Košice Airport does not have fixed opening hours and it is not open around the clock. The terminal opens three hours before the first departure of the day and closes one hour after the last one. Because the flight schedule differs from day to day, the closing time moves with it — the doors open reliably just after two in the morning, but on Sunday the terminal can be shut before six in the evening. Sleeping in the hall before an early flight is therefore not an option.
The rule behind the opening hours
The airport does not publish fixed “open from – to” hours. Instead there is one simple rule, announced by the operator in a notice to passengers: the terminal opens three hours before the first departure and closes one hour after the last departure of that day. Everything else follows from it — look up the first and last departure in the flight schedule and add or subtract accordingly.
One detail matters: the rule is tied to the whole day of operations, not to your own flight. If you fly in the afternoon, the terminal has already been open for many hours. And the other way round — if your flight is the last one of the day, the hall closes an hour after it regardless of who is still inside.
The terminal opens at 2:25 in the morning
In the current schedule the first departure from Košice is the same every day: flight OS 654 operated by Austrian Airlines to Vienna at 5:25. Applying the rule, the terminal is open from 2:25 — considerably earlier than most passengers expect.
An open terminal, however, does not mean open check-in desks. Check-in for a particular flight starts according to the airline, not according to the building; we covered the details in our guide on when to arrive for check-in and security. What matters for early travellers is that they can get inside even when they arrive by car much earlier and do not want to wait outdoors.
The closing time swings by six hours
While the opening time is stable, the closing time varies with the day of the week. Three examples from the current schedule:
- Wednesday: last departure 20:40 to Prague — the terminal closes around 21:40.
- Sunday: last departure 16:55 to London Luton — the terminal closes around 17:55.
- Monday: last departure 23:25 to Liverpool — the terminal closes only around 00:25.
Between Sunday and Monday the closing time therefore differs by roughly six and a half hours. Sunday is the weakest day in this respect: the hall tends to close while it is still light outside.
You cannot spend the night at Košice Airport
This gives a clear answer to a frequent question. On Sunday the terminal closes around 17:55 and reopens only at 2:25 the next morning — more than eight hours during which there is nowhere to stay inside the building. The plan of arriving in the evening and waiting in the hall until morning does not work in Košice.
There are two realistic options: arrive in the morning once the terminal is open, or stay overnight in the city or near the airport and set off before dawn. If you are driving, you can combine an overnight stay with leaving the car — see our parking page and the article on how to handle an early morning flight from Košice.
Landing late in the evening? Mind the last bus
The closing rule is tied to departures, not arrivals — and that is exactly where a situation arises that the opening hours do not reveal. On Sunday the last departure is at 16:55, yet flight OS 653 from Vienna still lands at 23:20. That is more than five hours after the time the rule produces as the closing hour, so do not count on the terminal being in full operation then.
Onward transport matters even more. The last city bus on line 23 leaves the airport at 22:07 on weekdays and at 22:17 at weekends; after that only the night line N3 runs, at 23:53. A passenger off the Sunday flight from Vienna will therefore miss the regular service and has to rely on the night bus, a taxi or a pre-arranged transfer. See our transport to the airport page for the options.
How to check the opening hours before you travel
The procedure is simple and takes a minute:
- Find your date in the flight schedule and look at the first and the last departure.
- Subtract three hours from the first departure — that is when the terminal opens.
- Add one hour to the last departure — that is when it closes.
- If you are picking someone up, check the arrivals and departures as well: the last arrival is often later than the last departure.
Bear in mind that the winter schedule takes over at the end of October and flight times change — the terminal opening and closing hours shift with them. More practical questions about the airport are answered in our FAQ.
Cheap flights from Košice
Direct routes from Košice Airport with current fares. Prices are indicative – the cheapest one-way fare as of 9. 10. 2026.
LondonRyanairfrom €16View offerLondonWizz Air UKfrom €19View offer
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