Flights to Prague and from Prague

The leader of Czech ODS, Mirek Topolanek, and his party rival, the leader of Prague ODS and Mayor Pavel Bem have different opinions how to spend the money gained from Prague Airport privatization.

Bem suggests, the elections are coming nearer and than the present government doesn’t have to last. The government wants to sell the privatization jewel by itself, expecting profits of at least 100 billions czk. Topolanek promises 1/3 of the money will go to Prague and the Central Bohemia for streets and railways.

Pavel Bem asks for a different approach: the city of Prague should gain 34% of stocks of Prague Airport before the privatization. Topolanek declined the claim.

Why does Bem want it solved differently? He is afraid of the system, where they would have to ask every time to use the money, and if the government changes, there might be a problem. On the other hand, if Prague enters the whole matter, some critics are afraid they could co-decide, to whom it will be sold.

Prague Airport, in cooperation with the Foreign Police, has extended its offer directed to the segment of business travellers.

So-called Fast Track opened the shortest possible way for an interested person from the check-in counters as far as the aircraft. Fast Track represents a priority lane that allows a swift transition through the passport and security screening controls.

Concerning the other services, the General Manager, when asked about the completing services, announced that there were present on the airport before the actual service :

The Prague Airport, evaluated as the best in the Middle and Eastern Europe, has the ambition to get to the top 10 of top-flight European air ports. That’s why we extend our service portfolio for various travel groups. This specific offer is for passengers who prefer comfort travelling. It properly integrates with the already established system of i.e. dedicated counters and the business lounge.

So, at last now the service is complete, as it should be in any larger airport in western countries. Mr Radek Latal, Air France station manager and president of Airline Operators Committee AOC commented on the introduction of Fast Track saying it is not so common, but pleasant:

“It is not a rule that airports would offer this service, so we are glad that the Prague Airport launched such initiative. This leads to further improvement of quality of services rendered at the Prague Airport and a significant sale support in that attractive segment for the network carriers who operate the business class”

But the author cannot imagine i.e. Berlin International Airpot without this service. Prague simply shows, that its standarts are comparable with the ‘very well’ standard.

If you are interested in using Fast Track, you have to buy business air ticket, or be a member of the “frequent flyer” programme. You will receive a boarding pass at check-in adorned with a round “FAST TRACK” sticker. Than you take a specially marked dedicated lane taking you immediately to the passport control and the gates. You will, of course, get a priority access.
 
The airport also informed The new service will not slow down the passport and security controls provided by other counters. The Fast Track dedicated counters were there before, as they served diplomats and aircraft crews.

Low-budget air carrier Ryanair fly only to Brno’s airport now. Yesterday the representatives of Ryanair confirmed that Ryanair will connect also Prague with Irish capital Dublin from 7th November 2007.

The one-way ticket should start at the price of 300 CZK. However, Ryanair is one the low-budget air carriers that charge the checked luggage extra. Ryanair expect about 100,000 customers in the first year on this line. If the line Prague-Dublin attracts many customers, the company will consider other connections.

About one fourth of travellers checked in Prague’s airport use the services of low-budget air carriers that means a rise by 29% in the last 6 months.

The second biggest low cost air carrier in Europe easyJet will launch extra charges for checked luggage. From 1st October 2007 travellers will have to pay £2 per item when the luggage is checked online and £5 when it is checked at the airport. The weight of the luggage item is still restricted to 20 kgs. Hand luggage up to 55×40×20 cm will be still transported for free.

Easy Jet is not the only low-budget air carrier which new charges will effect travellers flying from/to Prague. Extra charges for luggage are also asked from Ryanair and Aer Lingus. On the other hand, neither SkyEurope nor Smart Wings (Travel Service) are planning to introduce these charges.

Czech airlines (CSA) seated in Prague obtained a prestigious World Airline Award for the Best Air Carrier In The Central Europe. The award is given every year after a global and independent passenger survey of airline standards. CSA were also awarded the Best Cabin Staff in Central Europe.

CSA were also awarded the Best Airline Based in Central/Eastern Europe by the Official Airline Guide (OAI) in last four consecutive years. At the beginning of this year Czech Airlines were also evaluated The Best Air Company in the TTG Travel Awards 2007.

According to MF DNES newspaper, CSA are thinking of creating a discount airline that would attract lower-income passengers. It would help them be profitable and increase the usage of the large air fleet.

