The interior of Bratislava Airport departure terminal is now decorated with the only existing replica biplane Caproni Ca 33 in the world. The model of the airplane that General Milan Rastislav Stefanik was returning back to Slovakia with in 1919 now hangs on wires running from the ceiling beams in the public part of the departure hall in a landing position towards passengers. Thanks to the partly uncovered fuselage and wings, airport visitors can see the structure of this historical item.
The airport wanted to be a little different in terms of its interior, with something typical for the region. The aviation motive can be felt throughout the terminal. The ribbed structure of the historical planes can be recognized in the facade of the shopping and restaurant area, while the ceiling of check-in desks in the departure lounge resembles airplane wings. The replica of the Caproni biplane at full scale completes the whole concept.
Original parts of the biplane Caproni Ca 33 include 3 propellers, which are now almost 100 years old. The Italian bomber weighs 2 300 kg, the wingspan is 22,20 m. At the time of its active use the maximum speed was 130 km/h but the plane was characterized by very good manoeuvrability. The plane was equipped with fuel tanks allowing up to 4 hours flight. The frame of the replica is made of wood just like the original, it is covered with a cloth and reinforced with steel cables. There are only two original Caproni planes left in the World, in Italy and USA.
Letisko M. R. Štefánika – Airport Bratislava, a. s. (BTS) is the largest international airport in Slovakia. Its history goes back to 1946. The airport experienced the biggest expansion in 2004 – 2006 when average year-to-year increase in number of passengers reached 60%. In 2011 the airport handled nearly 1,6 million passengers and reached its historical record in volume of cargo, 21 thousand tons.
More at www.airportbratislava.sk.
The management should have in hands advantage in negotiation better contracts than e.g. competitors in Vienna. The question is how the BTS (long term investment) is willing to attract the low cost airlines and offer very favourable terms to airlines promising traffic to rise?
I am just hoping that there will be not applied the usual tunnel following 3 basic steps – reconstruction, bad numbers and “Savior” developer.
And of course I do like a lot the idea with the Stefanik´s Caproni Biplane. Interesting 🙂
Rather a white elephant ….
I agree with you A new international airport not enough flights and now Ryanair will be stopping flights in October from Edinburgh not Bratislava fault but a dispute with Edinburgh’s new owners.
But it does look nice for anyone visiting 🙂
Wow..great news…of course I am ironic… still 8 flights a day..I swear… 8! sometimes even less…
a location with such a great potential and basically cut off of every route.. where are the low cost companies like wizzair, germanwings, easyjet,jet2 ???