Seven percent of passengers have dropped out of Prague Airport
Air transport in the Czech Republic this year did not follow the modest growth from last year. The gates of Prague’s Ruzyně Airport in the first four months of the year contain seven percent fewer passengers, a total of 2.9 million. “According to the airport management, the market will behave in this way throughout the year, and I am counting on this year’s financial plan for the company,” said Prague Airport spokeswoman Eva Krejčí.
The decline is said to be due to the continuing reduction of Czech Airlines routes, but the outflow of passengers was also recorded, for example, by Travel Service and the Hungarian low-cost Wizz Air. After the collapse of Malév, he focused his attention mainly on his home Budapest. The slump gained momentum in April, reaching 12 percent.
In the winter and early spring, charter transport, which lost almost 23 passengers when it was used by only 175,000 people, was not particularly successful. But the main season of tours begins only now, according to travel agency orders, growth could come in the summer.
According to Krejčí, the results for the first third of the year can also be found positive. The so-called local passengers have recovered, ie those who are leaving Prague or Prague is their destination. There are five percent more of them this year. The trend is also to strengthen the position of foreign network airlines, which are gradually replacing the gaps after CSA.
“Foreign network carriers have strengthened by almost twenty percent in the first four months,” said Krejčí. Air France, British Airways, Finnair, Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Emirates are growing the most. The number of passengers carried by low-cost carriers started to grow in April, the British easyJet strengthened significantly.
Czech numbers go against the world trend. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said a few days ago that air passenger transport had expanded by six percent worldwide since the beginning of the year, up from one percent in April. International transport has grown in all regions. Most in the Middle East, by 16 percent, in Europe it expanded by six percent.