The fifth oldest airline in the world is shutting down tomorrow: Yugoslavia was the first international destination

After 101 years since its foundation and first flight, the Czech national airline will cease to exist. The last flight of “Czech Airlines” (also known as ČSA) is scheduled for tomorrow. The last plane on the route from Paris will land at the Vaclav Havel Airport in Prague. ČSA is the fifth oldest airline in the world.

After that, Czech Airlines will “merge” into another Czech airline – “Smartwings”.

This scenario came about due to long-term financial difficulties. They are caused by a series of major events such as the attack on the USA on September 11, the economic crisis of 2008 and the covid pandemic, but also due to the rise of low-cost airlines.

Expensive fleet

The company’s problems began in the nineties with the first unsuccessful attempt at privatization. After the events of this century, the company’s fleet began to shrink, and CSA came under the umbrella of “Smartwings” in 2018, when a rival company bought almost 98% of the shares.

Czech television cites conflicts within the airline and inexperience of management that led to bad business decisions as problems.

Czech media remind that under the leadership of businessman Jaroslav Tvrdik, during the previous decade, there was the purchase of new, expensive airplanes, and an increase in other expenses. Former president of ČSA Miroslav Kula blamed Tvrdik’s “megalomaniac projects” and “incompetent management” for the company’s failure.

On the other hand, Tvrdik, who led the company 20 years ago, previously assessed that the shutdown was an inevitable result due to external circumstances.

Recently, the airline flew on only two routes – to Paris and Madrid. Also, there are only two Airbus A320-200 aircraft in the fleet. One of them has already flown only for “Smartwings”. However, with the purchase, “Smartwings” gets four more planes that were previously ordered. Two should arrive by the end of the year, and two in the first half of next year.

Flights to Zagreb

The first flight made by ČSA (Czech State Airlines) in 1923 was on the then domestic route Prague-Bratislava. There were only two people on that flight – the pilot Karel Brabenec and the journalist who was reporting. They flew for three hours. The first plane was actually a two-seater biplane like those used in the First World War.

The first international route was to Yugoslavia when ČSA started flying to Zagreb in 1930. CSA has been flying to distant destinations since the seventies – Montreal, New York and Havana.

Older than ČSA were only airlines such as the Dutch KLM and the Colombian “Avianka” (both founded in 1919), the Australian “Kvantas” (1920) and the Soviet, that is, the Russian “Aeroflot” (1923). ČSA was also known for having its own code, i.e. the mark OK.