WATCH OUT: Prague Airport announces changes to its terminal system

The management at Prague's Václav Havel Airport has announced that it is planning to change the usage of its first and second terminals, causing potential confusion for travelers. Currently, Terminal 2 is used for flights to Schengen countries, while Terminal 1 is used for flights outside the EU's duty-free area. However, the future plan is to divide the terminals according to airlines rather than destinations.

The change may cause confusion for tourists who are not accustomed to paying attention to the airline they are flying with. This change primarily affects those who use third-party sellers as intermediaries to purchase tickets (such as with Kiwi.com), as flights are commonly resold between different airlines. Customers will need to thoroughly read the instructions provided by the company that issued the tickets to ensure they know which terminal to depart from.

It is recommended for all passengers to check the terminal information, as it may not be obvious from the ticket itself who the operating carrier is. For example, Letuška.cz, one of the major sellers of electronic tickets, only displays the carrier's name in a field on the ticket but not whether the flight is actually operated by that carrier. The actual operator is listed separately in the itinerary column, where the terminal information can also be found.

The change of terminals is part of an airport expansion plan meant to increase capacity to roughly 22 million passengers by the end of the decade. The decision is motivated by the need to adapt to security measures, as operating outside the Schengen area requires the separation of arriving and departing passengers due to varying security standards at different airports around the world.

The current layout of the first terminal is not a problem for Schengen traffic, as the same security measures apply across all EU airports. However, rebuilding the terminal to accommodate the new arrangements would be complicated and require a separate area for passport control. The airport believes changing the terminals will save money and allow for a more extensive modernization of the first terminal.

The terminal change is not expected to happen immediately but will be completed by 2033. This staggered approach is necessary to avoid closing the first terminal in its entirety, allowing for continued airport operations with limited capacity throughout the construction process.