“We have noticed an annual increase of 8.7% when it comes to the amount of travellers using our airport. This trend was reinforced by a number of factors, like the usage of bigger, more spacious planes, offering more available seats and the successful implementation of new lines and the improvement of the older ones. Last year saw the highest number of high-capacity flights in the history of the airport,” states Václav Řehoř, an employee of the Czech aero-holding.

Řehoř adds, “We managed to create a multitude of new, attractive air connections, like two long-distance air connections to China or a long-distance air connection to Canada. We can in part thank the market for many of the achievements, since Prague remains a great place when It comes to the appeal of our city in terms of air travel. Nine new airlines found their way onto the Czech market.”

If no unforeseen circumstances occur, we can expect an additional rise in the number of travellers in 2017.

The Rise of North America and the Far East

In 2016, Prague Airport was used by 64 airlines flying regular flights to and from 146 destinations. The majority of travellers travelled from Vaclav Havel international airport further into Europe (90.2%). We’ve thus seen a rise of 8.2% when it comes to the number of travellers compared to 2015.

We also shouldn’t omit the increasing annual number of travellers flying to North America (+53.5%) and the Far East (+43.8%). A slight decrease could be felt in the North African flights, that have seen a decrease of 7.3%.