The Czech air carrier Smartwings transported over 2.16 million passengers in the first half of this year, which is a quarter more than last year. In the period from the beginning of the year to the end of June, the carrier made 14,428 flights. Company spokesperson Vladimíra Dufková told ČTK today. In the first half of this year, the company transported approximately 14 percent more passengers than in the first half of 2019, before the covid-19 pandemic, when the carrier handled 1.89 million people.
“Regarding last year, the busiest months were the summer months of July and August, when the Smartwings group transported over one million passengers every month,” said Dufková. The carrier carried 3.77 million passengers between June 1, 2023 and the end of last September. “We expect another increase this year,” she said.
Smartwings operate an average of 250 flights per day. The carrier flies from Czech airports, as well as from Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Portugal. In the summer flight schedule, the airline flies 58 planes from the Czech Republic to 74 destinations, this year to five new ones, namely to Ponta Delgada in the Azores, La Palma in the Canary Islands, Izmir in Turkey, Athens or Brindisi in Italy. In last year’s summer flight schedule, the carrier operated routes to 148 destinations.
Smartwings is a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The carrier announced on Monday that it had passed its IOSA operational safety audit, which Smartwings must undergo every two years. According to Dufková, five auditors checked 923 operational parameters in eight audited areas such as flight operations, operational control or aircraft maintenance. The IOSA certificate is considered in commercial air transport as proof of reliability and a high level of safety of the air carrier, Dufková said on Monday.
The largest Czech airline company Smartwings has been operating on the market since 1997, previously under the name Travel Service. It gradually displaced Czech Airlines (ČSA) from the position of number one on the Czech aviation market and eventually became its parent company. Starting with the winter flight schedule, the company will also provide ČSA flight operations. Last year, the carrier carried 7.5 million passengers, of which 3.63 million were from Czech airports.
In addition to regular routes and charter flights, Smartwings has long been providing a large number of special flights for international companies and humanitarian and sports organizations. “Last year, the company transported 5.4 million passengers on regular and charter flights, and another 2.1 million Smartwings clients were transported on board their planes on flights for other carriers,” said Dufková.
In February of this year, Smartwings returned to the control of Czech shareholders, almost half of the share indirectly owned by the Chinese company CITIC was bought by the Czech company Prague City Air from the owners of Smartwings Group, Jiří Šimán and Roman Vik.
Source: www.tyden.cz
