Bratislava Airport

M. R. Štefánik Airport (IATA: BTS, ICAO: LZIB) — also called Bratislava Airport — is the main international airport of Slovakia. It is located approximately nine kilometres (5+1⁄2 miles) northeast of the city center of Bratislava, spanning over the area of three municipalities (Bratislava-Ružinov, Bratislava-Vrakuňa and Ivanka pri Dunaji).

M. R. Štefánik Airport Bratislava Airport Letisko M. R. Štefánika Letisko Bratislava
IATA: BTS ICAO: LZIB
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Airport Bratislava, a.s. (BTS)
Serves	Bratislava, Slovakia and Vienna, Austria
Location	Ivanka pri Dunaji
Opened	1951; 74 years ago (1951)
Hub for	AirExplore Slovak Government Flying Service
Operating base for	Ryanair Smartwings Slovakia
Elevation AMSL	436 ft / 133 m
Coordinates	48°10′12″N 17°12′46″E
Website	bts.aero
Map
BTS/LZIB Location of the airport in Slovakia
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 04/22 2,900 9,515 Concrete 13/31 3,190 10,466 Concrete
Statistics (2024)
Passengers 1,948,008 7% Movements 28,098 Cargo 11,136
Source: Bratislava Airport press release

Originally known as Bratislava-Ivanka Airport, shortly after the independence of Slovakia in 1993 it was re-named after general Milan Rastislav Štefánik (1880–1919), whose aircraft crashed near Bratislava in 1919. The airport is owned and run by Letisko M. R. Štefánika – Airport Bratislava, a.s. (BTS). As of September 2014 the company is fully owned by the Slovak Republic via the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development.^[1]

Bratislava is a base for the Slovak Government Flying Service as well as Ryanair, AirExplore, Smartwings Slovakia and Air Horizont during the summer season. During a brief period in 2011, the airport was also a secondary hub for Czech Airlines and between 2004 and 2005 as secondary hub for Austrian Airlines. Two maintenance companies, Austrian Technik Bratislava and East Air Company are also based at the airport. Air Livery has one painting bay for aircraft at the airport. The airport is category 4E for aircraft, and category 7 or 8 on request in terms of potential rescue.

Bratislava is located to the north-east of the city center, covering a catchment area of four countries, and is one-hour drive of Vienna International Airport located 49 kilometres (30+1⁄2 mi) west of the city centre. Conversely, Bratislava Airport serves as a low-cost alternative for Vienna and the neighbouring areas.

History

Early years

The first regular flight between Prague and Bratislava started in 1923, by the newly formed carrier Czechoslovak Airlines. At that time the airport for Bratislava was in Vajnory, about 3 km (2 mi) away from the current airport. That airport is now closed.^[2]

Preparation for the current airport started in 1947 and construction began in 1948. Two runways were constructed (04/22, 1,900 m (6,200 ft) and 13/31, 1,500 m (4,900 ft)) and the airport, known as Bratislava‑Ivanka, opened in 1951.^[3]

Development since the 1990s

The number of passengers served at Bratislava Airport decreased temporarily in the early 1990s due to competition from the nearby Vienna International Airport (which is only 55 km or 34 mi away from Bratislava Airport), but passenger numbers have been quickly increasing since, partly since Ryanair started traffic in 2004 marketing it as serving both Vienna and Bratislava.

In 2005, the airport served 1,326,493 passengers; and in 2008, 2,218,545 passengers. Nevertheless, due to the economic downturn and the collapse of Slovak Airlines, SkyEurope, Air Slovakia and Seagle Air, the number of passengers has declined to just over 1.4 million in 2012, increasing again after 2014, and in 2018, the airport recorded the highest number of passengers in its history (2,292,712).

