Passenger traffic at Prague Airport is slowly coming back. In April, the airport saw an unprecedented drop in traffic of 99.6 percent, handling 5031 passengers. At the end of the month, there were only two regular lines, to Minsk and Sofia. In May, however, the situation is starting to change. At the beginning of the month, KLM started daily flights to Amsterdam, as well as the direct Eurowings flight to Düsseldorf. Czech Airlines is currently flying to Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt am Main. Air travel to and from Stockholm is set to be reinstated from May 21 and to Bucharest from May 25. The carries plans to resume operation on its lines to Kiev and Odessa later in May, provided mandatory quarantine restrictions are terminated in Ukraine by then. Lufthansa, Air France, and Finnair are resuming flights In June, other airlines should gradually increase their connections. The flight to Frankfurt starting from June 1 has already been announced by Lufthansa. Air France will start flying from Prague to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport from June 3. Initially, it will fly twice a week, increasing to four flights a week by the end of June. From July, the Finnish carrier Finnair plans to renew the...
Croatia wants to sign an agreement to allow the arrival of tourists with five European countries, including the Czech Republic, writes Jutarnji list. It appears that Croatia will not require Czech tourists to produce a COVID negative test to enter the country. According to the Croatian newspaper, the opening of the border with Slovenia could be followed on 1 June by five other countries. By the end of the week, it might be known which countries will be included in the list. Most likely, will be the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, and Slovakia. Two weeks later Germany should be added, Jutarnji list states. Croatia wants to close a similar agreement with China. If the epidemiological situation is favorable, “there is a possibility that Chinese tourists could start arriving in early September,” Jutarnji list added. From May 18, Croatian borders open to tourists with evidence that they have accommodation arranged. Some border crossings on major routes are open for limited traffic (foreign nationals with properties or boats in Croatia, or close family). At the moment, some international and domestic flights are operating and transit is permitted. Parks, shops, museums, hotels, and outdoor restaurants and bars are open, and some public transport is...
The border with Austria could be opened to tourists by mid-June without the need for a negative COVID-19 test or quarantine. “The Czech government is discussing a similar agreement with Slovakia,” said Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček (ČSSD)on Tuesday after a video conference with the foreign ministers of both countries. “With Austria, we have confirmed our interest in opening our borders to our citizens and for travel by mid-June, especially for tourists,” said Petříček. “Borders with all neighbouring states – Poland, Germany, Austria and Slovakia – could be open by mid-June,” added Petříček. Health Minister Adam Vojtech “had proposed that as of June 8, travel to and from a list of risky countries – to be determined but currently likely to include Spain, Italy or France – would be subject to the current requirements while others deemed safe – such as Austria, Slovakia or Croatia – would be exempt.” Austria, Slovakia, and Croatia, for example, would be among the non-risk countries; Greece and Bulgaria should be also added to this list. Vojtech said the list of risky countries would be updated continuously. With Greece, the Czech Republic is negotiating a variant of traveling without the need for a negative COVID-19 test....
Earlier last week, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged to work toward the reopening of the summer tourist season on 1 July
Emirates Group is planning to cut about 30,000 jobs to reduce costs amid the coronavirus outbreak, which will bring down its number of employees by about 30% from more than 105,000 at the end of March, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday. An Emirates spokeswoman said that no public announcement has been made yet by the company regarding “redundancies at the airline”, but that the company is conducting a review of “costs and resourcing against business projections”. Emirates, one of the world’s biggest long-haul airlines, said earlier this month that it will raise debt to help itself through the coronavirus pandemic, and may have to take tougher measures as it faces the most difficult months in its history. The state-owned airline had said that a recovery in travel was at least 18 months away. It reported a 21% rise in profit for its financial year ending March 31 but said the pandemic had hit its fourth-quarter performance. It said it would tap banks to raise debt in its first quarter to lessen the impact of the virus on cash flows.
The Czech government could buy up to 100% of airline operator Smartwings, the owner of Czech Airlines, or offer the national flag carrier state-guaranteed loans, Industry Minister Karel Havlicek said on Saturday. The government would discuss the situation with Smartwings and a decision should be reached by the end of June. He said the group was of strategic interest. Smartwings said it welcomed any discussions. “We still believe that further debate about support for the company, which employs 2,500 people, will play out in a businesslike manner,” the group said in a statement. Havlicek said any government move would be an investment, adding the group could be sold later, possibly for a profit. “We are not saying that it will happen but I look out for the interests of transport and industry. In this view, I think it is necessary to protect this type of firm, not only this type but others also,” he said. The government has previously raised the possibility of guaranteeing loans for the group. Smartwings’ Czech Airlines is set to resume flights on Monday after a disruption lasting a month and a half. Smartwings is controlled by Czech businessman Jiri Simane and partners, who own 50.1%...
