Transport is one of the most important parts of the tertiary sector. Given the fact that due to its location Slovakia is an important commercial crossroad and transit country, it continuously faces demands for quality infrastructure, organization of all types of transport and the fastest and most thorough connection of all regions of Slovakia.
In Slovakia are 35 airports, which provide international and domestic flights. International flights are offered by the following airports: Letisko M. R. Štefánika in Bratislava, Letisko Košice, Letisko Poprad – Tatry, Letisko Sliač, Letisko Piešťany and Letisko Žilina. Additional types are military airports (Malacky, Prešov) and non-public airports (for example, Bidovce, Holíč, Ražňany) or airports intended for aviation work (for example, Ožďany, Drienovec, Haniska, Zborov…).
Letisko M. R. Štefánika – Airport Bratislava, a. s. (BTS), is located 9 km from the centre of Bratislava, in the city borough of Bratislava-Ružinov. This airport is the largest and most heavily used in Slovakia. It annually transports an average of 1.5 million travellers and is distinguished by the largest number international connections. It offers 30 regular flights to 15 countries, 29 cities and various holiday destinations (for example, to Thailand, Srí Lanka or the Maldives).
From the 30 regular flight connections 19 flights are operated by the company Ryanair (for example, Athens, Brussels, London, Madrid or Rome and in the season from April through October, for example, Malaga, Corfu, Paris, Trapani). Two flights are operated by České aerolínie (Prague, Košice), and the companies Pobeda (Moscow), flydubai (Dubai) and Wizz Air (Skopje) operate one flight each. Seasonal and charter flights are provided by the company Smartwings.
Letisko Košice – Airport Košice, a.s., situated 6 km from Košice in the city borough of Košice-Barca, is the second largest airport in Slovakia. For year 2016 it transported 436,696 passengers. A total of 9 regular flights leave from Košice and seasonal and charter flights also operate. Travellers may use the services of České aerolínie (flights to Bratislava, Kiev, Prague and Warsaw), Wizz Air (Bristol, London, Sheffield), Turkish Airlines (Istanbul) or Austrian Airlines (Vienna). In the course of seasonal flights the company Smartwings carries passengers to Burgas (Bulgaria), Heraklion (Crete) or Rhodes.
Slovakia belongs among European countries with the most developed domestic bus transport network. Domestic bus travels functions through long-distance, suburban and local bus lines. One of the most important providers of public bus transport is Slovak Lines (the former SAD Bratislava), which provides regular suburban, long-distance and international connections. Regular transport is provided on 42 suburban lines, 3 long-distance domestic lines and 9 international lines. Other transporters include SAD Banská Bystrica, SAD Prešov, Eurobus (the former SAD Košice), and SAD Žilina. We also find urban mass transport bus lines in every larger town in Slovakia.
Long-distance bus transport is provided by several private companies, for example, Eurolines – an international cooperative, which connects more than 30 European bus transporters; the Slovak member of this association is Slovak Lines, which provides connections to tens of European cities (for example Amsterdam, Vienna, Frankfurt, London, Budapest…). Another provider of international transport is, for example, the Student Agency, which provides transport to 14 European countries – for example to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy or Hungary.
Bus connections to Ukraine are provided by private transporters. You can travel from Košice to Užhorod (a regular connection Košice – Užhorod, Eurobus) and to Mukačevo (Košice – Mukačevo, FlixBus). The long-distance lines Prague – Košice – Užhorod – Mukačevo and back and Zlín – Krakow – Ľvov – Košice are also provided by a private transporter (Leo Express). There are no direct bus connections from Bratislava or to Košice to Kiev.
The railway network in Slovakia, with more than 3,600 km of track and a density of 74 km per km2, connects the majority of Slovak cities. The state railway carrier is Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko, a.s., which provides domestic transport (InterCity trains, passenger trains, expresses) and international carriers (SuperCity and EuroCity). Private carriers are, for example, RegioJet and LeoExpress (domestic and international transport).
