HISTORY

The Zilina airport in Dolny Hricov was build in 1970´s to replace the formerly existing Brazovsky Majer Airport that had to give ground to the developing Zilina city.

The first flight on the new airport had been realized on May 4^th, 1972, and on August 2^nd, 1974 the airport was officially open. The same year the scheduled Slov-Air L-410 aircraft type flight Zilina-Prague-Zilina was established. In 1981 the scheduled flight on the airport was cancelled due to fuel-energy related crisis following price raise in domestic air transportation. Only non-scheduled business flights took place there. The main purpose of the airport was to service the Zilina’s college of communication and transportation for their pilot training as well as Zilina’s Aeroclub, association of amateur sport flying.

In 1986 – 1990 ZTS Martin corporate air transportation Zilina-Prague-Zilina took place at the airport. The airport was open for non-scheduled international air transportation in April 1991 by the Zilina’s college of communication and transportation, on city of Zilina’s request.

The airport traffic was operated by Zilina Airport a.s. corporation, established from 1996 to September 30th, 2005 to service the international Zilina – Dolny Hricov Airport. Mainly the non-scheduled flights connected to regional market took place there. The corporation was established by city of Zilina in 1996 and in 1997 enterprise subjects as well as other cities and townships in region were involved. It was the first airport in Slovakia serviced by a private corporation.

In September 1997 the first scheduled flight Zilina-Prague-Zilina was established in cooperation with Czech operator AIR OSTRAVA and it ended in summer 1998 because the operator went out of business. The passengers remained interested about the service and that is why there was an open ground for re-establishment.
In 2003 SIRS Zilina a.s. entered the Zilina Airport a.s. corporation. The next year preparatory actions to build a new terminal have started in order to reopen the scheduled flight.
These activities resulted in building a modern terminal and re-establishing the scheduled CSA operated flight Prague-Zilina-Prague using the 46-seats ATR42 aircraft.

Based on legislative act # 136/2004 Z.z. about airport corporations a new corporation Letiskova spolocnost Zilina a.s. has been founded to run the airport Zilina in Dolny Hricov. The promoter of the company and the only stockholder was the Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications of the Slovak republic.
During the first few months of the year 2005 there had been a number of negotiations about mutual relations between the Zilina Airport a.s. and the Letiskova spolocnost Zilina a.s. that lead to the signature of “Declaration of the Mutual Agreenment” in April 27th, 2005. Than more negotiations followed concerning fulfillment of obligations from the “Declaration” attended by the mutual partners and representatives of the Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications of the Slovak Republic, city of Zilina and Zilina county. All parties involved agreed to elect new representatives of the Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications of the Slovak Republic, the city of Zilina and the Zilina county in the beginning of July 2005.
All the principles agreed on from the “Declaration” were practically implemented in July 15^th, 2005 when the new scheduled flight Prague-Zilina-Prague has been officially opened.
In July 18^th, 2005 an important collective bargaining of the representatives of the Letisko Zilina a.s. and the Letiskova spolocnost Zilina a.s. took place at Zilina’s airport in Dolny Hricov. The main subject of discussion was to inform both parties about status of the airport operation and its development. The Representatives on both sites defined preparatory schedule and steps that would lead to a change of the airport’s operator in the short period of time.

The main goal of the schedule has been to continue and follow up with present development of the air transportation in Zilina’s region as well as to fulfill all the projects and engagements established by the former operator Letisko Zilina a.s. including the operation of the scheduled flight Zilina-Prague and back. Contracting parties have made a proposal of a contractual bond in order to impose cooperation between the Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications of the Slovak Republic, the city of Zilina, the Zilina county, the Letiskova spolocnost, a.s. and the Letisko Zilina, a.s.

The contracting parties have agreed to regulate their correlative rights in order not to jeopardize the airport running activities needed to keep a smooth operation of the scheduled CSA flight and ensure smooth future development of the air transportation in favor of passengers and the whole region.

Based on the mutual agreement between the two corporations and approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Slovak Republic dated October 1st, 2005 Letiskova spolocnost Zilina a.s. became the new airport’s operator.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF TERMINAL´S RECONSTRUCTION

AIRPORT ŽILINA - official websites of a public international airport