Prague International Airport Ruzyne will close the main take-off and landing runway from 7th to 28th August 2007. All planes will have to land and take off from the side runway. That also means that the planes will land from the direction of the city.

It will be already the third closure of the main runway this year. In April a new anti-skid layer was laid on the runway, in June sudden problems occurred with the layer. This time workers will lay the second part of the anti-skid layer.

The airport assured that the closure of the runway will have no impact on the flight timetable. This should be also the last closure of the main runway this year.

More and more people are complaining about the high prices of food and drinks at Prague International Airport Ruzyne. At most of the airport’s restaurants you pay even three times more for your dish than you would pay in the very centre of Prague. Several restaurants are even more expensive than 5-star Four Season Hotel which accommodated Madonna or Sean Connery.

The owners of these restaurant defend themselves claiming that the rent and energy prices are much higher there. The spokeswomen of Prague airport Eva Krejci says that the energy prices are the same like in the centre of Prague.

If you’re looking for cheap drinks, one of the options are drink machines in the hall. In case you’re hungry, go to the newly open building of Europort with a supermarket and a restaurant inside.

Air carriers CSA and SkyEurope have joined the group of air carries that enable their passengers to check-in via internet. So called “online check-in” is offered by already nine air carriers flying from Prague – CSA, Air France, British Airways, easyJet, EL AL, KLM, Brussels Airlines, SkyEurope and SWISS.

Online check-in is very comfortable for travellers with a cabin luggage only. After arriving at the airport they can continue straight to the passport control. Travellers checked-in online can also decide where they want to sit on the plane.

Each air carrier state individually the term connected with the online check-in, especially how long before the departure passengers should be checked-in. For more information about your air carrier consult their web pages.

Irish low-budget air carrier Ryanair is going to fly to Prague by the end of October 2007. The company wants to create a connection between Prague and five European metropolises.

Ryanair will fly to Irish capital Dublin, Dutch Eindhoven, German Dusseldorf and English Bournemouth once a week. Three times a week to Swedish metropolis Stockholm. Ryanair already provides a connection between Brno and London.

Besides Ryanair, another low-budget air carrier, SkyEurope Airlines, is going to fly to Prague. New lines could be therefore with Bratislava, Kosice, Vienna or Budapest.

Are you curious about how a big international airport operates? You have a chance to look “behind the scenes” of the Ruzyne Airport in Prague, the biggest international airport in the Central Europe. There are regular tours for the public, starting in June.

The tour lasts 1.5 hour. You will see the terminals, get to know about the system of airport runways and you will see some things that regular passengers never can – such as planes taking off or landing, from a close distance. A tour of the Rescue and Fire Station is also included.

These tours take place on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 3 pm and also every first and third Sunday in a month at 10 am and 1 pm. A ticket for an adult costs 150,- CZK, children 3 – 15 years of age pay 70,- CZK, as well as senior citizens, students and disabled people. A family ticket (2 adults, 2 children) costs 330,- CZK.

You can take photos or make an amateur video during the tour. For more information and for booking a visit, click here.

Prague has just one airport at the present time – the Ruzyne Airport. However, this can change in few years. There are plans, that a new international airport will be built in Vodochody very close to Prague. It could be open in 2009 or 2010.

There is an aircraft factory in Vodochody and its landing runway will be probably made the new commercial airport. It is not supposed to compete with Ruzyne: around 1.5 million passengers should pass its terminal a year, which is about 10% of Ruzyne passengers. The airport at Vodochody would focus on low-cost airlines, such as easyJet or SkyEurope.

The citizens of Vodochody aren´t happy about the plan. They are afraid of noise and of many cars, that would drive to the airport.

An American man infected with a rare form of tuberculosis travelled via Prague to Montreal with Czech airline company CSA and endangered the lives of his fellow passengers. Before that he took several flights within Europe. From Montreal he travelled to the USA by car. Right now he is in quarantine and his room is guarded.

The man knew about hill illness and he was said not to fly back to the USA with any commercial air carrier. He did it anyway. His drug-resistant form of tuberculosis is very dangerous and the fellow passengers are now being contacted to make sure they haven’t been infected as well.

According to Czech health official Michael Vit, the man didn’t cough much and he was wearing a mask over his mouth. The possibility of being infected is higher after eight hours in confined space with the patient.

More and more tourists travel to Prague by low-cost air carriers. Another air carrier that is now negotiating with Prague airport Ruzyne is Air Asia X. They promise to start flying to Prague this July, but tickets can’t be reserved yet. Most probably the plane will take off Kuala Lumpur.

