The story
Foundation
SkyEurope was established in November 2001 and started operations on 13 February 2002 (domestic flight Bratislava-Kosice operated with 30 seat turboprop Embraer 120 ER Brasília). It was founded by Alain Skowronek (Chairman) and Christian Mandl (Chief Executive) and financed by EBRD, ABN AMRO and EU funds. Although some criticized the decision to base an airline in Bratislava, Mandl saw the effect that the low-cost carriers were having in Western Europe and envisioned it going a step further with a low-cost carrier in a low cost country. Mandl and Skowronek were aware of the catchment area of Bratislava Airport with the airport being located within a one-hour drive of Vienna, Brno and Győr and a catchment area of four countries (Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia).
Growth
On 27 September 2005, the airline went public on the Vienna and Warsaw stock exchanges. The initial public offering price was 6 EUR, valuing the company at 120 million euro. The IPO on the Vienna and Warsaw stock exchanges was the first by a central European low-cost carrier and the first by any Slovak company. In the following weeks, share price decreased to 5 EUR/share. On 10 November 2005, investment bank CA-IB, member of HVB Group, issued a buy recommendation with target price 6.5 EUR. The bank assumed that first-mover advantage, a term often used during the previous dot-com bubble, would "provide competitive edge".
In 2006, SkyEurope announced it would cut ticket prices to minus 10 koruna, claiming to become the first airline that pays people for flying with it. The advertised negative price did not include fees charged to the passenger. 2007 marked a year of growth and change for SkyEurope. The airline opened a base at Vienna International Airport in March 2007, placing two new 737-700s operating sixteen routes. In October 2007, SkyEurope closed its hubs in Kraków and Budapest, thus reallocating its aircraft to the hubs in Prague and Vienna.
In 2008, SkyEurope entered into a partnership with České dráhy creating the CD Sky alliance whereby SkyEurope tickets would be sold for a fixed price at railway stations in Brno and Prague. In October – December 2008 SkyEurope transported 726,656 passengers, bringing the 12-month passenger total to 3.577 million. Its major Central European competitor Wizz Air claims to have carried 5.8 million passengers in 2008.
Demise
On 29 January 2009, MFD reported the airline cancelled hundreds of already booked flights from Prague.
The loss-making airline was seeking a new ownership structure with additional capital. The airline owed €25 million as a bridge loan to hedge fund York Global Finance II, due on 15 July 2009.
On 8 January 2009, leasing company GECAS ordered SkyEurope to return six Boeing aircraft due to financial problems. On 23 June 2009, SkyEurope went into administration having been granted protection from its creditors by the district court in Bratislava. On 11 August 2009, SkyEurope was not allowed to fly into Vienna International Airport due to unpaid landing fees. Flights were handled at Bratislava Airport instead. SkyEurope filed opening of bankruptcy proceedings on 31 August 2009. All flights were suspended with immediate effect on 1 September 2009.
Due to passengers being stranded, Irish airline Ryanair announced on 1 September 2009 that they had launched rescue fares from Bratislava to Alicante, Barcelona (Girona), Brussels (Charleroi), Rome (Ciampino), Liverpool and London (Stansted). Flights were bookable until 20 September 2009 and certain flights till 17 December 2009. All flights were sold at a price of €25, one way, taxes and charges included. Malév Hungarian Airlines also accepted people holding SkyEurope tickets on their flights for a discounted price. Malév was offering one-way travel options to a total of 12 cities for all those who held a SkyEurope air ticket and were unable to board their flight because of the bankruptcy proceedings launched against the company. The one-way air tickets were priced from €49. Wizz Air also announced rescue flights for passengers stranded at Prague to Amsterdam, Bari, Bourgas, Brussels, Copenhagen, London (Luton), Milan (Bergamo), Naples, Paris (Orly), Rome (Fiumicino), Thessaloniki and Venice (Treviso) and from Bratislava to Rome. Flights were bookable until 15 September 2009 with certain flights available till 26 March 2010 for a total fee of €30 one way. Also Blue Air offered some rescue flights for passengers stranded in Bucharest to Vienna. The extra fee was €60.
From Wikipedia’s article on SkyEurope, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4