M. R. Štefánik Airport — also called Bratislava Airport — is the main

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. It is located approximately northeast of the city center of

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, spanning over the area of three municipalities (Bratislava-Ružinov, Bratislava-Vrakuňa and Ivanka pri Dunaji). Originally known as Bratislava Ivanka Airport, shortly after the independence of Slovakia in 1993 it was re-named after general

Milan Rastislav Štefánik Milan Rastislav Štefánik (; 21 July 1880 – 4 May 1919) was a Slovak politician, diplomat, aviator and astronomer. During World War I, he served at the same time as a general in the French Army and as Minister of War for Czechoslovakia. ...

(1880–1919), 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 Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...

, AirExplore, and

Smartwings Slovakia Smartwings Slovakia, formerly Travel Service Slovakia, is a charter airline based in Bratislava, Slovakia. The company was founded in 2010 and operates from Bratislava Airport. It is a subsidiary of Smartwings (formerly named Travel Service) from ...

. During a brief period in 2011, the airport was also a secondary hub for

Czech Airlines Czech Airlines (abbreviation: ČSA, ) is a Czech Republic, Czech aviation brand and privately held holding company. Between 1923 and 2024, it operated as an independent airline and served as the flag carrier of the Czech Republic. Czech Airlines ...

and between 2004 and 2005 as secondary hub for

Austrian Airlines Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian or AUA, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of Lufthansa, the flag carrier of Germany. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where i ...

. 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 located to the north-east of the city center, covering a

catchment area A catchment area in human geography, is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

of four countries, and is one-hour drive of

Vienna International Airport Vienna Airport is an international airport serving Vienna, the capital of Austria. It is located in Schwechat, southeast of central Vienna and west of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Its official name according to the Austrian Aeronaut ...

located west of the city centre. Conversely, Bratislava Airport serves as a low-cost alternative for

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and the neighbouring areas.

History

Early years

The first regular flight between

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and

started in 1923, by the newly formed carrier

Czechoslovak Airlines Czech Airlines (abbreviation: ČSA, ) is a Czech aviation brand and privately held holding company. Between 1923 and 2024, it operated as an independent airline and served as the flag carrier of the Czech Republic. Czech Airlines ended its own fl ...

. At that time the airport for Bratislava was in

Vajnory Vajnory is a small borough in the northeast of Bratislava, Slovakia. Milan Rastislav Štefánik international airport is located near Vajnory. Another airport - Vajnory Airport, which was the first airport in Slovakia - closed in 2006. Histor ...

, about 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, and 13/31, ) and the airport, known as BratislavaIvanka, opened in 1951.

Development since the 1990s

The number of passengers served at Bratislava Airport decreased temporarily in the early 1990s due to competition from the nearby

(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 Slovak Airlines (Slovenské aerolínie a.s. or Slovakian Airlines) was an airline based in Bratislava, Slovakia. Slovak Airlines operated on the market as an air transport company, operating regular and irregular passenger, cargo and postal tran ...

, SkyEurope,

Air Slovakia Air Slovakia was an airline based in Bratislava, Slovakia, operating out of M. R. Štefánik Airport. The airline offered scheduled and chartered passenger flights, as well as aircraft lease (ACMI). History The airline was established on 2 Ju ...

and

Seagle Air Seagle Air was a charter airline based in Trenčín, Slovakia. It had its operations out of M. R. Štefánik Airport in Bratislava, with a second base in Prague. The airline operated non-scheduled air services, including passenger, cargo and ma ...

, 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 between

and

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

, and the

–

route were axed by Czech Airlines. Bratislava airport ground

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 Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled a ...

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

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s 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 The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

category IIIA approach and landing, while 04/22 is category I. Runway 04/22 is long and wide. Runway 13/31 is long and wide.

Airlines and destinations

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

Statistics

Ground transportation

Buses and coaches

–

Public transportation Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...

trolleybus No. 61 connects the airport to the city centre and the central railway station during the day. At night the airport is served by bus N61 from the central railway station. *

–

FlixBus FlixBus (; styled FLiXBUS) is a German brand that offers low-cost Intercity bus service, intercity coach services in Europe, North America, South America and Asia. It is owned by , which also operates FlixTrain, FlixCar, , and Greyhound Lines. F ...

and Slovak Lines (jointly with Postbus) operate bus lines to Vienna which stop also at the

Roads

Bratislava Airport can be reached by private car from the city centre, which is away, or from D1 highway. There is also a taxi stand just near the entrance to the airport with Taxi Slovakia company (taxi of other companies can be called by telephone but rates for the airport are usually higher). Long-term and short-term car parking is provided at the airport, in front of the terminal building.

Accidents and incidents

* On 4 May 1919, M.R. Štefánik crashed on approach to the airport. * On 24 November 1966, an Il-18 on multi-leg

TABSO Flight 101 TABSO Flight 101 was a scheduled service of the Bulgarian national airline from Sofia, Bulgaria, via Budapest, Hungary, and Prague, Czechoslovakia (today's Czech Republic), to Berlin Schönefeld Airport in East Germany (now absorbed into German ...

from Sofia to East Berlin via Budapest and Prague crashed into the forested foothills of the

Little Carpathians The Little Carpathians (also: ''Lesser Carpathians'', ; ; ) are a low mountain range, about 100 km long, and part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountains are situated in Western Slovakia, covering the area from Bratislava to Nové Mesto n ...

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 Czechoslovak Airlines Flight 001 was an Ilyushin Il-18B four engine turboprop airliner, registered OK-NAB, which was operating as a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Prague's Ruzyně airport to Bratislava-Ivanka Airport, both in Czechosl ...

from Prague crashed into the Zlaté Piesky lake just north-west of the airport after landing. 76 of the 79 occupants on board died in the crash. * On 7 February 1999, a Ghanaian

Boeing 707-328C The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

cargo aircraft crashed after aborting its

takeoff Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle leaves the ground and becomes airborne. For aircraft traveling vertically, this is known as liftoff. For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a tr ...

and subsequently overran beyond the runway. During takeoff, the number two and three engines experienced technical issues, and in response, the pilots decided to abort the takeoff. However, despite the pilots' attempts to slow the aircraft down, the aircraft overran the runway, damaging two traffic lights before coming to a stop in wet soil. All four crew were uninjured, with the aircraft only suffering minor damages, including cracks to the fuselage and damage to its

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

. * On 6 June 1999, during the SIAD '99 air show, a BAE Hawk 200 fighter jet piloted by Graham Wardell crashed into a concrete parking landing area while performing a

barrel roll A barrel roll is an aerial maneuver in which an airplane makes a complete rotation on both its longitudinal and lateral axes, causing it to follow a helix, helical path, approximately maintaining its original direction. It is sometimes describe ...

. Its remains flew over and landed behind the biological protection building of the airport. The pilot and a 35-year-old spectator on the roof of a building were killed. An additional 15 people were injured on the ground.

References

External links

Official website
* * {{authority control Airports in Slovakia Buildings and structures in Bratislava Transport in Bratislava Airports established in 1951 20th-century architecture in Slovakia 1951 establishments in Slovakia