Prague doubles weekend bus service to Václav Havel Airport

More buses will go from Nádraží Veleslavín to Václav Havel Airport Prague on weekends in the summer. Prague Integrated Transit (PID) made the announcement over Facebook.

The increase will occur between June 15 and Sept. 15 on the 119 bus line. On Saturdays, the increased service will be from 8:30 am to 7:30 pm, and on Sundays from 9:30 am to 8 pm.

From the Nádraží Veleslavín stop, two articulated 119 buses will meet each arriving train from the city center. The Nádraží Veleslavín stop is on the Metro A line. The buses will leave at seven-to-eight minute intervals, which is similar to the time between weekend metro trains, PID stated.

In the opposite direction, from the airport, the buses will go in three to four minute intervals, that is twice as often as previously. The number of connections will be almost equal to working days.

“We believe that by doing so, we will be able to improve the public transport quality of our busy airport, which is the fifth-fastest growing airport in Europe, in terms of passenger numbers,” PID stated.

In 2018, the airport saw a record total of 16,797,006 passengers passing through the airport in both directions, with was a total of 155,530 take-offs and landings. This was a passenger increase of 9 percent.

“However, we are still waiting for an adequate backbone connection to the airport by public transport by a spur line from the modernized railway to Kladno, and in the meantime also by large-capacity buses,” PID stated.

A train line to the airport has long been discussed as an option to speed up travel and make it more convenient. The concept was approved by City Hall as far back as 1996. A line in now planned as an offshoot of a planned high-speed Prague to Kladno line.

It could come into service in 2028 at the earliest, and would reduce the commute time to the center to 25 minutes.

The city has also been testing large-capacity buses that could carry almost 200 passengers each, but so far has not committed to purchasing any. The buses exceed the current allowable size for use on the road, and would require a change to the law before they could be used.