In January 2019, the only domestic route of Slovakia between Bratislava and Košice, and the Prague–Bratislava route were axed by Czech Airlines.^[4]

Bratislava Airport before reconstruction in 2008

Facilities

Departures area

Check-in hall

Terminals

The airport has one terminal serving arrivals and departures, completed in July 2012^[5] and replacing the original Terminal A, built in 1970 and demolished in January 2011. Terminal B, built in 1994 and designated to serve the non-Schengen arrivals and departures and Terminal C, built in 2006, are both currently out of service.

The current terminal includes 29 check-in desks located on the ground floor of the departures terminal, one of them designated for oversized baggage. In the non-public zones of the waiting area targeted at departing passengers, there are 13 gates, 8 in the Schengen and 5 in the non-Schengen area.

The airport is also home to the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), where passengers on private, business and VIP flights are handled, as well as passengers of emergency flights and crew.

Other facilities

A new control tower was added in the 1990s. The parking lot near the terminal has 970 parking spots and is used for short- and long-term parking. The current capacity of the airport is over 5 million passengers per year. The offices of the Slovak Civil Aviation Authority are on the airport property.^[6]

Runways

The current runways enable the landing of virtually all types of aircraft used in the world today (except for Airbus A380, Boeing 747-8 or another aircraft of similar size). 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 the ICAO category IIIA approach and landing, while 04/22 is category I. Runway 04/22 is 2,900 metres (9,514 ft) long and 60 metres (197 ft) wide. Runway 13/31 is 3,190 metres (10,466 ft) long and 45 metres (148 ft) wide.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled, seasonal, and seasonal charter flights to and from Bratislava:^[7]

Airlines	Destinations
Air Cairo	Hurghada, Marsa Alam[8] Seasonal charter: El Alamein,[9] Marsa Matruh[10]
Air Montenegro	Seasonal charter: Podgorica,[11] Tirana[12]
Air Nostrum	Seasonal charter: Palma de Mallorca[13]
arkia	Seasonal charter: Tel Aviv[14]
Corendon Airlines	Seasonal: Antalya,[citation needed] Hurghada[15]
FLYYO	Seasonal charter: Tel Aviv[16]
Neos	Seasonal charter: Mauritius,[17] Phuket[17]
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Seasonal: Copenhagen[18]
Pegasus Airlines	Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen[19][20] Seasonal: Antalya[21]
Ryanair	Bari,[22] Charleroi,[23] Dalaman,[23] Dublin,[23] Edinburgh,[23] Eindhoven,[23] Gdańsk,[22] Lanzarote,[23] Leeds/Bradford,[23] London–Stansted,[24] Malta,[23] Manchester,[25] Milan–Malpensa,[22] Rome–Ciampino,[23] Sofia,[23] Thessaloniki[23] Seasonal: Alghero,[23] Burgas,[23] Corfu,[23] Palma de Mallorca,[23] Paphos,[26] Skiathos,[22] Trapani,[23] Zadar[27]
Sky Express	Seasonal charter: Athens,[28] Heraklion,[28] Kos,[29] Rhodes[28]
Smartwings[30]	Seasonal: Burgas,[23] Corfu,[23] Heraklion,[23] Larnaca,[23] Palma de Mallorca,[23] Rhodes,[23] Zakynthos[23] Charter: Hurghada[citation needed] Seasonal charter: Almería,[citation needed] Antalya,[citation needed] Aqaba,[citation needed] Bahrain,[31] Boa Vista,[citation needed] Bodrum,[citation needed] Cairo–Capital,[32] Corfu,[33] Djerba,[citation needed] Doha,[34] El Alamein,[35] Izmir,[citation needed] Kavala,[citation needed] Kefalonia,[citation needed] Kos,[citation needed] Madeira,[36] Marsa Alam,[citation needed] Marsa Matruh,[37] Menorca,[citation needed] Monastir,[citation needed] Olbia,[33] Patras,[citation needed] Preveza,[33] Sal,[citation needed] Salalah,[citation needed] Tirana[33]
Wizz Air	Bucharest–Otopeni (begins 28 October 2025),[38] London–Luton, Skopje
World2Fly	Seasonal charter: Holguín,[39] Phu Quoc,[39] Punta Cana[39]

