SkyEurope

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SkyEurope

SkyEurope Airlines is a low-cost airline headquartered in Bratislava, with its main base at M. R. Stefanik Airport (BTS) in Bratislava, Slovakia, and other bases in Prague, Vienna and Košice.

With bases in Slovakia, Austria, and Czech Republic, it was the first multi-based airline in Central Europe. The airline operates short-haul scheduled and charter passenger and cargo services.

History

SkyEurope was established in November 2001 and started operations on 13th February 2002 (domestic flight Bratislava-Kosice operated with 30 seat turboprop Embraer 120 ER Brasilia). 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 cognizant of the catchment area of Bratislava Airport. The airport is located within a one-hour drive of Vienna, Brno and Győr, covering a catchment area of four countries: (Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia).

On 27 September 2005, the airline went public on the Vienna and Warsaw stock exchanges. The Initial public offering price was 6 EUR, valuing the company at 120 million euro.. The IPO on the Vienna and Warsaw stock exchanges was the first by a central European low-cost carrier and the first by any Slovak company.

2007 marked a year of growth and change for SkyEurope. With a goal of boosting efficiency and profitability, the airline opened a base at Vienna International Airport in March 2007, placing two brand new 737-700s operating sixteen routes. In October 2007, SkyEurope closed its hubs in Krakow and Budapest, thus reallocating its aircraft to the hubs in Prague and Vienna.

In March 2008 it carried 307,540 passengers bringing the 12-month passenger total to 3.713 million, a 26.3% increase over the same period in last year. The airline's load factor decreased to 76.1% from 77.8% versus the same period a year ago.

In 2008, SkyEurope entered into a partnership with České dráhy creating the CD Sky alliance. As a result of this partnership, SkyEurope tickets would be sold for a fixed price at railway stations in Brno and Prague. This was the latest in interesting pricing moves undertaken by SkyEurope. In 2006 they made news as the first airline to pay travelers to fly with them.

Destinations

SkyEurope operates a total of 99 routes to 40 destinations in 19 countries.

Fleet

In 2005 SkyEurope and Boeing finalized the order for four Boeing Next-Generation 737-700s worth US$220 million. The order includes purchase rights for up to 16 additional airplanes. This order followed SkyEurope's order with leasing company GECAS for 12 Boeing Next-Generation 737s.

In April 2007, SkyEurope purchased an additional five jets. SkyEurope still has an option to order six more jets at the price set in a 2005 deal with Boeing to buy as many as 32 planes by 2011.

As of 3 June 2008, the airline operates 15 Boeing 737-700 aircraft (OM-NGA "Adriana", NGB, NGC, NGD, NGE, NGF, NGG, NGH, NGJ, NGK, NGL, NGM, NGN, NGP, NGQ) with the average age being 1.4 years ().