo.png
IATA: BTS ICAO: LZIB BTS Location of the airport in Slovakia
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Airport Bratislava, a.s. (BTS)
Serves	Bratislava
Location	Bratislava, Slovakia
Opened	1951
Hub for	Danube Wings SAMair Slovakian Airlines
Elevation AMSL	436 ft / 133 m
Coordinates	48°10′12″N 017°12′46″E
Website	www.letiskobratislava.sk
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 04/22 2,900 9,515 Concrete 13/31 3,190 10,466 Concrete
Statistics (2011)
Passengers 1,585,064 Cargo 17,717 tonnes Aircraft movements 27,220
Slovakian AIP at EUROCONTROL

Departure terminal

Check-in area at Bratislava Airport

Control tower

M. R. Štefánik Airport (Template:Lang-sk) (IATA: BTS, ICAO: LZIB), also called – especially in English – Bratislava Airport (Template:Lang-sk) or Bratislava-Ivanka, located 9 km (5.6 mi) northeast of Bratislava Castle in Bratislava is the main international airport of Slovakia. Scheduled and non-scheduled domestic and international air connections are provided to destinations in Europe, Middle East and North Africa. The scheduled flights are operated by DanubeWings, Sun d'Or (operated by El Al), Ryanair and UTair. Travel Service also sells some seats on its charters as scheduled through its Smart Wings affiliate.

The airport is named after general Milan Rastislav Štefánik (since 1993), whose aircraft crashed near Bratislava in 1919. The airport is run by the Letisko M. R. Štefánika - Airport Bratislava, a.s. (BTS) a public limited company. Until May 2004, the airport was run by the state-run entity Slovenská správa letísk (Slovak Airport Administration). In 2010, the airport served 1,585,064 passengers equating to an average 19% annual increase every year since 2000 (but a gradual decrease from 2008 – see table below). It currently serves as a base for AirExplore, Opera Jet, Sayegh Aviation Europe - whose flights operate under the Samair brand, Slovak Government Flying Service, Travel Service (Slovakia), VIP Wings - whose flights operate under the DanubeWings name and VR Jet; and was the primary base of Air Slovakia, Central Charter Airlines Slovakia, Seagle Air, Sirocco Aviation, SkyEurope Airlines and Slovak Airlines until each of these airlines ceased flights between 2008 and 2011. During a brief period in 2011, the airport also served as a secondary hub for Czech Airlines. Austrian Technik Bratislava (ATB) and East Air Company – both maintenance companies for third parties are also based at the airport. ATB does maintenance on Fokker 70, Fokker 100 and Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft, while East Air does maintenance on Pipers and Let 410. Bratislava airport is open 24 hours.

Location

Bratislava Airport is located 9 km (5.6 mi) to the north-east from the city center, covering an area of 4.77 km² (1.84 sq mi). It is known for its extraordinarily good climatic conditions.

It is located within a one-hour drive of Vienna (Austria), Brno (Czech Republic) and Győr (Hungary), covering a catchment area of four countries.

Characteristics

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

Today, it serves both scheduled and unscheduled, domestic and international flights. The current runways enable the landing of virtually all types of aircraft used in the world today (except Airbus A380, Antonov An-225 and Boeing 747-8). The airport is category 4E for aircraft, and category 7 or 8 on request in terms of potential rescue.

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 ICAO category IIIA approach and landing, while 04/22 is category I.

The airport has three terminals: Departure terminal A, built in 1970 was demolished in January 2011 and is now being replaced by the second phase of the new terminal, arrival terminal B (used for non-Schengen arrivals), built in 1994 and arrival terminal C (used for Schengen arrivals), built in 2006. A new terminal facility (B) and control tower was added in the 1990s. A new building linking the departure terminal with arrival terminal B has been finished in November 2008 and houses different Slovak travel agencies plus a post office. The number of passengers served decreased temporarily in the early 1990s due to competition by the nearby Vienna International Airport (which is only some 55 km (34 mi) distant from Bratislava Airport), but it is quickly increasing since. 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 SkyEurope Airlines, Air Slovakia and Seagle Air, the number of passengers has declined to 1 665 704 in 2010.

Amenities and facilities: bureaux de change, first aid, left luggage, baggage wrapping, lost baggage, restaurant, bars, cafés, VIP lounge, airport business club, duty-free shop, smaller shop, post office, news agents and car rental facilities. There are also facilities for the disabled. The parking lot near the terminal has 970 places and is used for short- and long-term parking. A new terminal is being constructed. The first phase has been completed in 2010 and the second one should be by 2012. Once completed, the capacity will double from approximately 2.5 to over 5 million passengers per annum. Visualisation can be viewed here.