Statistics

Control tower

Caproni Ca.33 in the departure hall

General Aviation Terminal

Year	Passengers	Change	Cargo (tonnes)
1997	285,983		1,641
1998	324,219	+13.4%	1,443
1999	276,092	-14.8%	1,605
2000	283,714	+2.8%	2,878
2001	293,326	+3.4%	3,171
2002	368,203	+25.5%	4,831
2003	480,011	+30.4%	10,883
2004	893,614	+86.2%	6,972
2005	1,326,493	+48.4%	3,633
2006	1,937,642	+46.1%	5,055
2007	2,024,142	+4.5%	1,969
2008	2,218,545	+9.6%	6,961
2009	1,710,018	−22.9%	11,903
2010	1,665,704	−2.6%	17,717
2011	1,585,064	−4.8%	20,530
2012	1,416,010	−10.7%	22,563
2013	1,373,078	−3.0%	21,271
2014	1,355,625	−1.3%	19,448
2015	1,564,311	+15.4%	21,098
2016	1,756,808	+12.3%	22,895[40]
2017	1,942,069	+10.6%	26,246[41]
2018	2,292,712	+18.1%	24,458[42]
2019	2,290,242	-0.1%	20,449[43]
2020	405,097	-82.3%	24,739[44]
2021	480,152	+18.5%	19 623[45]
2022	1,406,284	+192.9%	18,042[46]
2023	1,813,660	+28.4%	11,082[47]
2024	1,948,008	+7.4%	11,136[48]

Ground transportation

Bratislava Airport bus stop terminal

Buses and coaches

• Bratislava – Public transportation trolleybus No. 61 connects the airport to the city centre and the central railway station during the day. At night the airport is served by bus N61 from the central railway station.
• Vienna – FlixBus^[49] and Slovak Lines (jointly with Postbus) operate bus lines to Vienna which stop also at the Vienna International Airport.

Roads

Bratislava Airport can be reached by private car from the city centre, which is nine kilometres (5+1⁄2 miles) away, or from D1 highway. There is also a taxi stand just near the entrance to the airport with Taxi Slovakia company (taxi of other companies can be called by telephone but rates for the airport are usually higher). Long-term and short-term car parking is provided at the airport, in front of the terminal building.

Accidents and incidents

• On 4 May 1919, M.R. Štefánik crashed on approach to the airport.^[50]
• On 24 November 1966, an Il-18 on multi-leg TABSO Flight 101 from Sofia to East Berlin via Budapest and Prague crashed into the forested foothills of the Little Carpathians west of the airport, shortly after take-off from Bratislava Airport, where it had been grounded due to bad weather in Prague. All 74 passengers and eight crew members died.^[51][52]
• On 28 July 1976, an Il-18 on ČSA Flight 001 from Prague crashed into the Zlaté Piesky lake just north-west of the airport after landing. 76 of the 79 occupants on board died in the crash.^[53][54]
• On 7 February 1999, a Ghanaian Boeing 707-328C cargo aircraft crashed after aborting its takeoff and subsequently overran 100–200 metres (330–660 ft) beyond the runway. During takeoff, the number two and three engines experienced technical issues, and in response, the pilots decided to abort the takeoff. However, despite the pilots' attempts to slow the aircraft down, the aircraft overran the runway, damaging two traffic lights before coming to a stop in wet soil. All four crew were uninjured, with the aircraft only suffering minor damages, including cracks to the fuselage and damage to its landing gear.^[55][56][57]
• On 6 June 1999, during the SIAD '99 air show, a BAE Hawk 200 fighter jet piloted by Graham Wardell crashed into a concrete parking landing area while performing a barrel roll. Its remains flew over and landed behind the biological protection building of the airport. The pilot and a 35-year-old spectator on the roof of a building were killed. An additional 15 people were injured on the ground.^[57][58]