Passenger numbers at Bratislava Airport dropped in January

Bratislava Airport served 78,800 passengers in January of this year, down 13.7 percent y/y. The airport also reported on Wednesday, February 23, that the first month of the year is usually the weakest.

Bratislava Airport served 78,800 passengers in January of this year, down 13.7 percent y/y. The airport also reported on Wednesday, February 23, that the first month of the year is usually the weakest.

“It would be good if domestic transport stabilised,” board member and operating director Juraj Mitka commented, as reported by the SITA newswire. According to Mitka, the development of passenger transport will be similar in February, too. An improvement should be reported in March, when the range of routes at the airport is extended.

Behind the worsened results at the beginning of the year was a significant ongoing decline in transport on domestic routes between Bratislava and Košice, as well as a change of the flight schedule of the Irish low-cost air carrier Ryanair with concentration on year-round popular connections. Furthermore, Czech Airlines reduced the frequency of its flights from Prague, while Slovak carrier Danube Wings cut the number of destinations it offers.

International transport at the Bratislava Airport dwindled 13 percent in January to 76,200 persons. Domestic transport shrank 34 percent y/y to 2,400. Scheduled transport, reporting 74,800 passengers, dropped 10 percent in January, while charter transport dropped 53 percent to 3,800 passengers.

The number of takeoffs and landings was 1,498, down 17 percent from a year ago. Cargo transport grew 37 percent to 1,480 tons, and mail transport went up 53 percent to 8.4 tons. In January, Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair served 69,500 passengers at Bratislava Airport, up 15 percent y/y. Czech Airlines followed with 2,600 passengers, and Danube Wings had 2,500 passengers. The most popular connection was to the London airports of Stansted and Luton, where more than 24,000 people flew in January, up 15 percent y/y. 8,200 people travelled to Milan-Bergamo, up 6 percent y/y and 7,400 people to Dublin, which was an increase of 38 percent.

Bratislava’s MR Štefánik airport dates back to 1946. It is wholly owned by the state; the government’s FNM privatisation agency manages 52 percent of the shares and the Ministry of Transport the remaining 48 percent. The Ministry of Transport has recently suggested granting a long-term lease to operate the airport to a private investor in the form of concession lasting 30 to 50 years. Selection of a strategic partner for the airport is now being accelerated by six months and should be completed by late June 2012.

Source: SITA

Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.

Top stories

Janka, a blogger, during the inauguration of the first flight to Athens with Aegean Airlines at the airport in Bratislava on September 14, 2023.

A Czech rail operator connects Prague and Ukraine, Dominika Cibulková endorses Pellegrini, and Bratislava events.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad