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Country may get new int'l airport

Facility near Prague would target low-cost carriers

By František Bouc
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 18th, 2007 issue

When U.S. President George W. Bush paid a visit to Prague in early June, the usually busy traffic at Prague International Ruzyně Airport briefly calmed. For security reasons, the airport’s management diverted all flights when Air Force One landed and later left the Ruzyně runway.
In the meantime, tens of flights scheduled to land in Prague at that time landed at a small airport in Vodochody, located about 13 kilometers (8 miles) north of Prague’s city center. For that short while, the Vodochody airport turned into a backup airport to Ruzyně. However, it could soon turn into a bustling international airport in its own right.
Czech-Slovak investment company Penta, which owns the Vodochody airport — or rather an aerodrome (for noncommercial use) attached to aircraft manufacturer Aero that Penta privatized in January — announced June 21 that it intended to turn the aerodrome into an international airport by 2009 or 2010. In a project worth up to 4 billion Kč ($189.8 million), Penta intends to extend the current 2.5-kilometer runway at Vodochody and develop a terminal and other facilities needed for an international facility.
“Our ambition is to create an airport that would clear some 1.5 million travelers per year,” said Penta spokeswoman Jana Studničková.
Last year, Ruzyně Airport cleared more than 11 million passengers.
Studničková insisted the Vodochody airport would not compete with Ruzyně.
“We’d target budget airlines, which now have to pay high airport fees at Ruzyně,” she explained. “Also, the busy traffic at Ruzyně often pushes low-cost flights from prime time.”
Vlaďka Dufková, spokeswoman for Travel Service, which operates Smart Wings budget airlines, confirmed the Vodochody airport could become an optional destination for their flights.
“If the runway and the facilities meet our standards, we would consider it,” she said.
A new international airport in Vodochody would bring the number of international airports in the country to six. Outside Prague, the others are located in Brno, Ostrava, Karlovy Vary and Pardubice.
The environmental factor
Penta’s plans for the airport are not entirely set in stone yet, however. Penta will first have to convince the Vodochody town hall and other authorities that the airport would not worsen the environment in the area.
“We’ll initiate an environmental audit by the end of this summer,” Penta’s Studničková said.
Vodochody Mayor Vladimír Palák told daily Mladá fronta Dnes that the town hall has received no proposal from Penta and so it was unable to consider possible environmental impacts. However, he expressed worries that the increased air and road traffic would deteriorate living conditions in the town.
Vodochody Deputy Mayor Ivan Lomnický took a hard line against the project. “We’ll give [Penta] a hard fight. We’ll be ready to lie on the ground out there in necessary,” he said.
So far, the Vodochody aerodrome has been used mainly for testing military jets produced by Aero. Long before Penta privatized the then debt-ridden manufacturer in January, industry analysts predicted the option to turn the Vodochody aerodrome into an international airport was the strongest lure for would-be investors. Before selling Aero to Penta, the government insisted the new investor had to keep aircraft production at Aero.
Clearing obstacles
By announcing the intention to build up a new international airport in Vodochody, Penta confirmed its previous commitment not to pursue participation in further development of Ruzyně Airport. Penta owns a strategic piece of land attached to Ruzyně Airport that will likely accommodate another runway eventually.
The planned new runway should not only increase Ruzyně’s capacity, but, perhaps more importantly, it should make the state-controlled facility even more attractive before its privatization. Penta said earlier that it wanted to create a joint venture with Ruzyně Airport. Disputes over land could pose major obstacles to the expansion.
Shortly before announcing the intention to focus on developing an airport in Vodochody, Penta said it gave up its ambition to participate in developing the Ruzyně runway and that it would attempt to reach an agreement with the government about selling its land to the state by the end of the summer.

František Bouc can be reached at fbouc@praguepost.com


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