Poprad–Tatry Airport () is an airport in the Slovak ski resort town of

Poprad Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vic ...

. The airport has one of the highest elevations in Central Europe, at 718 m, which is 150 m higher than

Innsbruck Airport Innsbruck Airport , also known locally as ''Kranebitten Airport'', is the largest international airport in Tyrol in western Austria. It is located approximately from the centre of Innsbruck. The airport, which was opened in 1925, handles regio ...

in Austria, but 989 m lower than

Samedan Airport Samedan Airport , also known as Engadin Airport, is a regional airport in Samedan in the Engadin valley of Switzerland, 5 km from St. Moritz. History At the end of World War II, Swiss authorities identified existing locations that were to b ...

in Switzerland.

Services

The airport serves schedule and charter airline operations, is a base for

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

air services, and handles

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

. It does not offer any domestic flights. Charter flights are mainly operated in winter. Medical flights, VIP flights, ''ad hoc'' charters and ACMI flight also operate from the airport.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter services to and from Poprad–Tatry:

Statistics

Passenger throughput and operations since 2014:

Accidents and incidents

On 20 December 1980, an East German

Interflug Interflug GmbH (; ) was the national airline of East Germany (officially the “German Democratic Republic”) from 1963 to 1991. Based in East Berlin, it operated scheduled and chartered flights to European and intercontinental destinations out ...

Flight 302, a

Tupolev Tu-134 The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty) is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain oth ...

en route from Berlin Schönefeld to Budapest Ferenc Liszt received a bomb threat, saying that the bomb would go off once the plane descends lower than 600 meters. Since the Poprad Airport is located at 718 meters, the plane was diverted there. Upon landing, a backpack was found which did not belong to any of the passengers. According to Slovak police, during a routine training exercise involving police dogs at Poprad Airport on 2 January 2010, an officer from Slovakia’s Border and Foreigners’ Police put two pieces of a high explosive, hexogen (

RDX RDX (Research Department Explosive or Royal Demolition Explosive) or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (CH2N2O2)3. It is white, odorless, and tasteless, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified ...

), which experts say is more powerful than TNT, among the luggage of passengers travelling on a Danube Wings airline flight from Poprad to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland. The dogs succeeded in finding both pieces, but the policeman accidentally left one of them, a package containing 95g of the substance, among the luggage. When he realised his mistake, he notified the airport administration but not his superiors, whom he informed only on 4 January 2010. On 3 August 2012 during the construction works the

Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. Russian production of t ...

helicopter of TECHMONT company flew several times to Chata pod Rysmi mountain hut, located at 2250 meters over the sea. When the goods were offloaded there (carried on the rope under the helicopter), during the steep descent through the valley the free end of the rope hit the tail rotor blades, causing damage to it. The crew was able to fly the chopper to Poprad airport, but on approach controlling the helicopter became more and more difficult until it crash-landed within the airport perimeter and rolled to its side with main rotor and tail section destructed. Two from three members onboard received minor injuries. On 26 May 2021 after landing of Aerospool WT-9 Dynamic nose wheel collapsed, pilot escaped unhurt.

References

External links

Poprad–Tatry Airport
(official site, English version) {{DEFAULTSORT:Poprad-Tatry Airport Airports in Slovakia Poprad Buildings and structures in Prešov Region