Quick Airline Information:
✈Airline IATA* code: OK
✈Airline ICAO* code: CSA ✈Founded: 6 October 1923 ✈Website: www.czechairlines.com✈Alliance: Sky Team✈History
✈Operations and Destinations 🌍
✈Fleet ✈️
✈Photo Slide 📷✈Safety Video 🎬
✈Airline reviews ⭐
*IATA: (International Air Transport Association)
*ICAO: (International Civil Aviation Organization)
History Menu:
Czech Airlines, was founded as Czechoslovak State Airlines on the 6th of October 1923. The first transport flight from Prague to Bratislava took place on the 29th of October the same year. On that trip, pilot Karel Brabenec flew the distance of 321 km with an Aero A-14 (Brandenburg) bi-plane. Soon after in 1924, it connected Prague with Kosice and Brno and also with the West Bohemia spa area.
The airline operated only domestic services until its first international flight from Prague to Bratislava and on to Zagreb in 1930. After the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in 1939 with the country splitting up into three parts, the airline was terminated. In 1948, CSA suffered the embargo imposed by the West on the western-built aircraft spares etc., so gradually replaced much of the fleet with Soviet-built airliners. The venerable Ilyushin Il-14 was even updated and built under licence in Czechoslovakia as the Avia-14.
In 1950, CSA became the world's first victim of a mass hijacking. In 1957 CSA became the third of the world's airlines to fly jet services, taking delivery/putting in service the first Tupolev Tu-104A in 1957. CSA was the only airline other than Aeroflot to operate the Tu-104 which was the world's first successful jet airliner. The service operated by the Tu-104A from 1957 between Prague and Moscow was the first jet-only connection. The first transatlantic services started on 3 February 1962 with a flight to Havana, using a Bristol Britannia turboprop leased from Cubana de Aviación.
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From the late 1960s, CSA used a range of Soviet-built aircraft, and modifications of them, for its extensive European and intercontinental services which totalled some 50 international and 15 domestic destinations. The Britannia was replaced with long-range Ilyushin Il-18D turboprops at this time, and transatlantic routes were established to Montreal and New York City, besides Havana.
After the breakup of the Czechoslovak Federation in 1991, the airline adopted its present name in May 1995. By the late 1990s, most of the Soviet aircraft were either sold on to other airlines or retired (a number were preserved), and replaced with Western ones such as the Boeing 737 and Airbus A310, A320, and short-range ATR aircraft. CSA became a full member of the SkyTeam alliance on 18 October 2000.
As of March 2007 the airline was owned by the Czech Ministry of Finance, Czech Consolidation Agency and other Czech institutions. A new look for Czech Airlines was revealed in September 2007. On 1 January 2010, the whole non-office ground staff of CSA was transferred to the subsidiary ČSA Support, now named Czech airlines handling s.r.o.
In late 2012, CSA Czech Airlines announced plans for expansion and to resume long-haul flights from summer 2013 with Airbus A330 aircraft between Prague and Seoul.
For its shorter routes within Europe it also introduced the ATR-72-500 at the end of 2012.
Since March 2013, the company operates direct flights from Prague to many European cities.After the the completion of stock sales to Korean Air on 10 April 2013, CSA Czech airlines was owned by Czech Aero Holdings, a.s. (56%) and Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd. (44%).
In April 2015 Travel Service Group bought 34% of the airline, over which Korean Air had an option. In 2016 the airline returned to profit for the first time in many years. However in October 2017, Korean Air announced the sale of its 44 percent stake in Czech Airlines to Travel Service. Later Travel Service also acquired the other remaining stake making the company the parent company of Czech Airlines with a 97.74% stake.
In March 2019, Smartwings, the parent company of CSA, announced that CSA will transition its fleet, with the Airbus A319 and ATR 72 aircraft to be retired. Czech Airlines announced an order for four Airbus A220-300 and three A321XLR, which had been converted from the previous orders for the A320neo. These will begin to be delivered from 2020 onwards.
History source: Wikipedia.org
Operations and Destinations 🌍:
Czech Airlines operates from it's main hub in Prague international airport, from there it flies to 111 destinations in 45 countries. Both domestic and international destinations. It's presence is mostly in Europe, except from Seoul, South Korea. (it's only long haul flight).
Czech Airlines serves the following destinations*:
| Region 🗺️ | Destinations 🌍🌎🌏 |
|---|---|
✈Czech Republic (domestic) | Ostrava, K. Vary |
| ✈Europe | Stockholm, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Venice, Rome, Bologna, Milan, Pisa, Zagreb, Skopje, Malta, Nice, Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Paris, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Birmingham, Barcelona, Porto, Lisbon, Kosice, Kiev, Odessa |
| ✈Russia and the Middle East | Moscow, Kazan, Samara, Ufa, Yekaterinburg, St Peterborough, Rostov On Don, Yerevan, Beirut, Riyadh |
| ✈Asia | Seoul |
*Destination list is for reference only. Please check directly with the airline for updates.
*Note some destinations are only seasonal.*Correct info as of Nov 2018.
Fleet ✈️:
Czech Airlines fleet consist of Airbus aircraft and ATR Turboprops for regional flights. New aircraft will arrive as from 2019 to replace older types.
The fleet* of Czech Airlines consists of the following aircraft, correct at the time of publishing:
| Network 🌐 | Aircraft ✈️ |
|---|---|
| ✈Short and Medium Haul (domestic and European flights) | Airbus A319, ATR-42/72 (A220 to replace them from 2020) (A321XLR from 2021) |
| ✈Long haul | Airbus A330 |
*Correct fleet info as of Nov 2018.
Czech Airlines Photo Slide 📷:
Czech Airlines Safety Video (B737 Old version) 🎬:
Reviews ⭐:
 |  |
|---|---|
| ✅Reasonable fares | 👎 Limited destination network (only one long haul flight) |
| ✅ Good connecting flights in Prague and schedules for flights within Central Europe. | 👎No flights to USA |
| ✅Member of the Sky team alliance for millage redemption. | 👎 No Free luggage allowance on basic fares |
| ✅ Good customer service. | 👎No Free food or drink on board. |
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