A new long-haul route connecting Prague and Abu Dhabi officially began this week.
The airline will now operate four weekly flights between the Czech capital and the United Arab Emirates, using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
The inaugural flight landed at Prague Airport on Monday morning and was greeted with a traditional water cannon salute.
According to Prague Airport’s Deputy Press Officer Jiří Hannich, the new route signals growing demand for direct long-haul connectivity and broader cooperation between Central Europe and the Middle East.
Etihad’s Dreamliner aircraft offers seating for 290 passengers across economy and business class.
Flights will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, giving travelers convenient access not just to Abu Dhabi but also to Etihad’s extensive global network.
“This route connects the heart of Europe with the Middle East, and from there to Asia, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and Australia,” said Etihad Airways CEO Antonoaldo Neves. “It’s more than a flight—it’s a gateway to new opportunities for both business and leisure travelers.”
The new service is expected to draw significant interest, with Prague Airport projecting more than 50,000 passengers on the route by the end of the year. Officials believe the flight will benefit not only Czech outbound travelers but also incoming tourism from the Middle East and Asia.
We officially welcomed the new long-haul route Prague – Abu Dhabi.
With @etihad, you can now fly from Prague four times a week – on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The airline operates the route with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, offering 290 seats. pic.twitter.com/mh8eU4gaGG
— Prague Airport (@PragueAirport) June 2, 2025
František Reismüller, Director of the Czech Tourism Board, emphasized the strategic value of the new connection: “Direct flights from distant markets are essential for attracting quality tourism. This route opens the Czech Republic to travelers from the UAE, India, and Southeast Asia—segments with high potential for spa tourism, shopping, and family travel.”
Last year, over 379,000 tourists from the Middle East visited the Czech Republic, with Prague and the Karlovy Vary region being the most popular destinations.
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, offers an attractive mix of modern culture, luxury experiences, and family-friendly attractions. Highlights include the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, which can accommodate up to 41,000 worshippers, the local branch of the Louvre Museum, and the interactive TeamLab Phenomena art installations.
For sports enthusiasts, Formula 1 fans can plan trips to the season finale in December at Yas Marina Circuit. Families can also enjoy Ferrari World, Yas WaterWorld, and Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, featuring iconic characters like Batman and Superman.
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Prague Airport starts operating normally again. In addition to resuming regular lines to key and resort destinations, new routes will be added in the upcoming weeks.
In early July, twenty different airlines will fly from Prague Airport to 57 destinations, increasing by 50% the total number of connections compared with the last week of June.
Regular long-distance routes will be resumed, Flydubai will start flying to Dubai, and Qatar Airways to Doha.
“In early July, Vaclav Havel Prague Airport will resume flights to 57 destinations. We will include two long-distance destinations, 29 key destinations such as London, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Frankfurt, as well as several holiday destinations such as Rhodes, Kos, Corfu, Mallorca, and Tenerife,” said Vaclav Rehor, Chairman of the Prague Airport Board of Directors.
Flights to Oslo, Malaga, Gothenburg, Warsaw, and Odessa should also be resumed within this week.
Air Malta, Flydubai, LOT Polish Airlines, Norwegian, Qatar Airways and Tarom will again fly from Prague in July.
From August, Ryanair will operate scheduled flights to Kosice and Paphos.
Low-cost airlines are likely to offer even cheaper flights than in the past. “Compared to the pre-COVID situation, prices fell by about 30%,” said Oliver Dlouhý from Kiwi portal.
“Czechs started to travel quite a lot again. Planes tend to be 80% full, most often flying to Greece, Barcelona and other holiday destinations. Many Czechs fly not only from Prague but also from Vienna,” added Dlouhý.
Passengers and visitors can now be tested for the presence of the virus causing COVID-19 directly at Václav Havel Airport Prague. Testing is performed by an accredited GHC Genetics laboratory.
The new service will facilitate safe travelling and also reduce the spread of the disease. Both passengers and the general public can use the testing directly at the airport.
A total of 17 airlines have already announced their intention to resume direct flights from Prague Airport.
Specifically, 55 destinations have been listed, ten of which are already in operation. This week, direct flights to seven other destinations will be resumed, namely to Belgrade, Brussels, Budapest, Košice, Keflavik, Manchester and Munich.
Thanks to intensive negotiations between Prague Airport and airlines, the list of destinations could expand further in the coming weeks.
