Regional Airport Update: South Bohemia’s New International Airport and Challenges for Czech Regional Airports

TOPIC

🛩️ Regional airport – luxury for all money

After years of preparation, the Czech Republic has a fifth international regional airport. On Wednesday, a Boeing Smartwings airline took off from the former army airport in České Budějovice on a charter flight to Antalya, Turkey. Four long years after the completion of the reconstruction of the airport, the so-called big traffic finally started in South Bohemia. Until now, only small private planes have enjoyed the benefits of the billion-dollar modernization.

But the airport in České Budějovice will not be very busy even now. One return flight a week to Antalya will be joined by flights to Rhodes and Crete, also once a week, until mid-August. All connections are provided by Smartwings on the order of the Čedok travel agency. The flights will run until mid-October, according to the Čedok tour offer, Smartwings will make a total of 28 flights. In the spring, Čedok promises to return and expand the range of tourist destinations to include Bulgaria and Tunisia.

Despite earlier hopeful proclamations, the airport still has no regular service. Although there was talk of flights from Prague in the past, the airport representatives also mentioned the ambition to have a connection to, for example, Dubai. However, the reality is, to put it briefly, nothing.

At the same time, the modernization of the airport swallowed 1.7 billion of public money in the past decade. And the South Bohemian Region, as the sole owner, also subsidizes its operation every year, this year it will cost 77 million crowns.

Departure of the first tourists from České Budějovice to Antalya, TurkeyAuthor: ČTK / Pancer Václav

The situation in České Budějovice does not deviate in any way from the misery in which the other four Czech regional airports with regular operations have been for a long time. The rest of the Czech regional airports are mostly trying in vain to attract regular traffic that would feed the airport and at the same time give its existence some greater economic dimension, whether in the form of arriving foreign tourists, business travelers or freight traffic.

For example, the airport in Ostrava was slightly profitable last year, and that was the first time in more than ten years that the Moravian-Silesian Region had to subsidize its operation. This year, in addition to hundreds of charter flights, it attracted two regular lines and cargo traffic. For example, the Moravian-Silesian region significantly subsidizes the LOT airline line to Warsaw, and as the server pointed out Zdopravy.cz, the region also concluded a three-year contract with the Polish carrier for the promotion of the region worth up to one hundred million crowns. This year, the airport’s budget will also be burdened by the construction of a new cargo terminal for almost 140 million crowns.

The airports in Karlovy Vary and Pardubice have been in loss for a long time. In both cases, there is a lack of regular lines that would help the airport financially in the winter.

Most of the traffic at the airport in Karlovy Vary is now made up of the F Air pilot school. Author: profimedia.cz

The shareholders of the company East Bohemian Airport, which operates the civil part of the Pardubice airport, the city of Pardubice and the Pardubice region, are clearly starting to worry about the situation. The city would like a greater degree of involvement of the region, which, on the other hand, would like to find a private investor for the airport.

Brno Airport, which is controlled by the company Accolade, took this path years ago. How the airport is doing financially now cannot be assessed directly, the last published financial statement is from 2020, which was very atypical not only from the point of view of air transport. However, the number of checked-in passengers has been hovering around half a million per year for a long time, again of course with the exception of the pandemic years 2020 and 2021. Last year, Ostrava Airport only managed a little more than half. Ryanair flies from Brno to London and Bergamo all year round, with charters and other regular flights to 27 destinations added in the season.

If České Budějovice does not discover some untested recipe for success, they will become a permanent burden on the regional budget. And the South Bohemian Region is clearly counting on that. “If (the airport) reaches a positive zero in the economic balance, for example, in two or three years? I can’t say that,” said Governor Martin Kuba (ODS) at the opening ceremony. It can easily happen that the region spends tens of millions a year of public money practically just for a faster vacation trip for possibly lower tens of thousands of people. Not to mention the return of the money invested in the reconstruction of the airport.

NEWS

🛩️The crisis is over, airline results show

The half-year financial results of European carriers suggest that the industry crisis associated with the coronavirus pandemic is on the way out. There is still a long way to go to reach pre-covid passenger numbers, but carriers have apparently already learned how to make money in the new reality.

International Airlines Group, the parent of British Airways, Iberia and others, made a record profit in the first half of the year. The operating profit reached 1.3 billion euros, while last year the airline group was at a loss of 446 million euros in the first six months of the year. It is now in high demand and has also increased in price by ten percent year-on-year.

Other airlines report similarly favorable figures. The Lufthansa Group tripled its profit in the last quarter. Air France-KLM’s quarterly profit almost doubled and the Franco-Dutch group also raised margins significantly.

Low-cost carriers also did well. Ryanair increased profits by 290 percent in the first quarter of its 2023/2024 financial year. Wizz Air was able to return to profit in the same period.

Airlines seeing growing demand are resuming routes canceled in recent years and even venturing into new destinations. This is good news for passengers, but it almost always comes with significantly higher prices.

🛩️ British startup promises A380 flights to the US

It’s not every day that airlines emerging, so to speak, on the green field, which would have intercontinental ambitions, are born every day. And if such a company immediately promises a fleet made entirely of the world’s largest transport aircraft, it is at least a remarkable feat. British startup Global Airlines has exactly such plans, which wants to start operations on routes from London Gatwick Airport to New York and Los Angeles from next summer.

The company has already secured one aircraft, and is negotiating the acquisition of three more. But the company does not yet have an air operator’s certificate (AOC), without which it cannot start operations. The choice of machines for the fleet also raises questions. It is now possible to purchase Airbus A380s from the second year at a really good price, given that many airlines got rid of them during the pandemic, only a part of them returned to service, and the shutdown giants are finding it very difficult to find buyers. However, the operation of a giant four-engine machine is considerably more expensive.

First Airbus A380 for Global Airlines. Still at the decommissioned airport, but already with the company logo Author: Global Airlines

There are also doubts about project financing. At the same time, the company’s management rather reinforces concerns with its behavior. When the head of the company James Asquith faced unpleasant questions from journalists at a press conference last week, instead of explaining began to criticize.

🛩️ The WWII seaplane is about to return to production

Florida company Catalina Aircraft plans to resume production of the famous Consolidated PBY Catalina seaplane, one of the icons of World War II. The company wants to equip the aircraft with modern engines and cockpit equipment.

Hydroplán PBY CatalinaAutor: profimedia.cz

Although the company has not yet received any orders, it claims that governments, the military and airlines have shown interest. The first customers are to receive their aircraft in 2029. The civil variant will offer space for 34 passengers or 5,440 kilograms of cargo.

🛩️ EAA AirVenture Oshkosh: a feast for the eyes

The famous air show and meeting of aviation enthusiasts in the American city of Oshkosh has just ended. As usual, there was a lot to see, including the history of air transport. Imagine, for example, that you are living in your late forties, you are well off and you are about to take a long flight. Lockheed Constellation enters the scene. To my eye, one of the most beautiful airplanes ever.

2023-08-06 17:00:00
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