Václav Havel Airport Prague

Prague Vaclav Havel Airport Letiště Václava Havla Praha
File:Prague airport logo.png
IATA: PRG ICAO: LKPR
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Letiště Praha
Serves	Prague, Czech Republic
Location	Ruzyně
Hub for	Czech Airlines Korean Air
Focus city for	SmartWings Travel Service Airlines Wizz Air
Elevation AMSL	1,247 ft / 380 m
Website	prg.aero
Map
PRG Location within the Czech Republic
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 06/24 3,715 12,191 Concrete 12/30 3,250 10,665 Concrete 04/22 2,120 6,955 Asphaltic concrete
Helipads
Number Length Surface m ft H2 11.2 37 Asphalt H3 11.2 37 Asphalt H4 11.2 37 Asphalt
Statistics (2013)
Passengers (2013) 10,974,196 Passenger growth 12–13 1,54% Cargo (2009) 47,870,804 kg
Source: Czech AIP at EUROCONTROL

Prague Václav Havel Airport (Czech: Letiště Václava Havla Praha), formerly Prague Ruzyně International Airport (Czech: Mezinárodní letiště Praha-Ruzyně, Czech pronunciation: [ˈpraɦa ˈrʊzɪɲɛ]), (IATA: PRG, ICAO: LKPR), is the international airport of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. It is located 10 kilometres (6 mi) west of the city centre and is with 11 million passengers in 2013 the busiest airport in the newer EU member states. It also serves as a hub for Czech Airlines as well as a base for Travel Service Airlines including its subsidiary SmartWings and Wizz Air.

History

Old control tower built in 1937 (rear view) – now part of Terminal 4

Old control tower (front view) during the visit of Dwight D. Eisenhower in Prague on 12 October 1945

Prague–Ruzyně Airport began operations on 5 April 1937, but Czechoslovak civil aviation history started at the military airport in Prague–Kbely in 1919. The Prague Aviation Museum is now found at Kbely Airport.

Due to insufficient capacity of the Kbely airport in the middle of the 1930s, the Government decided to develop a new State Civil Airport in Ruzyně. One of the major awards Prague Ruzyně Airport received include Diploma and Gold Medal granted in 1937 at the occasion of the International Art and Technical Exhibition in Paris (Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne also known as Paris 1937 World's Fair) for the technical conception of the central airport, primarily the architecture of the check-in building (nowadays known as Terminal 4) designed by architect Ing. A. Beneš.

Other awards were granted for modernization during individual airport development phases. All these facts have been increasing the interest of carriers in using Prague airport. In one of the most dramatic moments in its history, the airport was seized by Soviet paratroopers on the night of 20–21 August 1968, who then facilitated the landing of Soviet troops and transports for the invasion of Czechoslovakia.

The airport has an excellent location both with respect to its short distance from the centre of Prague and within the European area. Moreover, the Ruzyně fields provide opportunities for further expansion of the airport according to the increasing capacity demand. The airport serves as a hub of the trans-European airport network.

The political and economic changes affected the seventy years of existence of Prague–Ruzyně Airport. Some new air transportation companies and institutions were founded and some ceased operation since then. Ten entities have been responsible for airport administration over time, including the new construction and development. Until the 1990s, there were two or three decade gaps before the major modernization of Prague–Ruzyně Airport began in order to match the current capacity requirements.

The airport was used in the James Bond film Casino Royale. The airport, along with a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340-600, depicts a scene that actually takes place in the film at Miami International Airport.

An online petition organized by one of the best-known Slovak film directors, Fero Fenič, calling on the government and the Parliament to rename Prague Ruzyně Airport to Václav Havel International Airport attracted – in just one week after 20 December 2011 – the support of over 65,000 signatories both within and outside the Czech Republic. A rendition of the airport with the proposed Václav Havel name in the form of his signature followed by his typical heart symbol suffix was included in the blog's article in support of renaming of the airport. This name change took place on 5 October 2012 on what would have been Havel's 76th birthday. However, the PRG name of the airport for IATA and ICAO will remain the same.

Further development

As the capacity of the airport has been reaching its limit for the last couple of years (as of 2005), further development of the airport is being considered. Besides regular repairs of the existing runways, Prague Airport (Czech: Letiště Praha s.p.) began the preparations for building a new runway, parallel to the 06/24 runway. The construction with estimated costs of CZK 5–7 billion was scheduled to begin in 2007, and the new runway marked 06R/24L (also called the BIS runway) is to be put into service in 2010. However, because of plenty of legal problems and protests of people who live close to the airport premises, the construction has not yet begun. Despite these problems, the project has support from the government, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

It will be over 3,500 metres (11,483 ft) long. Located about 1,500 metres (4,921 ft) southeast of the present main runway, the 24L runway will be equipped with a category III ILS, allowing landing and taking off under bad weather conditions.

