During the summer season of 2017 Košice Airport welcomed 120 323 charter passengers making it the best summer season in airport´s history. The number of charter passengers as compared to previous summer season was increased by 35 396 passengers what represents a 42 % annual increase. So far the best summer season was recorded in 2014 with 119 920 charter passengers. 

In total 437 charter flights to 17 destinations in 10 countries were handled. The first flight departed on the 10th June to Heraklion and the last one arrived on the 30th September from Hurghada. The most demanded destination was Bourgas with close to 29 000 passengers, followed by Antalya with 26 000 passengers and Heraklion with almost 10 000 passengers. In total, following 17 charter destinations were operated from Košice: Antalya, Barcelona, Bourgas, Catania, Corfu, Ercan, Gran Canaria, Heraklion, Hurghada, Lamezia Terme, Monastir, Palma de Mallorca, Rijeka, Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Tirana, Varna. 

Chief executive officer and chairman of the management board of Košice Airport, Michael Tmej: „After a very difficult summer 2016 we are happy to announce that this summer season was the best in the whole history of Košice Airport. It is great that in addition to new destinations like Palma de Mallorca or Barcelona, passengers also returned to Turkey, Tunisia or Egypt. Hereby I would like to thank passengers for choosing our airport and tour operators for preparing an attractive offer. We hope that our airport will be first choice also for travellers heading to their winter exotic holidays to Tel Aviv, Dubai, Bangkok, Sir Lanka or other fabulous places available with departure from Košice.”

In line with growing demand for charter flights, the total passenger traffic in Košice also grew up. The head of marketing Juraj Toth summarized operational results for the first three quarters of 2017: “For the period January – September 2017 Košice Airport handled 399 578 passengers what represents annual growth of 15,3 %. Number of aircraft movements was also up (by 8,4% to 8 171 movements) and number of handled MTOW increased by 10,4 % to 133 335 ton. This growth was driven by increased charter traffic, but also by additional frequencies and increased load factor of LOT Polish Airlines and Turkish Airlines that started to fly to/from Košice last year.”  

Press release, Košice, Košice, 3rd October 2017