Low-cost airline SkyEurope, which was forced out of Vienna Schwechat airport over an outstanding debt last week, confirmed for TASR on Thursday, August 20, that it will not return to Austria for at least the next few days.
"Today and in the next few days we'll be flying from Bratislava," said SkyEurope spokesman Tomáš Kika, adding that the airline is trying to move its operations back to Vienna as soon as possible.
At the same time, SkyEurope is considering switching a number of flights to Bratislava, where it is headquartered, on a more permanent basis.
"What initially looked like a stand-by measure to protect the travelling schedules of our passengers seems to be a move that could benefit passengers, the airport, SkyEurope and the regional economy in the long term," said Kika.
SkyEurope's arrivals and departures have been re-routed from Vienna to Bratislava since midnight on Friday, August 14, after the carrier failed to repay its debts by the airport's deadline. Vienna airport refused to process any more SkyEurope departures. Schwechat had earlier on Tuesday, August 11 detained six SkyEurope flights but these were allowed to leave after a delay of several hours. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
