It also offered international charter flights to Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Russia, Spain, Tunisia, and Turkey.[4][5] After the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia on January 1, 1993, the Slovak Republic found itself in a specific situation in the area of air transport, in that no transport company remained and even in the past there had never been an effective network of airlines directly connecting Slovakia with the rest of the world.[6] Not a single aircraft or foreign embassy remained in Slovakia, which was a big problem in building international relations for the young republic.[8] The business plan of Slovak Airlines began with the construction of a basic network of lines over a period of 5 years and started operations in May 1998.Within the framework of the Phare programme “Air Operation Safety Improvement”, Slovak Airlines was selected as one of three operators within the states of Eastern Europe as a sample transport company and consultant in the creation of a programme of improving safety of air transport in the Phare countries.