Poprad–Tatry Airport ( sk, Letisko Poprad-Tatry) is an airport in the Slovak ski resort town of

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the t ...

. It is an airport with one of the highest elevations in Central Europe, at 718 m, which is 150 m higher than

Innsbruck Airport Innsbruck Airport , also known locally as ''Kranebitten Airport'', is the largest international airport in Tyrol in western Austria. It is located approximately from the centre of Innsbruck. The airport, which was opened in 1925, handles region ...

in Austria, and 989 m lower than

Samedan Airport Samedan Airport, french: Aéroport de Samedan, it, Aeroporto di Samedan , also known as Engadin Airport,, french: Aéroport d'Engadin, it, Aeroporto d'Engadina, rm, Eroport da l'Engiadina is a regional airport in Samedan in the Engadin valley ...

in Switzerland.

Services

The airport serves schedule and charter airline operations, is a base for search and rescue air services, and handles

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

. It does not offer any domestic flights. Charter flights are mainly operated in winter. Medical flights, VIP flights, ''ad hoc'' charters and ACMI flight also operate from the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Wizz Air UK Wizz Air UK Ltd. is a British airline and subsidiary of low-cost airline Wizz Air, using its corporate identity. Founded to enable Wizz Air to retain full UK market access post-Brexit, the airline operates flights from three bases in the UK. It ...

is currently the only operator with regularly scheduled flights to and from Poprad–Tatry Airport, connecting only Luton Airport operating two to three weekly flights:

Statistics

Passenger throughput and operations since 2014:

Accidents and incidents

On 20 December 1980, a East German

Interflug Interflug GmbH (german: Interflug Gesellschaft für internationalen Flugverkehr m.b.H.; ) was the national airline of the German Democratic Republic from 1963 to 1990. Based in East Berlin, it operated scheduled and chartered flights to Europea ...

Flight 302, a

Tupolev Tu-134 The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty) is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain ot ...

en route from Berlin Schönefeld to Budapest Ferenc Liszt received a bomb threat, saying that the bomb would go off once the plane descends lower than 600 meters. Since the Poprad Airport is located at 718 meters, the plane was diverted there. Upon landing, a backpack was found which did not belong to any of the passengers. According to Slovak police, during a routine training exercise involving police dogs at Poprad Airport on 2 January 2010, an officer from Slovakia’s Border and Foreigners’ Police put two pieces of a high explosive, hexogen (

RDX RDX (abbreviation of "Research Department eXplosive") or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (O2N2CH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified as a ...

), which experts say is more powerful than TNT, among the luggage of passengers travelling on a Danube Wings airline flight from Poprad to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Ireland. The dogs succeeded in finding both pieces, but the policeman accidentally left one of them, a package containing 95g of the substance, among the luggage. When he realised his mistake, he notified the airport administration but not his superiors, whom he informed only on 4 January 2010. On 3 August 2012 during the construction works the

Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition t ...

helicopter of TECHMONT company flew several times to Chata pod Rysmi mountain hut, located at 2250 meters over the sea. When the goods were offloaded there (carried on the rope under the helicopter), during the steep descent through the valley the free end of the rope hit the tail rotor blades, causing damage to it. The crew was able to fly the chopper to Poprad airport, but on approach controlling the helicopter became more and more difficult until it crash-landed within the airport perimeter and rolled to its side with main rotor and tail section destructed. Two from three members onboard received minor injuries. On 26 May 2021 after landing of Aerospool WT-9 Dynamic nose wheel collapsed, pilot escaped unhurt.

References

External links

Poprad–Tatry Airport
(official site, English version) {{DEFAULTSORT:Poprad-Tatry Airport Airports in Slovakia Poprad Buildings and structures in Prešov Region