December 2008

OUTDOOR CAMPAIGN SUPPORTING CONSTRUCTION OF NEW
RUNWAY
Prague Airport has organised in November and December 2008 an outdoor
campaign informing about the project of a new parallel runway. During 5
weekends, the road show has visited 28 locations in the airport
neighbourhood. Hundreds of visitors were able to ask any questions
concerning the construction of the new runway and its impact on everyday
life of communities in the vicinity of the airport. Discussions with experts
from Prague Airport were accompanied by information panels and leaflets
including detailed maps, flight tracks, information about environmental
protection, noise monitoring, operations at the airport and its future
development. The campaign received a positive response that was also
confirmed in the survey made by Factum Invenio agency, where almost
70% of all respondents supported the project of construction of the new
runway at Prague Airport because of its importance for further development
of air traffic in the Czech Republic.
AIREST BRINGS CHANGES INTO OFFER OF FOOD SERVICES
AIREST, Terminal & Catering Holding, acquired the network of 19
restaurants and cafés at Prague Airport and thus became the biggest
provider of gastronomy services at the airport. AIREST is a subsidiary of the
Italian company Gruppo SAVE – an international service provider offering
quality services primarily to passengers at airports, railway stations and
highway rest points. Also passengers and visitors of Prague Airport will be
able to select from a variety of new cafés, and traditional buffet and fast
food restaurants. Rustichelli Mangione bakery, Canto wine bar, Culto Coffe
and Chocolate Bar of Bricco Café belong among the registered brands that
will soon extend the offer of refreshment at the airport. AIREST plans to
decrease prices of key products and concentrate on improvements in the
quality of food and service level. This will positively influence the structure
of gastronomy services at Prague Airport.
WEAKENING
COSTS
A current trend of Czech currency’s weakening significantly fuels the
decrease of costs of international airlines operating at Prague Airport. All
airport charges are fixed in Czech crowns (CZK). While in the first half of
2008, the airport charges were growing due to the fact that the Czech
crown became the most rapidly strengthening currency in the world, the
current exchange rates turned the charges back to the levels they had at
the end of last year. Czech currency has weakened by more than 15% to
Euro in December compared with July (1 EUR was 22,97 CZK on 21st July /
26,56 CZK on 18th December 2008). Financial experts forecast further
weakening of the Czech crown in the upcoming months.
SWISS & SCHENGEN
On 12th December 2008, Switzerland officially joined the Schengen
Community. Although Switzerland became a full member of the Schengen
area, Swiss airports will not be fully Schengen operational until 29th March
2009. Also at Prague Airport, all SWISS International Air Lines flights to
Zurich, Geneva and Basel will be departing from Terminal 1 (non-Schengen)
without any change until introduction of the new summer 2009 timetable.
Find updated information at www.swiss.com.
WIND JET TO LAUNCH FLIGHTS TO FORLI
The Italian airline Wind Jet announced the launch of its new direct service
between Prague and Forli Airport, located in Northern Italy near Bologna.
This regular connection will be operated from 30th March 2009 with two
weekly frequencies. Departures from Forli are scheduled at 09:40 a.m. on
Mondays and 10:00 a.m. on Fridays, departures from Prague at 12:10 p.m.,
resp. 12:30 p.m. Wind Jet is the fourth largest Italian airline operating both
scheduled and charter flights. Its main hub is in Catania. The carrier also
serves a number of domestic and international flights from its bases in
Palermo and Forli.
www.volawindjet.it
NORWEGIAN WILL START TO OPERATE PRAGUE-COPENHAGEN
ROUTE
The low-fare airline Norwegian Air Shuttle is to launch flights from Prague
to Copenhagen from 3rd April 2009. Norwegian has set up a new base in
Copenhagen after the bankruptcy of Sterling airlines in October 2008 and
plans to take over most of the destinations operated by Sterling. The new
Prague-Copenhagen route will be operated 4 times weekly on Mondays,
Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays with Boeing 737-300 aircraft.
Copenhagen will become Norwegian’s sixth destination served directly from
Prague. The airline is currently operating regular services from Prague to
Oslo, Moss/Rygge, Trondheim, Bergen and Stavanger.
www.norwegian.no
Prague Airport saw again, in November 2008, a decline in passenger traffic. The total number of passengers
decreased by 14.8% compared with November 2007, while the number of aircraft movements fell by 10%. The
worldwide economic crises connected with both a slow down of business activities and lower passenger demand
resulted in negative development of traffic indicators at Prague Airport in the fourth quarter of 2008. However,
owing to the favourable growth in the first nine months, the overall operational results are expected to close up
the year 2008 with positive figures.
With respect to country ranking, the UK and Germany again occupied the first and second positions in November
2008, followed by France. A considerable increase of passengers was experienced on flight to and from Israel
(+11.46%), Norway (+11.17%) and Russia (+9.59%) thanks to new and additional services. The most popular
destination remained Paris/Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Destinations with the most significant
year-on-year growth of passengers were Tel Aviv (+11.46%), Moscow/Sheremetyevo (+6.73%) and Paris/Orly
(+4.50%).
Prague Airport
Aviation Business and Product Management
K Letišti 6/1019, 160 08 Praha 6
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 220 116 382
Fax: + 420 220 113 123
E-mail: [email protected]
web: www.prg.aero