KOŠICE AIRPORT recorded 15% passenger growth in the first quarter of 2015

In the first quarter of 2015 Košice Airport welcomed 54 305 passengers representing an annual increase of 15%.

Chief executive officer and chairman of the management board of Košice Airport Karl Dandler said: „This growth was achieved mainly thanks to high demand on the route to London Luton operated by Wizz Air seven times per week alongside regular connections operated by network carriers CSA and Austrian Airlines to Bratislava, Prague and Vienna connecting the whole world.”

As already communicated, Wizz Air will base one Airbus A320 in Košice in June. This will bring two new routes from Košice to MiIan Bergamo (commencement date 5th June) and Doncaster Sheffield (commencement date 7th June), both of them to be operated twice per week. Karl Dandler: „In addition, between 4 th June and 12th September Wizz Air will again operate 10 weekly flights instead of actually operated seven weekly frequencies. It means that every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday the passengers can use the connection Košice – London twice per day with departures from Košice at 6:00 and 19:20. “

In the beginning of April representatives of Košice Airport took part in the Routes Europe conference in Aberdeen. It is the biggest event of its kind in Europe where representatives of airports, airlines and tourism organizations discuss together new air services. Tomáš Jančuš, CEO deputy and member of the management board at Košice Airport reviewed the event as follows: „Massive competition is an understatement of what is going on in European aviation. Airports intensively cooperating with other stakeholders are literally fighting for attention of air carriers. This is also the only way for our region: active cooperation of Košice Airport, tourism authorities, state and regional government in order to attract established airlines and promote the region of Eastern Slovakia.“ The airport´s priority is to establish a direct regular air service to Germany. Intensive negotiations are still ongoing.

Head of marketing at Košice Airport Juraj Toth informed that “during spring 2015 there were three charter flights operated to Tel Aviv, with pilgrims on board heading to the Holy Land. The tour operators will offer this pilgrim trips also in October 2015. Summer holiday packages from Košice are already on sale at tour operators and flights to Bourgas and Rhodes are available on smartwings.com”