BRATISLAVA, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- M.R. Stefanik Airport in Bratislava handled a record 625,742 passengers in August, marking the highest monthly passenger volume in its history, the News Agency of the Slovak Republic (TASR) reported on Monday.
The figure was up 76 percent from August last year, when Slovakia's largest airport handled more than 355,000 passengers. In the first eight months of 2026, the airport handled 3,194,274 passengers, an increase of 101 percent year-on-year.
"We handled almost 626,000 passengers in a single month, averaging more than 20,000 passengers a day," said Dusan Novota, chief executive officer of Bratislava Airport.
During August, the airport also recorded a substantial rise in flight operations, with a record 4,736 flights, including arrivals and departures, up 34 percent year-on-year. Over the first eight months, the number of flights reached 28,230, up by 42 percent from the same period last year.
The growth was driven by strong demand for holiday and regular routes. Antalya, a famed Turkish holiday destination, was the most popular destination from Bratislava in August, followed by Barcelona, Rome, London and Kosice.
The airport surpassed the 3-million-passenger mark in a calendar year for the first time in its 75-year history in August. Passenger traffic is expected to exceed 4 million by the end of 2026, according to the airport. ■