February 2010

OPENING OF CITIBANK LOUNGE AT PRAGUE AIRPORT

In February, Citibank celebrated an opening of a new lounge at Prague Airport located in the departure hall of Terminal 2. Exclusive services of this lounge are provided for free to all Citigold Wealth Management programme members. Holders of golden CitiCards together with one accompanying person are able to enjoy the comfort of the lounge that offers individual security check, free parking, all inclusive refreshment, a wide choice of daily newspapers or Wi-Fi internet access. Citibank is the only bank in the Czech market offering this attractive benefit to its premium customers.

INCREASING USE OF SELF CHECK-IN KIOSKS

After a successful introduction of the new self check-in kiosks of the third generation, CUSS S3, at Prague Airport in December 2009, the use of the new facility significantly increased in January 2010. The number of passengers who checked-in via self check-in kiosks represented, in January, over 10% of all local departing passengers. This new service is currently used by six operating airlines. The launch of self check-in kiosks at Prague Airport was nominated for a competition called “IT project of the year 2009” organised by the Czech Association of Chief Information Officers (CACIO) and it qualified to the final nine from 22 projects.

AELIA TOOK OVER CZECH AIRLINES’ DUTY FREE STORES

Aelia Czech Republic, the joint venture of a French retailer Aelia Group and its sister company HDS Retail Czech Republic, took over Czech Airlines’ retail business at Prague Airport. Following a tender procedure, Aelia began operating three duty free stores here – two in Terminal 1 and another one in Terminal 2. Aelia Czech Republic is part of the Lagardere Services Group, a global leader in travel retailing and press distribution. Aelia is present at 20 airports in France, Great Britain and Poland. In its three new duty free stores at Prague Airport, the experienced retailer plans to ensure a world-class retail offer that is tailored to the local environment.

TURKISH AIRLINES INCREASING FREQUENCIES ON PRAGUE-ISTANBUL ROUTE

Passengers travelling from Prague will be able to benefit from an increased flexibility and choice with Turkish Airlines’ new flight schedule for the coming summer season. As of 1^st May 2010, Turkish Airlines will operate the Prague-Istanbul route with two daily flights, offering excellent connections to over 150 worldwide destinations including the Far East, the Middle East and Africa. Turkish Airlines is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world. Find more details at www.thy.com.

CZECH AIRLINES TO LAUNCH NEW ROUTE ‘PRAGUE-ASTANA’

Czech Airlines plans to launch a new Prague-Astana service from 1^st June 2010. The new route will be operated with two weekly frequencies on board Airbus A319. The new non-stop flights will leave Prague at 5:15 p.m. on Fridays and 9:45 p.m. on Tuesdays, returning from Astana at 4:05 a.m. on Saturdays and 8:35 a.m. on Wednesdays. In addition to the existing direct scheduled flights to Almaty, Astana is the airline’s second destination in Kazakhstan. The launch of the new Astana route will contribute to further strengthening of Czech Airlines’ position on Eastern markets as well as to attracting new transit passengers to the airline’s network via Prague hub. For further information, please visit www.czechairlines.com.

Prague Airport’s passenger figures in January 2010 again showed an improvement when compared with the volumes recorded in the same period of the last year. With the total of 689,454 handled passengers, it represented an important increase by 6.1%. The recent development of the principal traffic indicator thus confirmed the positive trend from the previous two months, signaling a slow recovery from traffic declines that were mainly experienced in the first half of 2009. The favourable growth in passenger volumes in January 2010 was achieved in spite of further decrease of the overall aircraft movements by 5%.

With an increase by 11.6%, full service and network airlines were the key drivers of the passenger traffic growth. Even the number of transfer passengers raised by immense 39.9%. Low cost airlines reported only a slight decline by 1.4%, while charter carriers decreased most significantly - by 17.6%.

The highest number of passengers in January 2010 traditionally headed to and arrived from the United Kingdom, followed by Germany and Russia. The most important increase in passenger volumes was experienced on flights to Denmark (+43.6%), Israel (30.6%) and Ukraine (26.6%). The list of the most frequented routes from Prague was headed by Paris/Charles de Gaulle, Moscow/Sheremetyevo and Frankfurt, while the destination with a considerable increase in passenger volumes was Barcelona (+49.9%).