M. R. Štefánik Airport

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Milan Rastislav Štefánik Airport
Bratislava Airport
Letisko Milana Rastislava Štefánika
Letisko Bratislava
IATA: BTS - ICAO: LZIB
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Airport Bratislava, a.s. (BTS)
Serves Bratislava
Elevation AMSL 436 ft (133 m)
Coordinates 48°10′12″N, 17°12′45″E
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
04/22 9,515 2,900 Concrete
13/31 10,466 3,190 Concrete

Milan Rastislav Štefánik Airport (Slovak: Letisko Milana Rastislava Štefánika) (IATA: BTSICAO: LZIB), also called - especially in English - Bratislava Airport (Slovak: Letisko Bratislava), in Bratislava is the main international airport of Slovakia.

It is named after General Milan Rastislav Štefánik whose aircraft crashed above Bratislava in 1919. The airport is run by the Letisko Milana Rastislava Štefánika – Airport Bratislava, a.s. (BTS), a public limited company. Till May 2004, the airport was run by the state-run entity Slovenská správa letísk (Slovak Airport Administration).

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[edit] Location

It is located 9km (5.5 miles) to the north-east from the city center, covers an area of 4.77 km² (3 square miles) and is known for its extraordinarily good climatic conditions.

Bratislava Airport is located within a one-hour drive of Vienna (Austria), Brno (Czech Republic) and Győr (Hungary), covering a catchment area of four countries (Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia).

[edit] Characteristics

SkyEurope's Boeing 737-500 aircraft in Bratislava
SkyEurope's Boeing 737-500 aircraft in Bratislava

It serves both scheduled and unscheduled, domestic and international flights. The current runways enable the landing of virtually all types of aircraft used in the world today.

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 ICAO category 2 approach and landing.

Airport capacity is currently around 2 million passengers. Airport has two terminals: Departure terminal A, built in 1971, and arrival terminal B, built in 1994. A new terminal facility (B) and control tower was added in the 1990s. The number of passengers served decreased temporarily in the early 1990's due to competition by the nearby Vienna International Airport (which is only some 55km/34.5 miles distant from Bratislava Airport) and then in 1999-2000 due to changes made by the new Mikuláš Dzurinda government, but it is quickly increasing since. In 2005, the airport served over 1 300 000 passengers, and in 2006 almost 2 million passengers. Further increase is expected.

Amenities and facilities: bureaux de change, first aid, left luggage, lost baggage, restaurants, bars and cafés, VIP lounge, Airport Business Club, duty free shops, car rental. There are also facilities for disabled. Parking lot near the terminal currently has 470 places and is used for short and long-term parking.

Primary destinations for regular flights in terms of the number of passengers in 2004 were: Prague, Paris-Orly, London-Stansted, Košice, Amsterdam-Schiphol, Moscow and Munich. The main airlines in 2004 were: SkyEurope (48% of passengers), Slovak Airlines (19% of passengers), Czech Airlines (9,7%), Austrian Airlines (4.5%) and Air Slovakia (5%). SkyEurope's share in regular flights was as much as 59%.

[edit] Ground transportation

Bratislava Airport can be reached from the city centre, which is by road 12 km away, or from D1 motorway. Public transportation line no. 61 connects airport to the city centre and main railway station. Many shuttle buses also operate from this airport to Vienna. Taxi stand is just near the entrance to the airport.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

  • Aeromist-Kharkiv (Kiev-Zhulhany)
  • Air Slovakia (Amritsar, Birmingham, Tel Aviv - (following lines are from December to March only) - Goa, Larnaca)
  • Czech Airlines (Prague)
  • Lufthansa (Munich)
  • Ryanair (Dublin, Frankfurt-Hahn, London-Stansted, Milan-Orio Al Serio)
  • SkyEurope (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Basel, Copenhagen, Dublin, Košice, London-Stansted, Manchester, Paris-Orly, Rome-Fiumicino - (following lines operate only in summer season) Athens, Burgas, Catania, Dubrovnik, Malaga, Naples, Split, Thessaloniki, Varna

[edit] See also

[edit] External links