SkyEurope

SkyEurope Airlines was a low-cost airline headquartered in Bratislava, with its main base at M. R. Štefánik Airport (BTS) in Bratislava, Slovakia, and another base in Prague. The carrier filed for bankruptcy on 31 August 2009 and suspended all flights on 1 September 2009. The airline operated short-haul scheduled and charter passenger services.

On 22 June 2009, the airline announced it had been granted creditor protection while it restructured its debts. However, this did not protect the airline from announcing bankruptcy on 31 August 2009 and cancelling all flights immediately.

History

SkyEurope was established in November 2001 and started operations on 13 February 2002 (domestic flight Bratislava-Kosice operated with 30 seat turboprop Embraer 120 ER Brasília). It was founded by Alain Skowronek (Chairman) and Christian Mandl (Chief Executive) and financed by EBRD, ABN AMRO and EU funds. Although some criticized the decision to base an airline in Bratislava, Mandl saw the effect that the low cost carriers were having in Western Europe and envisioned it going a step further with a low-cost carrier in a low cost country. Mandl and Skowronek were aware of the catchment area of Bratislava Airport with the airport being located within a one-hour drive of Vienna, Brno and Győr and a catchment area of four countries: (Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia).