The world's fifth oldest airline made its last flight yesterday. At 21:23, an Airbus A320 registered OK-IOO took off from Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) in Paris for Prague. The departure was delayed by more than an hour. The aircraft landed in Prague at 22:35, i.e. with a delay of about 40 minutes.
What actually happened was "just" what was CSA announced already in May:
Czech Airlines (CSA) will change its business model from 27 October 2024 with the start of the winter flight schedule. Under the holding structure, CSA will become the management company with a majority stake in Smartwings. The flight operations of the entire group will be operated by Smartwings and its subsidiaries in Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. The reason for the change in CSA's business model is to make the Group's operations more efficient by leveraging the synergies of Czech Airlines and Smartwings to increase productivity while maintaining the CSA and Smartwings brands.
Nothing changes for CSA clients. The CSA brand and flights to all current destinations remain unchanged. Clients can continue to purchase tickets on the CSA and Smartwings websites, as well as through all existing distribution channels.
Given the size of the current fleet, Smartwings (47 aircraft) will provide commercial air transport for the entire group within the holding company. Two Airbus A320s will continue to fly in CSA colours, as will four new Airbus A220-300s, the first two of which are due for delivery at the end of this year and the other two in the first half of 2025.
As part of efficiency improvements, both companies will operate all flights under one code (QS) from 27 October 2024, which will not affect the services provided and passengers.
"There is a need to continuously optimise the operating costs of companies within the group, simplify processes and diversify risks. These are steps that will have a positive impact on the Group's operations. At the same time, we will offer our clients a consistent, clear and comprehensible product and service offering across all years," says the Chairman of the Board of Smartwings Jiří Jurán.
Czech Airlines was founded in 1923 as Czechoslovak State Airlines. The carrier is one of the five oldest airlines still operating in the world. In 2013, due to financial difficulties, Korean Air joined CSA, holding 44 percent of the shares. In February 2018, Smartwings became the majority owner. By March 2021, CSA was in bankruptcy due to high debts. The new investors were Smartwings owners Jiri Simane and Roman Vik with Chinese partners. In February this year, Smartwings returned fully to the control of Czech shareholders, with the Czech firm Prague City Air of entrepreneurs Šimáně and Vik buying almost half of the shares indirectly owned by the Chinese company CITIC.
The commemoration of the end of one of the world's oldest airlines was reported on Facebook Director of CAA David Jagr: "Tomorrow will bring closure to something that's been here for 101 years. Before us, and it was a company that meant something. We cannot interfere with the free decision of legal persons, but feelings can be expressed during the upcoming national holiday. I don't do it often, but sometimes that flag needs to fly lower."
Gnews - RoZ
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