“Austria will open all borders with the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary from midnight on Saturday, May 16,” said today the Austrian Ministry of the Interior. The full opening of the borders is planned on June 15, the APA agency reported. At the same time, Austria has struck the same border-opening agreement with Switzerland and Liechtenstein as the one it previously announced with Germany, to fully allow travel from June 15. “Inspections by health authorities and the police will be less frequent and only random,” the ministry said in a statement. “Our goal is to try to give as much freedom and as little restriction as possible. This is another small step towards normality, especially for people in border areas,” added the ministry. ——- On May 12, the Swiss government announced it would reopen 15 border crossings with Austria, France, and Italy, in eight cantons, in its second phase of the partial easing of the COVID-19 temporary restrictions. The French Minister of Interior has agreed with his German counterpart Interior Minister Horst Seehofer to reopen the common borders by June 15, which restrictions have been put in place in a bid to contain the flow of the COVID-19. Estonia, Lithuania,...
Travelers can vacation in Italy once again as of June 3, the government announced. It's a major step for Italy.
Today, the Commission presents a package of guidelines and recommendations to help Member States gradually lift travel restrictions and allow tourism businesses to reopen, after months of lockdown, while respecting necessary health precautions. The package also aims to help the EU tourism sector recover from the pandemic, by supporting businesses and ensuring that Europe continues to be the number one destination for visitors. On travel, the European Commission proposes an approach in phases which “starts by lifting restrictions between areas or Member States with sufficiently similar epidemiological situations.” So citizens of countries with similar levels of infections should be able to travel more freely. There should also be enough capacity in hospitals, as well as testing, surveillance, and contact tracing capacities in place for tourism to start again. The EU recommends buying tickets and doing check-ins online. Beyond this, the sanitising gel should be freely available during journeys. Food/drink should not be served aboard. The proposals say that in areas which would expect a big wave of tourists (such as island nations), that the areas have sufficient health system capacity “in place for local people and tourists so that in the event of a sudden increase in cases, primary care, hospital, and intensive care...
This morning, the first bus to Dresden and Berlin left Prague with 13 people aboard, mostly foreigners. It is the first renewed connection after the travel ban due to the coronavirus pandemic. The ban on international bus and rail connections has been in force in the Czech Republic since March 14. Earlier last week, the government decided to re-authorize international traffic from May 11. The first RegioJet bus left Prague to Berlin today at 8.30 am, with a stop in Dresden. RegioJet plans to return the bus to Prague already today and should leave Berlin in the late afternoon. So far, 20 passengcers have booked the trip. RegioJet plans to renew another bus line from Brno to Vienna. It should start on Monday. Other bus transport providers have not yet specified when they intend to reopen their foreign transport services, with the lifting of restrictions abroad playing a key role in the decision. Leo Express is also ready to renew its routes to Poland and Slovakia if passengers are interested. At the moment, they regularly run only selected train connections on the routes Prague – Stare Mesto – Prague and Bohumin – Prague – Bohumin until 31 May 2020 inclusive....
On Monday, 18 May 2020, Czech Airlines plans to resume operations on its routes between Prague and selected cities after over a month and a half of temporary disruption to services. Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, and Stockholm are among the first destinations to which aircraft will head from Prague this month. Effective 24 May 2020, the carrier plans to resume operations on its Kyiv route, with Odessa flights to follow the next day, provided mandatory quarantine restrictions are terminated in Ukraine, as currently scheduled. On 25 May 2020, flights to Bucharest, Romania, will also resume. Czech Airlines also introduced the current rules for the passengers: mandatory use of face masks (exception – children under 2 years old) entering/leaving the aircraft keeping a safe distance of 2 meters sufficient seating capacity permitting, gaps will be maintained between passengers in economy class business class seating arrangements will always leave the middle seat empty. On aircraft with a two-seat configuration, there will always be only one person seated per pair of seats only contactless payments, i.e. credit or debit cards, are accepted aboard the aircraft. food and drinks for economy class passengers may be limited the face mask can only be removed while eating...
“If it is forbidden to occupy a middle seat due to safety measures on aircraft, the economy class will practically end. It would be ideal to fly on a prepaid flat rate. Domestic flying also has great potential,” says during an interview with E15.cz Oliver Dlouhý, founder and co-owner of Kiwi.com. “Flights could be cheaper after lockdown due to an “airline price war”, he added. “Airlines will ’price-dump’ low fares so that they have a turnover and pay aircraft leasing. But it has to gradually return to normality, to the golden times of flying,” believes added Dlouhý. After the gradual release, the main challenge will be how tourists regain confidence in air safety. According to a survey from the USA, 75 percent of people would now be afraid to board a plane. The low-cost carrier Ryanair backs the introduction of mandatory temperature checks and face masks for passengers and crew when flights resume. “We’re in dialogue with regulators who are sitting in their bedrooms inventing restrictions such as taking out the middle seats, which is just nonsense. It would have no beneficial effect whatsoever,” says Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary. He explained: “When this thing is over there is going to...
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