Prague Airport states that besides increasing the airport capacity, the new runway system will greatly reduce the noise level in some densely inhabited areas of Prague. This should be achieved by reorganising the air traffic space around the airport, and shifting the traffic corridors after putting the two parallel runways into service. The vision of heavy traffic raised many protests from the suburban communities directly surrounding the airport. On 6 November 2004, local referenda were held in two Prague suburbs – Nebušice and Přední Kopanina – giving official support to the local authorities for active opposition against the construction of the parallel runway.

The construction of a railway connection between the airport and Prague city centre is also in the planning stage. The track will be served by express trains with special fares, connecting non-stop the airport with the city centre, and local trains fully integrated into Prague integrated transit system.

Infrastructure

Terminals

Terminal 1 of Prague Airport

Terminal 2 of Prague Airport

Prague Airport has two main passenger terminals, two general aviation terminals, as well as a cargo facility. Most flights depart Prague Airport from the North Terminals (Terminal 1 and 2). The South Terminals (Terminal 3 and 4) handle a few irregular flights, as well as VIP flights, special flights and small aircraft.

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 is used for flights outside the Schengen Area; it was opened in 1997, it includes concourses A and B

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 is used for flights within the Schengen area; it was opened on 17 January 2006, it includes concourses C and D

Terminal 3

Terminal 3 is used for private and charter flights; it was opened in 1997

Terminal 4

Terminal 4 is used exclusively for VIP flights and state visits; it is the oldest part of the airport which was opened on 5 April 1937

Cargo Terminal 1 is operated by Menzies Aviation Czech while Cargo Terminal 2 is operated by Skyport.

Runways

The airport contains two runways in service: 06/24 (till April 1993 07/25) and 12/30 (till May 2012 13/31). Former runway 04/22 is permanently closed for take-offs and landings and is used for taxiing and parking only. The most used runway is 24 due to the prevailing western winds. Runway 30 is also used often. Runway 06 is used rarely, while runway 12 is used only exceptionally.

Operations

The company operating the airport is Prague Airport (Letiště Praha, a. s.), a joint-stock company that has one shareholder, the Ministry of Finance. The company was founded in February 2008, as part of a privatization process involving the Airport Prague (Správa Letiště Praha, s.p.) state enterprise. This action was in accordance with the Czech Republic Government Memorandum Nr. 888, which had been passed on 9 July 2008. On 1 December 2008, Prague Airport took all rights and duties formerly held by Správa Letiště Praha, s.p., and Prague Airports took all business authorisations, certificates, employees, and licenses from the former company. The head office of Prague Airport is in Prague 6. The former state-owned enterprise had its head office on the airport property.

Airlines and destinations

Air France Airbus A318 taxing at Václav Havel Airport.

Aeroflot Airbus A320 taxing at Václav Havel Airport.

Alitalia Airbus A319 taxing at Václav Havel Airport.

Emirates Airbus A330-200 taxing at Václav Havel Airport.

Czech Airlines Airbus A319 taxing at Václav Havel Airport.

Germanwings Airbus A319 taxing at Václav Havel Airport.

Azerbaijan Airlines Airbus A319 taxing at Václav Havel Airport.

easyJet Airbus A319 taxing at Václav Havel Airport.

Lufthansa Boeing 737-300 taxing at Václav Havel Airport.

Turkish Airlines Airbus A320 taxing at Václav Havel Airport.

Jet2.com Boeing 737-300 taxing at Václav Havel Airport.

Travel Service Airlines Boeing 737-800 taxing at Václav Havel Airport.

Wizz Air Airbus A320 takeoff from Václav Havel Airport.

