SkyEurope
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| Founded | November 2001 | ||||||
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| Commenced operations | 13 February 2002 | ||||||
| Ceased operations | 1 September 2009 | ||||||
| Operating bases |
M. R. Štefánik Airport Ruzyně Airport Vienna International Airport |
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| Fleet size | 13 | ||||||
| Destinations | 30 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Bratislava, Slovakia | ||||||
| Key people | Nick Manoudakis (acting CEO) & Jason Bitter (ex-CEO who left on few weeks before the stoppage of operations) | ||||||
| Website | skyeurope.com | ||||||
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.
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).
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. In the following weeks, share price decreased to 5 EUR/share. On 10 November 2005, investment bank CA-IB, member of HVB Group, issued a buy recommendation with target price 6.5 EUR. The bank assumed that first-mover advantage, a term often used during the previous dot-com bubble, would "provide competitive edge".
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