Slovakia - industrial leader in Europe, but far away!

EU member Slovakia has become one of the leading manufacturing countries in Central Europe. For instance, did you know that Slovakia is the world’s largest car manufacturer per capita (184 vehicles per 1000 inhabitants)? This makes it an essential partner for the automotive industry in Europe.

However, being located in the east of Europe, Slovakia remains far away from the Western part of the European Union. 

Consequently, air charter solutions prove essential for the swift delivery of urgent industrial components from Western Europe to Slovakia. It is nevertheless necessary to know the country’s specificities, the airports and airfields available near its major cities or industrial areas, or on the other side of the border. Air Time Critical® runs a local agency in Slovakia and will share useful tips in this article.

What delivery times by road to Slovakia?

With a sprinter van and without stops, expect a minimum of:

• 34-37 hours from Lisbon (Portugal) to Bratislava (Slovakia)
• 32-35 hours from Madrid (Spain)
• 21-24 hours from Rennes (Western France) to Trnava
• 18-20 hours from Göteborg (Sweden) to Košice
• 15-20 hours from Bari (Italy)

For industrial manufacturers facing emergencies like stock shortage, production stoppage, or corrective maintenance, such long delivery times by road cannot work. So let us introduce you to air charter, a dedicated air freight solution.

6-9 hours to Slovakia with an air charter

A cargo air charter solution provides a private cargo plane dedicated to your shipment. It flies on demand, at 310-370 mph, to the airport nearest to the delivery destination.

The average air charter delivery time observed between Western Europe and Slovakia is between 6 to 9 hours door to door.

This unquestionably makes the air charter service the fastest transport solution for urgent pallet or industrial equipment deliveries to Slovakia.

For example, delivery from Barcelona (Spain) to Bratislava takes only 6 to 8 hours on average with a cargo air charter, versus 24 hours with a bullet van. Therefore, air charter delivery to Slovakia is 3 to 5 times faster than by road. You can save 10-25 hours on long-distance shipments within Europe.

Air charter is unquestionably the fastest solution in Europe for urgent pallet or industrial equipment deliveries to Slovakia.

Air charter: 5 special points to remember

1. 24/7 operations day and night
2. On-demand flights
3. Includes express van pickup and delivery
4. Best transit times (average of 4-8 hours in Europe)
5. Flexible loading capacity

Slovakia’s airports and airfields available for air charter

Each air charter solution is tailored to the shipment size, routing, and request time. The choice of departure and destination airports is essential when setting up an air charter. To optimize door-to-door delivery times, it is necessary to land as close as possible to the consignee’s location. Therefore, your air charter operator must be familiar with Slovakia and its available airports and airfields. For instance, Bratislava airport is a good option if your customer is based in the west. However, if the destination factory is in Košice, using Bratislava airport due to a lack of knowledge of the country’s airfields would be an error. That would extend the delivery time by 6 or 7 hours as the city is 400 km away.

To avoid these mistakes, refer to the below overview of airports that can be used for urgent air shipments to/from Slovakia.

Tips: Please note that the airport nearest to the pickup point is not always the best option. Some are only open during the day or only suitable for small aircrafts. It can be faster to drive to another airport or even outside Slovakia’s borders. Czech airports in Brno and Ostrava, or Györ in Hungary, are open 24/7 and often have planes readily available. Air Time Critical® has a local office in Slovakia and we always consider these factors when preparing a solution for you.

Airports in Slovakia for cargo air charters

Airports near Slovakia’s border

Urgent delivery from/to Slovakia?

Do you have a supply chain emergency? Are you looking for the fastest transport between Slovakia and France, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, other parts of Europe, or even North Africa? With its local agency, Air Time Critical® can help you organize a door-door air charter to/from Bratislava, Piešťany, Košice, and other suitable airports. Do not hesitate to contact us.

Note: We can also organize an express van pickup and delivery to the airport, and we always select the most suitable aircraft based on shipment size and pickup location.

Contact Air Time Critical® for real-time information on aircraft and airport availability, or to book an air charter to/from Slovakia:

• via our instant quote form
• by phone24/7: +32 2 888 84 16 (EN/FR) or +421 233 046 908 (SK/CZ)