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Adria Airways	Ljubljana (begins 30 March 2014)	2
Aegean Airlines	Athens	2
Aer Lingus	Dublin	1
Aeroflot	Moscow–Sheremetyevo	1
Aeroflot operated by Rossiya	Saint Petersburg	1
airBaltic	Riga	2
Air France	Paris–Charles de Gaulle Seasonal: Marseille, Toulouse	2
Air France operated by HOP!	Lyon	2
Air Lituanica	Vilnius	2
Air Malta	Seasonal: Malta	2
Air One	Catania (begins 5 April 2014), Pisa, Venice–Marco Polo	2
Air Serbia	Belgrade	1
Air Transat	Seasonal: Montréal-Trudeau (begins 17 June 2014), Toronto-Pearson (begins 17 June 2014)	1
Air VIA	Seasonal charter: Burgas, Varna	1
Astra Airlines	Seasonal charter: Thessaloniki	2
Austrian Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways	Vienna	2
Alitalia	Milan-Linate (resumes 30 March 2014), Rome–Fiumicino	2
Azerbaijan Airlines	Baku	1
Belavia	Minsk–National	1
British Airways	London–Heathrow	1
Brussels Airlines	Brussels	2
Brussels Airlines operated by Flybe	Brussels	2
Bulgaria Air	Sofia	1
Bulgarian Air Charter	Seasonal charter: Burgas, Varna	1
Czech Airlines	Almaty, Bucharest, Kiev–Boryspil, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Nizhniy Novgorod, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, St Petersburg, Samara, Seoul–Incheon, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion, Ufa, Yekaterinburg, Yerevan Seasonal: Baku, Tashkent, Tbilisi	1
Czech Airlines	Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin–Tegel, Bratislava, Brussels, Budapest, Copenhagen, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Košice, Madrid, Milan–Malpensa, Nice, Ostrava, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Rome–Fiumicino, Stockholm–Arlanda, Strasbourg, Warsaw–Chopin, Zürich	2
Delta Air Lines	Seasonal: New York–JFK	1
easyJet	Bristol, Edinburgh, London–Gatwick, London–Stansted, Manchester	1
easyJet	Amsterdam, Lyon (ends 28 March 2014), Milan–Malpensa, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Rome–Fiumicino (begins 31 March 2014)	2
El Al	Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion (ends 28 March 2014)	1
El Al operated by UP	Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion (begins 30 March 2014)	1
Emirates	Dubai-International	1
Enter Air	Seasonal: Bilbao, Catania, Funchal, Larnaca, Madrid, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca	2
Finnair	Helsinki	2
Freebird Airlines	Seasonal: Istanbul–Ataturk	1
Germanwings	Cologne/Bonn	2
Germanwings operated by Eurowings	Düsseldorf (begins 30 March 2014), Hamburg (begins 30 March 2014)	2
Holidays Czech Airlines	Seasonal charter: Agadir, Antalya, Burgas, Hurghada, Marsa Alam	1
Holidays Czech Airlines	Seasonal charter: Corfu, Heraklion, Rhodes, Zakynthos, Reykjavik	2
Iberia	Madrid	2
Jet2.com	Edinburgh, Leeds/Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham/East Midlands	2
Jetairfly	Charleroi (begins 4 April 2014)	2
KLM operated by KLM Cityhopper	Amsterdam	2
Korean Air	Seoul–Incheon	1
LOT Polish Airlines	Warsaw–Chopin	2
Lufthansa	Frankfurt	2
Lufthansa Regional operated by Eurowings	Düsseldorf (ends 29 March 2014)	2
Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine	Munich	2
Malmö Aviation	Umeå	2
Moskovia Airlines	Belgorod	1
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Bergen (begins 30 March 2014), Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm–Arlanda	2
Nouvelair	Seasonal: Enfidha, Tabarka	1
Ryanair	Dublin (resumes 1 April 2014), London–Stansted (begins 1 April 2014)	1
S7 Airlines	Novosibirsk	1
Saravia	Saratov	1
Scandinavian Airlines	Copenhagen, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm–Arlanda	2
Small Planet Airlines	Seasonal charter: Heraklion	2
SmartWings operated by Travel Service Airlines	Dubai, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion Seasonal: Antalya, Burgas, Dubrovnik, Larnaca, Split	1
SmartWings operated by Travel Service Airlines	Gran Canaria, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Rome–Fiumicino, Tenerife–South Seasonal: Alghero, Barcelona, Bilbao, Burgas, Cagliari, Catania, Chania, Corfu, Dublin Fuerteventura, Girona, Heraklion, Ibiza, Kalamata, Kefalonia, Kos, Lamezia Terme, Lanzarote, Málaga, Naples, Olbia, Palma de Mallorca, Patras, Preveza, Rhodes, Skiathos, Thessaloniki, Valencia, Zakynthos	2
Swiss International Air Lines	Basel/Mulhouse, Geneva, Zürich	2
Tailwind Airlines	Seasonal: Antalya	1
TAP Portugal	Lisbon Seasonal: Budapest	2
TAROM	Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca	1
Transavia.com	Paris-Orly (begins 13 April 2014), Rotterdam	2
Travel Service Airlines	Seasonal charter: Agadir, Antalya, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Burgas, Dubai, Hurghada, Marsa Alam, Mombasa, Monastir, Punta Cana, Sal, Sharm el-Sheikh, Split, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion, Tunis, Varadero, Varna, Zanzibar	1
Travel Service Airlines	Seasonal charter: Corfu, Girona, Heraklion, Larnaca, Paphos, Preveza, Rhodes, Tenerife–South	2
Tunisair	Seasonal: Tunis	1
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul–Atatürk	1
Ukraine International Airlines	Kiev–Boryspil	1
Ural Airlines	Nizhniy Novgorod, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg	1
Volotea	Nantes	2
Vueling	Barcelona, Rome-Fiumicino (begins 25 June 2014)	2
Wizz Air	London–Luton, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion (begins 31 March 2014)	1
Wizz Air	Bari, Bergamo, Naples, Rome–Fiumicino, Treviso	2
Yakutia Airlines	Krasnodar, Sochi	1

