1924 is associated with the beginning of scheduled airline services in Czechoslovakia. Although test flights took place as early as 1923, the 5th May 1924, when the Czechoslovak State Airlines (CSA) began scheduled flights from Bratislava to Košice and back, is considered to be the start of the routine flights from the metropolis of Eastern Slovakia to domestic and later to international airports. Let us briefly return to the circumstances of the establishment of the first scheduled airline route to Košice.
The first military airport in Košice, which also provided for the operation of civil air transportation, was founded in 1920. The airport had a grass runway and was sited between, what is today, Južná trieda and the railway tracks and the original CSA terminal still stands today. The 5th May 1924, the historical date of the first scheduled flight by the CSA that connected Bratislava and Košice, actually marked the premiere of a second route. The first route linked Prague and Bratislava and the route to Košice was, in fact, an extension of the connection to the future capital of Slovakia.
The construction of the airline network was influenced by the geographical shape of the young Czechoslovakia. The government attempted to create, as quickly as possible, a transverse network that included four airports. Starting with Prague, it included the airports of Bratislava and Košice. The construction of the final airport within the network, at Uzhhorod, was planned for the future. The network was later extended to provide a connection to Brno and on the 6th May 1929 to Uzhhorod.
The work to establish the route from Bratislava to Košice began almost immediately after the launch of the route from Prague to Bratislava. The launch of the first route was scheduled for the 28th October 1923, on the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak state, however, as a consequence of poor weather the plan did not come to fruition and the flight was postponed to 29. October 1924. Nonetheless, as reported in the period press, everything fell into place on the 5th May 1924, when in addition to military aircraft, the grass runway of Košice airport received a single civil aeroplane.
It was a single-engine A.14 biplane, a modification of the German Brandeburg CI aeroplane that had been developed during World War I. The Aero A.14 had an upper wing length of 12.3 m and a lower wing length of 11.75 m, was 8.4 m long and 3.13 m wide. It was powered by a water-cooled straight-six engine with a maximum power output of 170kW and a maximum speed of 170 kph. The low empty weight of the aeroplane, only 933 kg, was a result of wings and fuselage which had a wooden structure covered by fabric. The maximum take-off weight was 1,275 kg. It only needed 45 m to take off and 60 m to land. In 1924–1925, the Aero A.14 dominated the CSA fleet. For the sake of completeness, I must add that the Aero A.14 used for the first flight from Bratislava to Košice had the serial number 09 and registration number L-BARG. The inaugural flight of the new scheduled airline route from Košice to Bratislava and back was a major event, not only for Košice and Eastern Slovakia but also for the whole country.
Rado Mlýnek
