the810

Niki will open 3 routes from Bratislava, capital of Slovakia (currently not served by any oneworld airline) in April 2015.

There will be two services between Bratislava and Brussels every day from Monday to Friday and one service on the same route on Sunday. Slovakia will take over EU presidency in second half of 2016 so this route is expected to be used by politicians shuttling between Bratislava and Brussels (currently there is only Ryanair service on this route).

Three flights weekly will be offered between Bratislava and Palma de Mallorca.

Here comes the bizarre part: Since there will be need for positioning flights between Vienna and Bratislava, Niki will also open this route (yes, with passengers). Two capitals are only approximately 70 km apart and flight between BTS and VIE should take under 10 minutes which (according to press release) should make it the shortest international flight in the world. Apparently there is no reason to travel between BTS and VIE by plane: it takes 15-20 minutes to reach Vienna from VIE, while car ride from BTS to VIE is about 50 minutes - so plane is actually slower option. Flights will serve as feeder to Vienna hub and possibly for some people who will fly just for fun. Additionally, this might become the fastest way to earn some miles (and sectors) for your FFP

Tickets to Brussels are now on sale, tickets to Palma and Vienna should follow soon.

headingwest

Yes the810, this is great news. Especially as I have status with oneworld (BA Gold). I'm looking forward to my 10 minute flight to Vienna, and the lounge at Bratislava!

the810

Just booked mine first flight. Air Berlin's website actually lets you order Gourmet Meal on BTS-VIE sector. I would love to see it served on such a short flight

headingwest

Where did you book it? For a 5 minute flight they will probably just throw the food at you!

the810

Actually it's BAEC redemption (not really good value but I got some miles to burn) so on ba.com but they can be purchased on AB website as well - however for some strange reason only mobile version of website find those flights at the moment (PC version doesn't find any flights on that route). Alternatively, any travel agent (including sites like Expedia) should be able to sell them. Full price starts as 35 EUR for point-to-point ticket between BTS and VIE.

headingwest

Thanks, I just found them. The cheapest BTS-VIE return is for about 80 euros. Did you book to Brussels or just Vienna?

I can find:

HG 8992 BTS-BRU 06:00-07:35
HG 8997 BTS-VIE 10:25-10:50

But I'm a little confused...does flight 8992 stop at VIE too, or go straight to BRU?

I must admit, I'd like to get on the first flight.

Concerto

You can be pretty sure with a time of 1 hour 35 minutes it will go straight through to Brussels. This is all an interesting development, though. There used to be a Slovakian low cost carrier, didn't there, that went bankrupt a few years ago? So there must be a market to serve.

the810

headingwest: You should be able to find something cheaper, there are some one-way tickets at 31 euros so if you could combine two of those, it's 62. I booked only BTS-VIE, just for fun However, I plan to use BRU route as well someday.

HG8992 is direct to Brussels.

Concerto: Yes, there was, SkyEurope Airlines. In fact, at some point (before they got into financial trouble) Niki was considering investment into SkyEurope. After bankruptcy of SkyEurope, Lauda mentioned those talks to press and his opinion of SkyEurope's management wasn't really nice.

headingwest

Yes the810, I booked the first flight BTS-VIE on 1st April. Just the outward journey, as on the return I'll get the bus!

I slipped up with the price because there were 2 cheap economy fares to choose from, FlyDeal for €35.27 and FlyClassic for €40.27. I bought the more expensive because I thought it would give me some BAEC Tier Points/Avios. Unfortunately it books as Z fare and therefore gives nothing. It looks as if these flights will not be good for mile runs.
Never mind, should be fun...and as I'm BA Silver (soon to be Gold), I hope that I will be able to use the lounge and recoup some of the costs.

It would be nice to see more possibilities for connections via VIE or BRU in the future, but at least this is a start.

TPJ

OMG - VIE-BTS? Really?

How airline that is losing money could even think about such the weird route...

headingwest

Well they are actually positioning flights, but I think they are trying to make a bit of money out of it rather then flying empty planes!

They probably will get a few passengers who like the novelty (like me!), but who knows if it will continue for long. It's a big disadvantage that they won't be giving air miles.

ralfkrippner

Just checked for some destinations if AB or HG have fares published for BTS-VIE-XXX and if those may be even cheaper than those origination in VIE. It seems that currently no such fares are published. It would certainly make sense for AB to offer more fares from BTS than just to VIE.

the810

I believe there will be quite a few of us on that flight (I really hope they will use AB/HG stock boarding passes at BTS from day one ). However, I plan to continue to Vienna to have lunch at Figlmuller and celebrate that we finally have oneworld presence in BTS (and to be able to say that I actually traveled from Bratislava to Vienna by plane)

ralfkrippner: There should be more ex-BTS fares although they are currently unavailable. Press release actually says that there will be many connections in VIE under one hour, so I believe they will try to attract that traffic.

headingwest

That's really great news. I hope that the fares with onward connections will be reasonable.

Do you know if NIKI will be providing lounge access at BTS for oneworld status members?

the810

Well, lounge at BTS isn't oneworld lounge at the moment (as they don't have contract with any OW airline) but I certainly hope they will make an arrangement. After all, BRU route is designed to suite business (or politics ) travelers.