Czech Airlines Transitions to Smartwings: A New Chapter Begins After 100 Years of Service

On its last trip, the ČSA plane with the code OK took off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and landed late at Václav Havel Airport in Prague at 22:35.

Czech Airlines aircraft will continue to operate, including the ČSA color and traditional code. From Sunday, however, they will be operated exclusively by Smartwings. In particular, these are two Airbus A320s and four smaller Airbus A220-300s, the first two of which are to be delivered this year and the other two in the first half of next year.

At the beginning of October, Czech Airlines changed its business model. They became the management company of the Smartwings group with a majority stake in Smartwings. All of the group’s flight operations will be provided by Smartwings together with its subsidiaries in Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. According to the company’s statement earlier, the reason for the change in the business model is to make the group’s work more efficient.

The change also entails the departure of ČSA from the world’s second largest airline alliance SkyTeam, which brings together twenty airlines including Air France, American Delta and Korean Air.

Apart from the disappearance of the OK letters, however, nothing will change for ČSA customers. The company said passengers can continue to buy tickets on the ČSA and Smartwings websites as well as through existing distribution channels. The group does not even plan to cancel the existing ČSA lines.

Czech Airlines was founded in 1923 as Czechoslovak State Airlines. The carrier is among the five oldest airlines in the world. In 2013, Korean Air, which had 44 percent of the shares, joined the CSA due to financial problems. In February 2018, Smartwings became the majority owner, buying 44 percent of the shares from Korean Air and 20 percent from the state-owned company Prisko, a third of which was -Yes.

In March 2021, ČSA found itself in bankruptcy due to high debts. Smartwings owners Jiří Šimáně and Roman Vik with Chinese partners became new investors. In February this year, Smartwings airlines returned to the full control of Czech shareholders, almost half of the share that was indirectly owned by the Chinese company CITIC was bought by the Czech company Prague City Air de businessmen Šimáně and Vik.