Czech Airlines Enters International Markets From Bratislava

Czech Airlines is to resume international flights from Bratislava’s Milan Rastislav Štefánik Airport in Slovakia, more than 15 years after its predecessor ČSA - Československé Aerolinie was rebranded and established as the national carrier of the Czech Republic following the split of Czechoslovakia into two separate states. Up until then CSA had operated from dual hubs in Prague and Bratislava and had offered connections to a variety of European destinations from the two cities.

While Czech Airlines, now a member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance, has managed to build a strong network in the Czech Republic, no airline in Slovakia has been able to mirror this success. A string of local carriers including Slovak Airlines, Air Slovakia and Sky Europe have tried and failed, despite a range of different strategies. These have included working with point-to-point traffic into the Slovakian capital, developing the city as a regional hub for connections between the UK and India and pushing MR Štefánik Airport as a viable low-cost alternative for traffic to the Austrian capital Vienna, located just 40 miles (63km) away.

As the table above clearly illustrates, Ryanair is the largest operator from Bratislava, offering almost 70 weekly flights to 17 different destinations. It does not currently have any aircraft based in the Slovakian city and instead aircraft fly from its other bases, mainly in Spain and the UK. Armavia, Belle Air and LOT Polish Airlines offer connections to other regional capitals, while Czech Airlines currently has a flight to its Prague base, a route that is operated up to three times daily every weekday. Danube Wings offers a domestic link to Kosice as well as seasonal flights to Dubrovnik, Split and Zadar, while Smart Wings has peak summer flights to Rhodes and Tel Aviv. Russian carrier UTair is also due to open a new flight to Russia, serving Vnukovo Airport in Moscow.

There is clearly scope for a new entrant into the Slovakian market and Czech Airlines will initially base a single Boeing 737-500 at MR Štefánik Airport to operate 24 weekly flights to six European destinations from June 23. Subject to the success of these additional routes, a second aircraft could be introduced in the future, a source at the carrier confirmed to The HUB.

The airline is focusing its operations on major airports, including the three European hubs of its fellow SkyTeam alliance members, Air France, Alitalia and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. According to Jiří Marek, Vice President for Sales and Marketing, Czech Airlines, the initial network is based around “the most frequent routings of passengers on Czech Airlines’ transfer flights from Bratislava via Prague on to the airline’s network,” as well as key markets not currently served from the city. Interestingly, four of the selected destinations are already served by Ryanair, albeit not directly, with the low-cost carrier using alternative airports (Girona for Barcelona, Charleroi for Brussels, Beauvais for Paris and Ciampino for Rome).

For more of this week's news and analysis please click here to read The HUB.