The prices of the tickets could vary between 40$ and 450$. Other low-cost air carriers that fly to Prague are SkyEurope, easyJet, Smartwings, clickair or Aer Lingus.

Another air company that offers very cheap tickets is Ryanair which flies now to Brno. The company is thinking of creating more connections with other towns of the Czech Republic, most probably more flights to Brno and also spa town Karlovy Vary.

Prague International Airport Ruzyne has launched a new online flight schedule on its web sites www.prg.aero where travellers can find any flight connection to/from Prague. The spokeswoman of Prague’s airport Eva Krejci said to Metro that Prague is, after Amsterdam and Copenhagen, the third airport that offers such services.

The system enables to find direct and indirect flights from/to Prague. Travellers can immediately reserve the ticket at various air companies, as the system gathers the data from the OAG (Official Airline Guide) database. The system is updated every 10 seconds and it gets information about more than 28 million flights on 3,500 airports in the world.

The official web pages are now in three language versions: Czech, English and German. Prague International Airport has a direct connection with 120 cities in the world. From today also with the American city Atlanta (with Delta Airlines).

If you plan to fly to Prague between 17th April and 9th May, you may have a really nice view of Prague from your window. At this period Prague International Airport Ruzyne closes the main runway due to regular upkeep before summer.

All planes will have to land on the side railway, from the direction of the city. But it also means higher level of noice pollution in the city, especially in the residential areas near the airport. The side railway will be closed from 10th to 30th May.

Workers at Prague airport will lay a special anti-skid layer on the runway to increase the safety in bad weather. A new radio navigational device will be installed this year for excellent navigation of landing planes.

People travelling from/to Prague can participate in a great beneficial project whose aim is to create the largest mosaic in the world. Travellers will create it in the Terminal Sever II of the Prague’s International Airport Ruzyne during April.

The airport now celebrates the 70th anniversary. The mosaic will be created on the area of 100 square meters. Everybody who wants to participate has to buy a graphic piece of paper for 100 CZK and change it for coloured stones. The profits will be given to charity.

Travellers can also learn more about travelling in the 30’s of the 20th century. An authentic model of aeroplane Avia BH 25 with reed seats from 1925 will be on display near the view terrace of the airport.

Travellers flying from Barcelona to Prague or vice versa can now use another low-budget air carrier flying from the Prague International Airport Ruzyne. It’s Spanish clickair flying between Prague and Barcelona once a day.

The planes from Barcelona land in Prague at 19:00, then they continue back to Barcelona at 20:00. According to the summer schedule, the planes will land at 13:10 and take off at 13:45.

The number of passengers flying between Czech capital and Spanish destinations increased by 17% last year. Now is Spain, according to the spokesperson of Prague Airport, the 6th most popular destination for travellers flying from Prague.

Today at 2 o’clock in the morning the police cancelled the higher security measures at Prague’s international airport Ruzyne from last Wednesday. A woman informed them about a possible terrorist attack at the airport. The police reported that the woman called herself a psychic.

The information was regarded as serious because the woman told them her full name and address. Also a plane flying to one of the risk countries was about to take off at that time.

The woman won’t be probably accused of hoax, even though many police officers with automatics were sent after her had called. There are standard security measures at the airport at the moment.

Lufthansa, German air carrier, launched the sale of flight tickets to their new line from Prague to Stuttgart. The first flight is scheduled on 16th April.

The company will fly on the route Prague – Stuttgart every day except Saturday. Return tickets can be bought from 2490 CZK plus fees and taxes.

Lufthansa flies from Prague also to Munchen, Frankfurt am Main, Dusseldorf and Hamburg. Traveler can fly to Stuttgart also with Czech Airlines twelfth times a week.

EasyJet launched a new service for its customers at the beginning of February. EasyJet is the only low-cost carrier that enables travellers to check-in online. This services is available for those customers who will only travel with hand luggage.

Travellers can book and buy an electrical ticket on internet. At that moment the reservation is in the system of the company. The travellers can check-in online and print their boarding ticket at home. At the airport they go straight to the security checking and do not have to wait in a queue in front of the check-in desk. Passengers are still required to come at least 25 minutes before departure.

Passengers of EasyJet can choose their seats on the plane and therefore they do not have to search for the number of their seats. The means the who comes first can also choose the best place to sit.

Online check-in is possible also with Air France, British Airways, KLM, SN Brussels and SWISS.