March 2010

CELEBRATION OF EASYJET’S LAUNCH OF FLIGHTS TO PARIS

On 28^th March, the low cost airline easyJet launched its new direct route from Prague to Paris/Charles de Gaulle. At this occasion, an attractive radio competition with a possibility to win free return tickets to Paris was run by Radio City. The winners of this competition came to the departure hall of Terminal 2 on the day of the first flight from Prague to Paris and competed in snail eating. The fastest eater then won a free voucher for accommodation in the luxury hotel Marriott in Paris. All visitors of this event were able to taste the typical French delicacy – roasted snails. Small refreshments were also offered at the gate to all passengers flying on the inaugural flight. A joint press conference was organized in Prague hotel Majestic Plaza on 29^th March. easyJet and Prague Airport representatives presented to the attending journalists the strategy and objectives of easyJet in the Czech Republic, the scope of the airline’s co-operation with Prague Airport and introduced its new routes to Paris, Amsterdam and Doncaster to be launched during the summer timetable 2010.

INAUGURATION CEREMONY FOR FIRST FLIGHT OF YANGTZE RIVER EXPRESS AIRLINES

On 29^th March, Prague Airport welcomed the initial flight of the Chinese cargo carrier Yangtze River Express Airlines. This cargo service is the first ever direct scheduled connection between Prague and continental China. The new route from Shanghai Pudong airport to Prague and Luxembourg will be operated three times a week by a high-capacity airliner Boeing 747-400 Freighter. The decision to launch new cargo service to Prague was made due to Prague’s strategic location in Central Europe and its connectivity to major logistic routes that will be used for distribution of goods imported from China. Before landing of the flight, an inauguration ceremony took place in Prague Airport’s VIP Club Continental lounge. This ceremony was attended by representatives of Yangtze River Express Airlines and their business partners in the Czech Republic. All guests were able to watch the aircraft landing and the official welcome of the crew at arrival.

“THE GLOBE” RESTAURANT OPENING

“The Globe” restaurant (former Restaurant Praha) was ceremonially opened in the transit area of Terminal 1 after a redesigning phase which significantly improved its look. The restaurant is now decorated with large-format photographs of a renowned Czech traveller Jiri Kolbaba, enticing the visitors to travel to many interesting destinations. These beautiful pictures, taken in different parts of the world, were featured at the photographer’s previous exhibition at Prague Airport. “The Globe” restaurant offers a wide range of delicious and premium-quality foods for reasonable prices. The menu consists of the Czech traditional meals as well as meals of international cuisines including pasta, steaks, fish and seafood dishes or various fresh salads.

AIRPORT INFORMATION SYSTEMS DISPLAYING WEATHER CONDITIONS AT DESTINATION AIRPORTS

A new service providing information on current weather conditions at final destinations was introduced to passengers at Prague Airport. Over 900 monitors throughout the airport terminals display weather information, based on actual conditions at destination airports. The source for information on weather conditions is data from hydrometeorological institutes around the world that is collected and updated every five minutes by the service provider. By adding this new service to airport information systems, Prague Airport ranks among innovative international airports that are able to display enhanced flight information to passengers.

“NATURE” EXHIBITION TO DISPLAY EARTH’S NATURAL JEWELS

For the third time, Prague Airport will host an exhibition project of a famous Czech photographer and traveller Jiri Kolbaba. The exhibition named “NATURE”, with a subtitle “Natural jewels of the Earth” will be installed in airport’s Terminals 1 & 2 and their connecting corridor from 15^th April to 15^th July. The project will introduce more than two hundred photos from standard to large-scale formats displaying natural diversity of global biotops as well as details of natural structures through pictures. All continents including the Antarctica will be represented by the displayed photographs.

CIMBER STERLING AIRLINES TO LAUNCH FLIGHTS TO BILLUND

From 29^th April, the Danish airline Cimber Sterling Airlines will launch its new non-stop service on Prague-Billund route. Billund will be the second destination in Denmark connected with Prague by direct scheduled flights. The new service will provide passengers travelling from Prague an easy access to west Denmark with its principal tourist attraction - the “Legoland” theme park. Flights will be operated three times a week – on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, by a CRJ-200 Regional Jet aircraft type with the capacity of 50 passengers. For further details please visit www.cimber.com.

SUMMER TIMETABLE 2010

On Sunday 28^th March, the new 2010 summer schedule became effective at Prague Airport. This year’s summer timetable, which will be valid until 30th October, offers direct scheduled connections, operated by 50 airlines, from Prague to over 130 destinations in 51 countries. Four new carriers plan to launch operations at Prague Airport. Passengers will be able to take direct flights to 6 new destinations. Compared with summer 2009, the planned seat capacity is expected to grow by 3.5%.
The most exciting new route is the Emirates’ connection between Dubai and Prague, starting on 1^st July with daily flights by an A330-200 aircraft. Czech Airlines continues its expansion to eastern markets by adding new service to Astana that will be serviced twice a week effective from 1^st June. Czech Airlines will also launch two weekly seasonal flights to Dubrovnik. Prague Airport will welcome two new Russian carriers – S7 Airlines launching seasonal weekly flights to Novosibirsk on 30^th April and Tatarstan Airlines planning to fly twice a week to Kazan as of 1^st May. The most significant increase in seat capacity is represented by the Prague-based low cost airline SmartWings with new services to Milan/Bergamo, Madrid, Naples and seasonal connections to the leisure destinations of Burgas, Split, Catania, Cagliari, Olbia. Also easyJet airline has notably extended its activities at Prague Airport with newly launched routes to Paris/Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam (daily) and Doncaster (three times a week). Jet2 adds five weekly flights to Manchester and Wizz Air two weekly flights to Bari. Cimber Sterling Airlines will serve the new route to Billund with three weekly connections. Wind Jet will introduce a seasonal service to Catania.

February 2010 passenger volumes at Prague Airport experienced the highest year-on-year improvement since May 2008. Compared with the last year, February passenger numbers reported a favourable growth by 8%, amounting to the total of 665,586 handled passengers. While the number of aircraft movements with 10,568 take-offs and landings was still 2.8% below the levels of the previous year, the increasing passenger volumes prove that the airlines operating at Prague Airport succeeded in using their seat capacity more effectively and have achieved higher load factors which is a sign of renewed passenger demand.

The growth in passenger numbers was mainly driven by the full service carriers that showed a robust increase by 11.7% while the low cost and charter segments remained at the level of February 2009. The number of passengers using Prague Airport for transfers to connecting flights rose by unrivalled 43.2% and achieved a share of over 26% of all departing passengers.

First three positions in the country ranking are constantly held by the UK, Germany and Italy. As an effect of the increased capacity, the most significant growth was experienced on routes from Prague to Denmark (+70.8%), Israel (+53.2%), Russia (+49%) and Ukraine (+32.4%). The busiest routes were Paris/Charles de Gaulle, Moscow/Sheremetyevo and London/Heathrow. Copenhagen demonstrated the highest increase by 71.2%, followed by Barcelona (+60.7%), Moscow/Sheremetyevo (+53.5%) and Tel Aviv (+53.2%).