On June 4, 2018, Pulkovo Airport and Czech Airlines celebrated the fiftieth anniversary since the launch of Czech Airlines’ scheduled flights between St. Petersburg and Prague (the Czech Republic). St. Petersburg, then known as Leningrad, was the second destination in Russia after Moscow connected with Prague directly by Czech Airlines. Over the 50 years of operation, Czech Airlines has transported between St. Petersburg and Prague 1.3 million passengers, nearly 9 million tons of cargo and mail. Overall, the the airline’s aircraft took off from St. Petersburg on their way to Prague 7,918 times, having flown a total of 23 million kilometers on the route. This equals to making approximately 583 complete circles around the Globe on the Equator.
In the first years of service, the flights were operated just once or twice a week. Today, the carrier offers direct scheduled connection between the two cities on a daily basis. In 2017, Czech Airlines transported 74,500 people between St. Petersburg and Prague, almost a third more as compared to the year 2016. The average seat occupancy was 84%. The flights from Pulkovo Airport to the capital of Czech Republic are operated on Airbus A319 aircraft. Arrivals from St. Petersburg are linked to other Czech Airlines connections to many European capitals, which makes the route attractive for transfers throughout Europe.
“Fifty years is a long way and a wonderful age. Pulkovo Airport and Czech Airlines have a truly long-term partnership. We are grateful to the airline for a stable operation of scheduled service between St. Petersburg and Prague for many years and for offering a daily opportunity for citizens of the two beautiful twin-cities to make business journeys, visit friends their closed ones and to re-discover travel to Russia and the Czech Republic,” said Evgeniy Ilyin, Chief Commercial Officer of Northern Capital Gateway LLC, the operator of Pulkovo Airport.
“The route connecting St. Petersburg with Prague is among the important and proven routes valued by both Russian customers, headed to Prague and the Czech Republic to admire the beauty of our cities, and businessmen. We are happy that the Russian market has been able to overcome the recent crisis and is currently consolidated to the point where it almost reaches the pre-crisis levels in terms of volumes and demand, resulting in the return of both Russian tourist and businessmen to the Czech Republic,” noted Ján Tóth, Czech Airlines Director of Commerce and Marketing.
Czech Airlines is the Czech Republic’s flag carrier and a modern European airline. The carrier provides has been operating since October 1923, which makes it one of the five oldest airlines in the world. Czech Airlines is a founding member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and has been a member of the SkyTeam Alliance since 2001. Current Czech Airlines shareholders are Travel Service (97.735%) and Czech Insurance Company, Česká pojišťovna (2.265%).