Two (not general aviation) aircraft ground handling companies operate at the airport: Airport Bratislava handling (handles Air Arabia Egypt, Bulgarian Air Charter, Norwegian, Nouvelair, Onur Air, Ryanair, Samair, Sky Airlines, Travel Service, Tunisair, UT Air and DHL flights), Skyport (handles AirExplore, DanubeWings, Sun d'Or (operated by El Al), Nesma Airlines and Slovak Government Flying Service flights).

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled service

Airlines	Destinations
DanubeWings	Košice Seasonal: Split, Venice, Zadar
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Copenhagen, Oslo-Gardermoen
Ryanair	Beauvais, Bergamo, Birmingham, Bristol, Brussels-South Charleroi, Dublin, Edinburgh [ends 27 October 2012], Liverpool, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Rome-Ciampino Seasonal: Alghero, Girona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Sun d'Or operated by El Al	Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion
Travel Service operated by Smart Wings	Seasonal: Burgas, Heraklion, Rhodes, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion
UTair Aviation	Moscow-Vnukovo

Charter service (Summer 2012)

Airlines	Destinations
SAMair	Antalya, Burgas, Heraklion, Hurghada, Karpathos, Kos, Monastir, Oujda, Patras, Rhodes, Taba, Zakynthos
Travel Service Slovakia	Marsa Alam, Almería, Antalya, Boa Vista, Cagliari, Dalaman, Djerba, Dubai, Heraklion, Hurgada, Ibiza, Korfu, Kos, Lamezia Terme, Larnaca, Malaga, Malta, Menorka, Mombasa, Monastir, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Patras/Araxos, Rhodos, Taba, Tunis, Varna, Zakynthos

Cargo airlines

Airlines	Destinations
DHL Aviation operated by European Air Transport	Leipzig/Halle, Sofia
DHL Aviation operated by Swiftair	Brussels

VIP and other operators

• ABS Jets – base
• Tatra Jet – focus city
• OPERA JET – base
• VR Jet (previously VIP Wings) – base

The airport is also the base for the Slovak Government Flying Service. It is also served by Air Transport Europe on air rescue operations and the Slovak police bases some of its helicopters at BTS.

Other carriers operate on ad-hoc passenger and freight charter flights and GAT flights (e.g. NetJets).

Statistics

Passengers and cargo since 1997

Year	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Passengers	285,983	324,219	276,092	283,714	293,326	368,203	480,011	893,614	1,326,493	1,937,642	2,024,142	2,218,545	1,710,018	1,665,704	1,585,064
Cargo (tonnes)	1,641	1,443	1,605	2,878	3,171	4,831	10,736	6,972	3,633	5,055	1,969	6,961	11,903	17,717	20,530

Ground transportation

Bratislava Airport can be reached from the city centre, which is 9 km (5.6 mi) away, or from D1 highway. Public transportation service 61 connects the airport to the city centre and the central railway station during the day. Service 96 operates from Petržalka. At night the airport is served by bus N61 from the central railway station. Blaguss and Slovak Lines (jointly with Postbus) operate bus lines (18 services a day - approximately once per hour) to Vienna which stop also at the Vienna International Airport. Slovak Lines also operates to destinations around Slovakia. There is a taxi stand just near the entrance to the airport with Danube Taxi and Breadis Taxi companies (you can call other taxi companies as well).

Accidents and incidents

Security check-point at Bratislava Airport

• On May 4, 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 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 OK-NAB 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 20 October 1977, an Mi-8 helicopter inbound for landing with wife of the then President of Czechoslovakia Gustáv Husák crashed in dense fog and darkness into a maize field about 300 m (980 ft) short of the runway. All four passengers died.
• 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 SIAD '99 air show killing the pilot and one female spectator on the ground that was swept off the roof by explosion.

Gallery

• 
  Former departure terminal (demolished January 2011)
• 
  Control tower (front view)
• 
  In the background Boeing 737-700NG OM-NGJ SkyEurope
• 
  Departures information board

External links

• Bratislava Airport (official site, Slovak/English)
• www.slovak-airports.net (unofficial site about Slovak airports, Slovak/English/Italian)
  • Schedule of flights to/from Bratislava Airport (unofficial site)
• Current weather for LZIB at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for BTS at Aviation Safety Network