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Air Contractors	Paris–Charles de Gaulle
China Airlines Cargo	Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Luxembourg, Taipei–Taoyuan
Czech Airlines	Belgrade, Sofia
Czech Airlines operated by Genex	Minsk–National
TNT Airways	Brno, Katowice, Liège
UPS Airlines operated by Farnair Switzerland	Cologne/Bonn

Statistics

In 2004, the airport served 9.7 million passengers; in 2005 nearly 10.8 million; and 11.6 million in 2006. In 2007 the number of passengers rose to 12,440,000 and in 2008 reached 12,630,557. In 2009 the number decreased to 11,643,366, and only 143,060 were domestic passengers. It was the 32nd busiest airport in Europe in 2009. The top 10 destinations were:

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled
1	Paris–Charles de Gaulle	550,902
2	London–Heathrow	430,453
3	Frankfurt	415,630
4	Moscow–Sheremetyevo	404,024
5	Amsterdam Schiphol	374,220
6	Milan	306,902
6	Madrid–Barajas	300,432
7	Rome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci	290,972
8	Brussels	265,756
9	Zürich	249,963
10	Barcelona	245,423

Rank	Country	2011 Passengers
1	Germany	1,162,114 passengers
2	Great Britain	1,138,899 passengers
3	France	1,017,899 passengers
4	Italy	872,933 passengers
5	Russia	856,849 passengers

Rank	City	2011 Passengers
1	Paris (Charles de Gaulle)	830,177 passengers
2	Moscow (Sheremetyevo)	539,108 passengers
3	Frankfurt	514,061 passengers

Other facilities

APC Building, the head office of Czech Airlines at Prague Airport

Czech Airlines has its head office, the APC Building, on the grounds of Prague Airport. On 30 December 2009 CSA announced that it will sell its head office to the airport for CZK 607 million.

Travel Service Airlines and its low cost subsidiary Smart Wings have their head office on the airport property.

In addition the Civil Aviation Authority also has its head office on the airport property.

Ground transportation

Buses of DPP, the Prague Public Transit Co., stop at both terminals every 10 minutes. A 90 min. ticket can be bought for CZK 32 at the arrival hall (CZK 40 from the bus driver):

• 119 – terminates in 24 minutes at Dejvická station. Transfer to Metro line A to get to the centre. The ticket is valid on the Metro too.

• 100 – terminates in 18 minutes at Zličín station. Transfer to Metro line B to get to the centre. The ticket is valid on the Metro too.

• 179 – stops in 10 minutes at Ciolkovského, with 10 min. transfer by foot to Praha–Ruzyně station of the S5 line of the suburban railway to the centre (train takes 25 min. and departs every 60 min.). The ticket is valid on the train too.

• 510 – a night service every 30 minutes. Goes to the south of the city, but passes near the centre ("Jiráskovo náměstí" or "I.P.Pavlova" stops) which takes 40 minutes.

A Czech Railways public bus service, AE – AiportExpress, connects Terminals 1 and 2 with Praha hlavní nádraží every 30 minutes. The journey takes 40 to 50 minutes and costs CZK 60. Some local buses run from Prague to Kladno stop at Terminal 1. Also, Student Agency buses link Terminal 1 with Karlovy Vary.

Accidents and incidents

• On 30 October 1975, Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 450, an Douglas DC-9-32 hit high ground during an approach in fog to Prague Ruzyně Airport. 75 of the 120 passengers and crew on board were killed.

• On 29 March 1989, two teenagers from Czechoslovakia armed with grenades and shotguns hijacked Malev Flight 640 at Prague Ruzyně Airport, and flew the Tupolev Tu-154B with 15 hostages to Frankfurt Airport before surrendering.

See also

• List of airports in the Czech Republic

External links

Media related to Prague Ruzyně Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Current weather for LKPR at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for LKPR at Aviation Safety Network