Contrary to what the article implies, SkyEurope used to fly between Bratislava’s only airport and Paris-Orly airport, a major and well-connected airport in France (not the distant Paris-Beauvais airport that some other -but not all – low cost airlines use).

Besides, theirs was the only direct flight between the two capitals as all other companies offer either a stopover e.g. in Prague or a flight to Vienna+bus to Bratislava, with extraordinary extra costs and and time.

As far as catering is concerned, it is true that low-cost companies offer nothing for free but service on short and middle-distance flights of major, recognized airlines has fallen to such levels that it really does not make much of a difference. The sad lesson of this story may be that low-cost companies have a hard time connecting Central Europe to Western destinations even where major airlines do not try very hard to satisfy demands on the same relations.