Prague airport welcomes nearly 4.4 million passengers in 2021
Air transport is slowly recovering from the impact of travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as evidenced, among others, by the results of Václav Havel airport in Prague in 2021. Compared to 2020, almost 20% more passengers were handled, while the number of aircraft movements increased by 13%. The busiest day, in terms of the number of passengers handled, was August 22, 2021. The highest number of passengers flew from Prague to Spain, Greece and Italy. Amsterdam, Paris and London were the busiest of the cities connected to Prague by direct flights.
“Last year we handled a total of 4,388,826 passengers, which is 20% more than in 2020, but still represents a decrease of around 75% compared to the most successful year so far. now, the year 2019. Throughout 2021, departures tourism was predominant. Some traditional vacation retreats saw an increase in interest of hundreds of percent,” commented Jiří Pos, President of the Board of Directors of Prague Airport In 2020, 3.6 million passengers were handled, with the first two months of the year not affected by the current pandemic.
In terms of individual cities, most passengers took direct flights from Prague to Amsterdam, followed by Paris and London airports, the main European transfer hubs. When it comes to individual airlines, customers at Prague airport used the services of Smartwings, Ryanair, Lufthansa, KLM and Czech Airlines the most.
“2021 was also the year when many routes resumed and the number of frequencies to destinations already operated increased. We welcomed five new carriers to the airport and added routes to six previously unserved destinations. , including remote exotic locations,” Pos added. New carriers include Bees Airline, Blue Air, Blue Bird Airways, EgyptAir and Israir. Additionally, German carrier Eurowings launched its base operations in Prague in November 2021. The new destinations mainly represent European cities, namely Hamburg, Lviv, and Nice. New additions among exotic destinations include Zanzibar, the Maldives and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, all operated by direct flights. A total of 52 carriers flew from Prague to 138 destinations on regular and ad hoc routes in 2021.
The airport recorded a positive inbound tourism trend in the last quarter of 2021, just before the latest wave of COVID-19. During the period, 26.9% more passengers were handled on routes from typical tourist inbound destinations compared to the previous quarter. Typical inbound tourism destinations include countries like the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Israel.
The increase in the number of connections and carriers resulted in a year-on-year increase in the number of aircraft movements of 13% to 61,164. The busiest day at Prague airport was on August 22, with 30,987 passengers handled.
TOP Country:
2021/2020 2021/2019
1. Spain 431 366 +74.2% -64.9%
2. Greece 400 290 +115.8% -45.8%
3. Italy 388 153 +41.5% -73.5%
4. Egypt 311 453 +646.1% -32.3%
5.France 272,426 -1.7% -76.7%
TOP Destinations (all airports):
2021/2020 2021/2019
1. Amsterdam 250,070 +16.6% -67.1%
2. Paris 204,471 -1.7% -76.8%
3. London 185,878 -40.4% -86.5%
4. Hurghada 163,558 +535.0% -31.4%
5. Frankfurt 160 327 +31.0% -69.6%
New carriers:
bee airline
blue air
Blue Bird Airways
Egypt Air
Israel
New destination:
Hamburg
Lviv
Maldives (charter)
Pleasant
Punta Cana (charter)
Zanzibar (charter)
