Prague Airport Achieves Expected Growth a Year Earlier. Airport Plans to Handle Over 18 Million Passengers Next Year

Thanks to the intensive relaunching of the routes network and a successful cooperation with partner airlines, Prague Airport has approached the pre-pandemic figures a year earlier than expected. This development highlights the success of the transformation the airport has undergone. More than 100 new projects have been confirmed in the last twelve months in the air connections development. Passengers can choose from connections to more than 115 destinations in the upcoming winter schedule. Projects to develop Václav Havel Airport Prague are also underway.

Prague Airport has had a difficult time dealing with several factors that have affected air connections. These included the impact of the pandemic, consequences of the geopolitical situation and developments around the former national carrier - Czech Airlines. "Václav Havel Airport Prague has significantly changed in recent years, including a successful transformation in the field of air commerce. The results are completely new connections and increased capacities to and from holiday destinations. We will reach our 2019 operational performance a year earlier than originally anticipated, in 2025, when we expect to cross the 18 million passenger milestone. This is another impuls for us to accelerate the development projects preparation already underway, and to ensure sufficient capacities for the expected increase in demand for air transport," says Jiří Pos, Chairman of the Board of Prague Airport.

Prague Airport expects to handle 16.2 million passengers this year, an increase of 17% compared to 2023. In the last 12 months, Prague Airport has introduced 100 new projects, including 32 new destinations, 26 new routes and 42 capacity/frequency increases. This success is confirmed by the prestigious Routes World Award 2024 in the category of airports handling 10-20 million passengers per year, the Prague Airport's Air Commerce team received in Bahrain this October. The award reflects the airport's achievements in the development of air connections, marketing support and cooperation with air carriers.

In 2024, Prague Airport is served by a total of 74 airlines offering connections to 180 destinations worldwide. The total number of passengers handled this year corresponds to 100% of the traffic level compared to 2019, excluding routes to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Low-cost airlines will carry 7.4 million passengers during the year, 45% of the total, an increase of 136.4% compared to 2019. Connections to holiday destinations will be used by 4 million passengers, 25% of the total, an increase of 151.6% compared to 2019. Long-haul flights accounted for 1.2 million passengers, representing 7% of the total and 80% compared to 2019. Czech passengers accounted for 44.5% of the total, compared to 39.8% in 2019.

Recently, Prague Airport has announced several successfully negotiatiated direct connections to Tallinn, Vilnius, Abu Dhabi, Beijing and Toronto. Prague Airport is also focusing on long-term air trade priorities such as destinations in the Middle East and Africa, including Marrakech, Addis Ababa and Tunis. From Asia, there are Hanoi, Bangkok, Delhi and other connections to China. In the Americas, connections to Newark, Philadelphia, Montreal, Chicago, Boston and Miami are under discussion. The winter flight schedule at Václav Havel Airport Prague starts on 27 October 2024 offering connections to more than 115 destinations. "Under the 2024/2025 winter schedule, we expect a 12.2% increase in traffic compared to last year. This trend confirms, among other things, the increase in demand for holidays in exotic destinations or air travel to the mountains," adds Jiří Pos. In winter, compared to last year, passengers can now fly from Václav Havel Airport Prague to Edinburgh, Nice, Naples, Nantes, Glasgow, Birmingham or Athens. New destinations have also been added - Liverpool, Belfast and Kayseri. For warmth, passengers can now travel directly to Bahrain (Manama), Mexico (Puerto Vallarta), Cuba (Holguín) or to already serviced destinations from previous years such as the Dominican Republic (Punta Cana), Cuba (Santa Clara), Vietnam (Phu Quoc), Thailand (Krabi), Kenya (Mombasa), Zanzibar, Oman (Salalah) or Cape Verde (Sal).

Support to the development of air transport and the airport itself is also confirmed by the current IPSOS opinion poll, according to which nine out of ten Czechs plan to travel by air next year. For 80% of respondents, the development of air transport is crucial for the country's further economic development, which shows the importance of a modern and capacitive national airport.

In addition to air commerce, Prague Airport continues to implement the important development projects it introduced to the public a year ago. Prague Airport continues to expand its parking capacity and the terminals themselves. Key projects include the new Parking House B, which will be completed in 2029. At the same time, preparations are underway for the expansion of Terminal 2 and the creation of a new central check-in point next to Terminal 1, with design studies expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025. Emphasis is also being placed on environmental sustainability, with the airport intensively reducing its emissions with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.