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Three new carriers swoop into Ruzyně

Dublin, Madrid, Copenhagen routes fuel airport growth

By Kimberly Ashton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 7th, 2007 issue

Further bolstering air traffic ahead of the holiday season, three airlines have landed at Prague’s Ruzyně Airport within the past month.
Most recently, the large Irish budget airline Ryanair launched daily flights to Dublin Nov. 7. The Danish carrier Cimber Air began offering seven flights per week to Copenhagen Oct. 28, and the following day, Spain’s Iberia launched five flights a week to Madrid.
The airport expects to see some 12.4 million passengers pass through its gates this year, numbers easily accommodated by the airport’s second terminal, which opened last year and increased capacity by 20 million. Ruzyně is the second-busiest airport in Central and Eastern Europe, after Vienna’s.
The increasing bustle can only be a welcome sign to potential suitors for the airport’s privatization next year. In anticipation of such a sale, earlier this year the Cabinet approved Ruzyně’s transformation into a joint-stock company.
 “The markets of Central European countries are growing rapidly and creating new business opportunities,” said Eva Krejčí, the airport’s spokeswoman. “Air traffic is developing significantly in this region” and Ruzyně Airport wants to take a substantial share in that development, she said.
So far, passenger demand supports this development. Bookings for Ryanair’s new route have been greater than anticipated, said Tomasz Kulakowski, the airline’s director for Central and Eastern Europe.
“It’s absolutely unexpected,” he said. The airline had banked on attracting 100,000 passengers per year on the route, but now the company is sure it will exceed this, Kulakowski said.
“We have already sold 20,000 tickets, which is a great result given the route is only commencing this week,” he said.
Ryanair is the third airline to offer regular Prague-Dublin service; Czech Airlines and Aer Lingus also operate flights between the capitals. Iberia joins Czech Airlines, Smart Wings and Air Europa as carriers flying to Madrid.
Krejčí said Ruzyně is in talks with other airlines about opening new routes. She expects the number of passengers to rise 13 percent this winter as a result of higher flight frequency and the deployment of higher-capacity planes.
The airport is also working with Air Navigation Services, the country’s air traffic control authority, to increase the number of landings and takeoffs on existing runways from 44 per hour to 48 in 2009, Krejčí said.
With the addition of the new carriers, 54 airlines now operate at Ruzyně, offering service to more than 120 destinations.
Also joining the airport’s fold will be a new air-freight operator, Emirates Sky Cargo, which begins service Nov. 9 and offers weekly cargo flights to Dubai and Hong Kong, in cooperation with Czech Airlines.

Kimberly Ashton can be reached at kashton@praguepost.com


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