Delta will start the route on May 27 and plans up to seven flights a week on the route. Ticket sellers expect demand to grow as the flight to New York resumes. For example, for Student Agency, according to manager Lenka Kašická, the American city is one of the seller’s best-selling destinations.
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According to Josef Trejbal, director of the Letuška.cz ticket portal, sales are already at a comparable level as in the spring of 2019. According to him, the demand of Americans for flights to Europe is weaker so far, which is attributed to the war in Ukraine.
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Before the coronavirus crisis, they also flew from Prague to Philadelphia, to Newark Airport in the state of New Jersey, and a route to Chicago was also planned, but carriers are not planning to restore them yet.
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Average ticket prices to the US vary from vendor to retailer. The direct line is usually about 2000 to 3000 crowns more expensive than in the case of connecting flights.
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Shorter stays predominate
Most Czechs have bought their tickets several months in advance. According to Kiwi.com, these are often relatively short stays. Over 38 percent of the portal’s customers have booked return tickets for three days or less in recent weeks, and another 30 percent plan to stay in the US for one to two weeks. “These shorter visits to the USA could indicate the return of Czech business travel,” said Kiwi.com.
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According to the Prague Airport, more than 70,000 passengers flew between Prague and New York before the pandemic. According to the airport, the renewed route has the potential for year-round operation. He also sees tourist agencies as a tourist opportunity. According to data from the CzechTourism agency, in 2019 American tourists occupied the fifth place in foreign arrivals to the Czech Republic, when the domestic country was visited by almost 585,000.
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According to Trejbal, interest in flights to the USA has been growing since last November, when strict anti-epidemic measures were relaxed in the USA. In this context, Kašická pointed out that Czechs must prove their full vaccination against covid-19 for trips to the USA and at the same time have a confirmation of a negative test or illness.
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However, the demand for air tickets within Europe is growing even more significantly than in the USA. For example, Kiwi.com recorded a 115 percent increase in total ticket sales compared to the spring of 2019, ie before the crisis. Letuška.cz then records a fourfold increase compared to last year. According to the sellers, the most popular are tickets to Paris, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam or Malta.
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