Prague Airport flying high with profit of almost CZK 300 million last year

Prague Airport reported a strong CZK 283 million net profit in 2022, following the easing of travel restrictions after the global Covid pandemic. 

Six million more passengers used the airport last year than in 2021, a year that saw Czechia’s largest airport make a near CZK 1 billion loss.

However, passenger numbers have still not yet reached pre-Covid-19 figures. 

The profit is especially impressive given rising energy costs nationwide, which caused the airport to spend an extra CZK 500 million. Staff and other operational costs increased by about CZK 400 million due to inflation.

Czech Airlines, however, had a poor year. In 2022 the state air carrier transported about 150,00 passengers – in stark contrast to over 2.5 million passengers before 2020.

Czech Minister of Finance Zbyněk Stanjura said this week that he expected in 2023 to see more passengers than in 2022, and the airport to make another decent profit.

According to the chairman of the airport’s board of directors Jiří Pos, Prague Airport invested more than CZK 1.1 billion last year. "The biggest projects were the total reconstruction of Terminal 3, the taxiways, and the replacement of spare resources for the main runway," he added.

The company expects to exceed the mark of 13 million checked-in passengers this year.