In Slovakia a regular Bratislava – Kiev railway connection operates (each work day) with stops in Košice, Mukačevo and Ľvov. From Košice you can travel to Ukraine by regular daily connection on the Prague – Kiev route.
The total length of ground communication in Slovakia is more than 40,000 km (travel and urban roads). The road network includes motorways (463 km 2015), expressways (264 km in 2015) and 1st, 2nd and 3rd class roads (3,302 km, 3,615 km and 10,360 km, respectively).
The motorway network of Slovakia is made up of four motorways: the D1, the most important and longest motorway, which runs from Bratislava up to the state border with Ukraine; the D2, which connects the border-crossing Brodské (border with the Czech Republic) with the border crossing Čunovo at the Slovak and Hungarian border; the D3, partially put into service, a 60.8 km long motorway that after completion will join Žilina and the border crossing Skalité into Poland; and the D4, which after completion of the external bypass of Bratislava will link the border crossing Jarovce and Devínska Nová Ves.
Map of the motorway network (2017)
For the use of motorways and expressways a fee is paid in the form of a motorway vignette. Since 2016 electronic vignettes, which can be purchased for ten days, monthly or annually, have been used instead of paper motorway stickers. Prices in 2017 for vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes are 10 euro for a 10-day vignette, 14 euro for a month and 50 euro for a one-year vignette.
The obligation to have headlights on at all times throughout the year applies in Slovakia. Child car-seats are mandatory for carrying children up to 150 cm tall and to the age of 12 years old. Mandatory equipment for a motor vehicle of category M1 includes a warning triangle, a car first-aid kit, safety clothing (a reflexive vest) and a first-aid card. The speed limit in towns and villages is 50 km per hour, 90 km/hr outside of urban areas, and 130 km/hr on motorways and expressways.
Water transport in Slovakia runs along the Danube River, which is the most important river transport artery. It connects Bratislava, Vienna and Budapest, and thanks to the Danube-Main-Rhine canal it connects the North Sea to the Black Sea. Tourists seek out touring boat trips through Bratislava or to the Devín Castle. The Rivers Váh and Bodrog are also used for water transport; other water surfaces serve for recreational and technological journeys.
Slovakia belongs among developed countries in terms of pipeline transport – it has well developed engineering networks, a more than 80% completed gas network, and two oil pipelines run through its territory: the Družba and Adria.
The oil pipeline Družba is the longest such pipeline in the world, with a total length of more than 50,000 kilometres. It begins in Samara, Russia, and leads through Belarus, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It enter the territory of Slovakia at the border with Ukraine and continues through 5 pumping stations (Budkovce, Moldava nad Bodvou, Rimavská Sobota, Šahy-Tupá, Bučany) to the Czech Republic. After the breakup of the USSR the company Transnefť, which still operates the Družba pipeline today, originated in Russia. The transport capacity of the Družba pipeline in Slovakia is roughly 20 million tonnes of crude oil each year.
The other oil pipeline is an original branch of the Družba pipeline – the Adria pipeline – which was built in 1962. It begins in the Croatian city of Omišalj, continues through Hungary (Százhalombatte) and to the Slovak pumping station in the city of Šahy. In 2011 it underwent vast reconstruction for reason of increasing it transport capacity, which at present achieves more than 6 million metric tonnes of crude oil each year. The Adria pipeline serves as an accessory source of crude oil and as the main backup route in the case of outage or limitation of supplies of Russian oil through the Družba pipeline.
The oil pipeline system in the Slovak Republic is owned and operated by the company Transpetrol. The largest purchaser of oil transported in Slovakia is the company Slovnaft, which in 2015 processed in its Bratislava refinery 5.93 million tonnes of crude oil.
The gas pipeline Bratstvo is a component of an extensive gas pipeline, which was built in the 1960s for the supply of industries in Bratislava and other cities of western Slovakia with cheap energy and is at the same time the first transit gas pipeline through the territory of Slovakia to Austria. It currently falls under the gas distribution network of the company SPP – distribúcia, a.s. In 2014 the company Eustream (a subsidiary of SPP) transported more than 46 billion cubic metres of natural gas.
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