“Thanks to our intensive negotiations with airlines, Prague Airport is gradually succeeding in resuming direct flights. At the moment we have confirmed a total of 55 destinations. Airlines are returning to their routes from Prague in line with the relaxation of traveling measures and, above all, in response to the demand for flying shown by passengers. It is this demand that will be key to the success of the resumed air connections in the coming weeks and months,” says Václav Řehoř, Chairman of the Prague Airport Board of Directors.
“Our main goal is to resume direct scheduled air connections to key destinations, which are major European cities used as important transfer hubs. These include, for example, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid and Vienna. In total, we have selected 45 such destinations and have received a confirmation of resumed flights already to 24 these destinations, which represent more than half of them,” Vaclav Rehor added.
Latvian airline airBaltic plans to resume direct flights from Prague to Riga on July 27 and the low-cost carrier Wizz Air has announced a new direct scheduled connection between Prague and Varna.
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Many protective measures have been set up at Prague Airport in co-operation with public health authorities for several months. Departures and arrivals take place under strict hygienic conditions, which are to ensure the health and safety of passengers.
All passengers and visitors must wear face masks in all areas of the airport, keep a safe distance from other people, wash their hands frequently and thoroughly, and use hand sanitizers.
Here you can find the list of updated routes
By 2035, Prague Airport should increase its capacity up to 23 million passengers per year.
This year it handles 17.7 million people, which is a year-on-year increase of 5.8%, although it is already facing capacity problems. According to Václav Řehoř, Chairman of the Czech Aeroholding Board of Director, ten per cent of the arrivals at Terminal 1 had to be declined this summer. Passenger numbers are growing continuously since 2013.
The requirements to increase the airport capacity are the construction of a parallel runway, the centralization of security controls and building new boarding sections D and E. Section D should be built at Terminal 2 by 2029 and section E by 2036.
Along with completing the parallel runway, it will be necessary to shut down the existing secondary runway. After the launch of the new track in about eight years, it is expected that night operations at the airport will be cancelled. The runway will only be used for take-offs. Upon commissioning, the airport’s capacity will increase to 250,000 per year.
The Minister of Transport, Vladimír Kremlík (ANO) added that by 2028, an electrified double-track railway line should lead to the airport and Kladno. It is planned to build several elevated junctions on the Prague ring road and the roads leading to the airport.
The journey from the centre of Prague to Václav Havel Airport in Ruzyně should take 25 minutes along the planned railway line. From the railway for nearly 40 billion crowns, which will also lead to Kladno, only part of the Negrelli viaduct is being elaborated.
The adjustment of the monorail and non-electrified line to Kladno with an annexe to Prague Airport has been under construction for years. The new connection should allow a ten-minute interval of trains going to the airport and Kladno.
As of Sunday, 27 October 2019, the winter flight schedule becomes effective. It will provide flights from Václav Havel Airport Prague to 121 destinations in 46 countries. New additions will include Lviv, Kharkiv, Chisinau, Florence, Beirut, Nur-Sultan and Keflavik. Altogether, Prague Airport will fly to fifteen new destinations during the winter season.
There will be 60 direct flights from Prague during the winter flight schedule, 13 of them are low-cost.
New destinations include Lviv, Kharkiv, Chisinau, Casablanca, Perm, Florence, Nur-Sultan, Stockholm – Skavsta, Bournemouth, Billund, Beirut, Keflavik, Malta, Odesa, and Venice – Treviso. This year, four airlines will newly operate their flights from Prague also in winter, including SCAT Airlines, SkyUp Airlines, Air Malta and Arkia Airlines.
“Czech passengers will benefit from these new opportunities for traveling abroad. In addition to new destinations in Eastern Europe, they can fly to places where Prague Airport traditionally has direct flights only in summer, such as Iceland or Malta,” says Václav Řehoř, the Chairman of the Prague Airport Board.
The busiest country with regard to the number of destinations, even in winter, is the UK, where 17 different destinations are offered, including all major international London airports, which are serviced by direct flights from Prague. The second busiest country is Italy (11 destinations), followed by Russia (10 destinations), Spain (9 destinations) and France (8 destinations).
Most flights in winter will fly to London (up to 93 flights per week, Moscow (up to 70 flights per week), Amsterdam (up to 51 flights per week), and Warsaw (49 per week).