Prague Airport launches expanded winter schedule, with new UK routes

Prague's Václav Havel Airport is set to expand its winter flight schedule to 115 total destinations, an increase of four routes compared to last year's 111. The new winter timetable, effective from Oct. 27, will feature several new connections, including flights to Liverpool in the UK and Manama in Bahrain.

The airport will be serviced by 56 airlines this winter. While this marks a positive trend in recovery for air travel in the Czech Republic, the number of destinations remains below pre-Covid levels, when 121 destinations were offered in 2019. Despite this, travelers can look forward to enhanced connectivity to several key European cities.

Notable additions to the winter schedule include flights to Edinburgh, Nice, Naples, Nantes, Glasgow, Birmingham, and Athens. New connections this winter will be established with Liverpool and Belfast in the UK, Kayseri in central Turkey, Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, and Holguín in Cuba.

Popular winter destinations from the Czech Republic in previous years will also be available for the 2024-25 season. These include Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, Santa Clara in Cuba, Phu Quoc in Vietnam, Krabi in Thailand, Mombasa in Kenya, Zanzibar, Salalah in Oman, and Sal in Cape Verde.

Looking ahead, Václav Havel Airport is engaged in ongoing discussions to further expand its destinations, particularly focusing on regions in the Middle East and Africa. The airport is seen as a strategic location for many carriers; however, some are struggling with operational capacity and staffing issues, including strikes.

In addition to expanding its flight network, the airport is also working on increasing its parking capacity and plans to enhance its facilities by expanding the second terminal and creating a central check-in station next to the first terminal.

Low-cost airlines are expected to transport 7.4 million passengers to and from Prague Airport this year, making up 45 percent of all travelers—a significant increase of over 136 percent compared to 2019. Czech citizens account for approximately 44.5 percent of all passengers, up from 39.8 percent in 2019.

By the end of this August, Prague Airport had served 10.75 million passengers, with a projected total of 16.2 million by year’s end. The airport expects to handle around 18 million passengers in 2025, exceeding the 17.8 million processed in 2019, marking a full return to pre-pandemic levels after five years.

Jiří Pos, the chairman of the airport's board, highlighted that the airport has navigated numerous challenges in recent years, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation surrounding national carrier Czech Airlines, and the ongoing ramifications of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The war has particularly affected flight availability to Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, with ripple effects extending to routes in Asia. As a result, airlines are often forced to reroute flights around Ukraine, which can lead to longer travel times, sometimes extending flights by up to three hours.

The airport reported a net profit of CZK 1.5 billion last year, an increase of CZK 1.2 billion compared to the previous year. After experiencing losses in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this recovery indicates a robust return to operational health for the Czech Republic's key aviation hub.