Dear Editor,
Slovak Airlines (SA) Director Pavol Mladý was modest indeed when commenting on the importance of the projected twice daily air link to Munich and Bratislava ["Slovak Airlines starts Munich route," by Peter Barecz, Vol. 5 No. 44, Nov. 22-28]. Having lived for six months under the flight path of Munich airport, I know how busy the international flights are. Most Slovak air travellers are completely fed up with having to drive to Schwechat in order to make connections to the rest of the world. The trip is unpleasant, border formalities a downright disgrace, and at times the aggressive behaviour of many arrogant drivers, who appear to think they are on a formula one race track, make the road from the Austrian border to the airport dangerous.
With the new flights, Slovakia will be on a higher priority list for international conferences. Next year there will be a very important international conference sponsored by NATO in Slovakia. One of the difficulties in organising this event was the lack of an international air link to Bratislava. It took skill to negotiate this stumbling block with the NATO officials.
The Munich route has changed the situation overnight. The brave decision to start the operation needs to be supported fully. I will be doing just that by buying my ticket to Munich next time.
Richard Greene
Banská Bystrica
