Bratislava Airport

Quite an embarrassing airport for a capital city of a booming country! I realise that VIE is quite near and the Slovaks completly lost interest in having a viable international airport of their own but the current state is less than satisfactory. The airport is stuck in a time warp passenger numbers are rising however there are no real facilities for the passenger and none for a business traveller. Shopping is a joke and nothing really to talk about. Check in in summer charter increase is assisted by a tent - staff surly and unable to assist. Spare yourself the hassle and fly to Vienna and they offer bus shuttles to Bratislava city as well - a far more civilised manner to fly.

As an employee at Bratislava Airport I have a few objections to L.Suciaghi's comments. First of all announcements about departures are made in both Slovak and English with the exception of Slovak charter flights which are often (but not always) announced only in Slovak as the passengers are Slovak and perhaps Czech nationals. On the other hand arrival announcements are only in Slovak as there are quite a few monitors/screens which are directly linked to the system here at OPC and hence automatically display current information. The arrival announcements are made in Slovak as they are not aimed at the passengers (they have the monitors) but at different workers at the airport i.e. mechanics catering bus drivers as we bus passengers to/from the A/C with some minor exceptions baggage handlers etc). Announcements in the gate are made if the airline wants them and these are made at least in Slovak and English. I would also like to state that often we make announcements also in other languages ie. for the twice weekly SU flight to SVO also in Russian and sometimes in Hungarian Italian German French but that only if unnecessary and very seldom. We also have three announcements plus special "name" announcements - quite a few more than at many other airports.

Efficient small airport still has that east block feel to it still. Check in was fast and efficent but the agent looked like she was about to lose the plot with the face she had on her. Security fast and duty free was bang on for what you wanted small but did the job. The gates are small and the I dont know why they put people on to buses to move them 30 yards to a plane

BTS Airport is small for an international airport but it is easy in and easy out. Seating is limited but because it is small you don't have to be there for hours on end (unless your flight gets delayed). Luggage trolleys require a coin (US$0.25 5SK or 2 Euro) but you get the coin back when you return the trolley. Parking is expensive for this small airport (550SK) but in the "off-airport" parking lot it is half the price. There are plenty of places to get a snack in the airport and the duty-free shopping is adequate. The airport would do well to have a shop that carried some Slovak souveniers as none are really available there now. There is regular bus service from the airport to Vienna which takes about 75 minutes. All in all a decent but small international airport.

I do not think BTS is up to international standards. Arrivals are probably adequate as most passengers want to get away quickly. The departure check in area is small and there are only 6 or 8 seats available for waiting passengers who do not want to pay to sit in a small cafe or the restaurant. The latter is upstairs no lift or escalator is apparent. Those with luggage with children or with physical limitations are disadvantaged. The B departure gate lounges are ludicrously small and 3/4 of passengers on a major flight will have to stand for up to 3/4 hour before boarding. on 21st April 2007 a situation arose in which it was very fortunate that no accident or panic occurred at the bottom of the escalator to the shuttle bus for a late flight.

Last time I used BTS check-in took less than a minute and most of the staff are nice and helpful. However be careful if you fly with CSA or Lufthansa from BTS and have connections at PRG or MUC: If you want to buy Slovak liquor note that not all duty-free shops provide the sealable plastic bags needed to get the bottles through security at PRG or MUC. I had to leave my bottles go to one of the other shops and ask them for a sealable bag take it to the liquor shop myself and ask the staff there to pack my bottles in that bag. Unacceptable. Otherwise BTS is a nice airport.

Very clean and accesible by the excellent bus service. Howeverit is somewhat restricted in terms of open space. The check-in area is quite small and was quite crowded due to the Ryanair flights to Stansted and Dublin all being processed simultaneously. Overcrowding appears again once you have gone through security. The boarding gate the Dublin flight was leaving from had a sliding door separating it from the main hall- area and as there was a flight to Tunisia using this gate all the Dublin passengers were forced to crowd outside the door (where there was a lack of seating).Nice airport overall but could do with an expansion.

I flew out of this airport on Sky Europe this morning and was favourably impressed with the cleanliness speed and efficiency of check in and departure also with the friendly attitude of the check in agent and the restaurant staff. A very pleasant airport indeed and a refreshing change. I will certainly consider using this route for any future trips to Vienna despite the 60kms which distance it from that town. The taxi fare to/from the city centre should be less than SKK 300 (GBP 6) and the ride is about 20 minutes. Unfortunately not all taxi drivers are honest the scumbag who took us from the railway station into town (5 minutes) on arrival charged SKK 400 by somehow fiddling the meter. On the negative side the duty free prices (EU) are high but I suppose that is beyond their control as now that Slovakia has joined the EU it no longer has the right to decide on such matters as tax rates.

In general BTS is easy to navigate but bssed on my recent visit there I would point out two things. Bus #61 going downtown and to the railway station has two stops near the airport: To the left of the terminal is the bus terminus; across the street from Arrivals is the first bus stop when going downtown. Bus tickets strictly cannot be purchased on board ! If a ticket vending machine is broken down (as in my case) one has to find another source for buying a ticket (a kiosk or go to the next bus stop). I was unable to find a kiosk selling bus tickets at the airport (but not all kiosks were open - so there might be one). To make things more complicated the ticket vending machines accept only coins (bring a lot of coins to purchase a daypass !). If more than one flight is leaving at the same time waiting times at outbound immigration and subsequent security check can be long. This is worsened by the fact that staff at BTS tends to page "Last calls for flight xxx" pretty early but once at the departure gate boarding hasn't started yet (but don't count on that).

Bratislava Airport most traffic is operated by low-cost airlines. These don't have any connection flights (low cost carriers do not offer transit flights and only some of them offer transfer flights) and one of their rules is that the check-in opens two hours before the scheduled time of departure. Therefore a passenger cannot expect to check-in her/his luggage seven hours prior departure. Condition of the particular airline of this kind should be written at least on website. But in local conditions this is how it works also for passengers of global airlines alliance members Air France Austrian Airlines Czech Airlines Delta Airlines Lufthansa or Spanair codesharing on flights from Bratislava. One of the reasons is also baggage sorting area limits. There is no additional space for luggage waiting to be loaded in seven hours what can cause a loading mistake so the baggage can be loaded incorrectly and "be lost". However baggage sorting area is now under reconstruction (as well as baggage screening system whole check-in area ticketing area or arrival area) and its space should be doubled at least. Bratislava Airport is improving its services according the EU and SR legislation and regulations as it can. To compare annual capacity of the terminal build in late 60s and early 70s and enlarged in mid-90s is 350000 passengers a year. This year BTS expects approximately 1250000 passengers. Left luggage office was closed under new management regulations because of security reasons (no satisfactory baggage screener) in mid-2004. Under this decision it will be according the airport spokesperson closed until a new terminal with relevant security facilities in 2007 will be build. Regarding this interesting is that Main Railway Station as well as Main Bus Station have no satisfactory baggage screeners in their left luggage offices and these offices are opened. By the end of 2005 a name of new investor and future 66% shares owner of Airport Bratislava (BTS) should be announced. Hopefully inverstors main intention will be solving the problems of terminal congestion lack of staff and quality of services.