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Czech Airlines will cease operating this weekend after 101 years. The airline was one of the world’s five oldest and has been flying since 1923 when it began flying between Prague and Bratislava.
Smartwings will be absorbing the rest of Czech Airlines on October 26th. In 2018, Smartwings bought 97.74% of the carrier. The remaining 2.26% was owned by insurance company, Česká Pojišťovna. It filed for bankruptcy in March 2021 and exited in June 2022. As of 2022, a new ownership structure with a parent company called Prague City Air s.r.o. was established. It owned 70% of the company with Smartwings holding the other 30%. Now, Smartwings will control the operations and fold the brand into its portfolio. This means that the airline will also no longer be part of SkyTeam. The Czech Airlines livery will not disappear immediately, though. Its two Airbus A320 and four new Airbus A220-300, which will be delivered starting in 2025 will still be painted in its colors.
The airline has been retreating for some time. Many years ago it offered longhaul flights to New York John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Havana’s José Martí International Airport (HAV), and Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ). Recently, it has only been flying a handful of routes within Europe.
Jan Sůra, founder of the travel-news website zdopravy.cz, commented to Czech Radio:
After 10 years, it has been declining and has a minimum number of passengers. So for the general public, there will probably be no change, because at the moment Czech Airlines operates only the route from Prague to Paris, and it has been replaced on the market by other carriers.
I think the brand doesn’t have that sentiment for the travellers anymore, because air travel has changed a lot. CSA’s heyday was when flying was something exclusive and people didn’t fly that often. Now, thanks to the advent of low-cost airlines, flying has become a completely common mode of transport, which is often the cheapest way to move around Europe. And people don’t decide based on sentiment … but whether they are comfortable with the flight schedule and the price.”
Anthony’s Take: I flew Czech Airlines once years ago between Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG) and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It was an uneventful and not too memorable flight, but it’s always sad to see longstanding brands go away.
(Image Credits: Ondrej Bocek.)
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