News releases

22 March 2024
Airline company Smartwings is expanding its range of destinations for the 2024 summer season and introduces its fifth new offering this year. The airline is launching regular flights between Prague and Izmir, Turkey, on 30 May 2024. A direct service to Turkey’s third largest city located on the Aegean coast will be available to passengers twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. Smartwings will offer direct flights from Czech airports to a total of 74 destinations under the summer schedule.

Prague, December 14, 2023
Smartwings has expanded its fleet with another new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. This is the ninth aircraft of this type in the Smartwings fleet. The modern aircraft in Smartwings colors with the registration mark OK-SWJ landed at Václav Havel Airport this morning after traveling more than eight and a half thousand kilometers non-stop from Seattle to Prague on a delivery flight from the manufacturer. Another 4 new 737 MAX aircraft are expected to be delivered to Smartwings next year.

Prague, November 30, 2023
Airline company Smartwings is expanding its range of destinations, announcing the third new route for summer 2024. The airline is launching regular flights between Prague and Athens, Greece, on 31 May 2024. Smartwings will fly to the Greek capital twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. Athens is the 13th regular Greek destination for the 2024 summer flight schedule.

26. october 2023
Smartwings is expanding its list of destinations, offering a new service for summer 2024. On 3 June 2024, the airline will launch regular flights between Prague and Brindisi, Italy. The line will be operated twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. Italy is a popular holiday destination, and in addition to Brindisi, Smartwings will also offer regular flights to Lamezia Terme, Olbia and Cagliari in Sardinia and Catania in Sicily under the 2024 summer flight schedule.

Prague, 17 October 2023
Airline company Smartwings, a.s. doubled its revenues last year to a total of CZK 19.3 billion.
As compared to 2021 when revenues from the sale of services reached CZK 8.2 billion, the result was 11.1 billion higher in 2022, which represents an increase to 234.5% of the previous year’s figure. The operating result grew to CZK 766.3 million last year, up 1.79% year-on-year. The company also saw a significant growth in the transport volume in 2022.

14. september 2023
Direct flights Prague – Ponta Delgada to start in April 2024.
Airline company Smartwings has added another attractive destination to its offering for next summer. From April 26, 2024, it will launch direct flights from Prague to Ponta Delgada airport on the Azores. The regular service will operate twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. Until now, it has been impossible to travel from Prague to the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean by direct flight without transfers.

29. august 2023
Air carrier Smartwings is adding a new destination to its autumn offering. On December 20, the airline is launching direct scheduled flights from Prague to Cairo, the capital of Egypt. The service will be operated twice a week. Cairo is the seventh Smartwings destination in Egypt, in addition to Hurghada, Marsa Alam, Sharm Al Sheikh, Al Alamain, Taba, and Marsa Matrouh.

5. May 2023
Smartwings will deploy 53 aircraft for the busy summer season.
Air carrier Smartwings has added the eighth Boeing 737-8 MAX to its fleet. The new modern aircraft in Smartwings colors with the registration mark OK-SWH landed at Prague Airport this morning after completing a ten hour direct flight from Seattle, USA. Another 5 new 737 MAX aircraft are to be delivered to Smartwings in the coming months. One new 737-8 MAX aircraft will join the fleet during the summer season in August, another four will be added in the first half of 2024 (January, February, April).

10. January 2023
Last year, Smartwings airlines carried more than 5.2 million passengers on scheduled and charter flights, a more than two-fold increase over the previous year when the number of passengers stood at 2.5 million. Last year, Smartwings operated flights from the Czech Republic as well as from its international hubs in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, France, and the Canary Islands. The company carried another 849,000 passengers on board its aircraft on behalf of other carriers.

October 26, 2022
Air carrier Smartwings today launched direct scheduled flights from Bratislava, Slovakia, to Dubai, UAE. Under the winter flight schedule, the line will be operated twice a week by modern Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. In addition to the flights to Dubai, Smartwings will also operate charter flights from Bratislava Airport to Oman (up to twice a week), Senegal (once a week), Cape Verde (once a week), and Zanzibar (once a week) in the winter season.

October 14, 2022
Airline companies Smartwings and flydubai have concluded a new lease agreement for four Next-Generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft for the period from 17 November 2022 to 16 January 2023.

October 12, 2022
Smartwings has carried almost 4.6 million passengers on its flights in the first nine months of this year, 2.5 million more than in the same period last year. This represents a 120% year-on-year increase. From January to September, the company operated over 29,000 flights (+92%). Besides the Czech Republic, Smartwings also operated flights from another 8 hubs in 7 countries.

April 13, 2022
Smartwings and Czech Airlines are abolishing mandatory respirators on all flights to/from the Czech Republic as of Thursday midnight (14 April 2022). The two companies took this step in response to the abolition of the legal obligation to use mouth and nose protection on public transport in the Czech Republic. 

March 21, 2022
Czech airline Smartwings and German airline Eurowings of Lufthansa Group started the first phase of codeshare cooperation. Beginning today March 21st Smartwings places its code on Eurowings flights between Prague and 16 destinations: Cologne, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Bristol, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Athens, Larnaca, Heraklion, Malaga, Alicante, Stockholm, Faro, Rome, and Mallorca. Thanks to this cooperation, Smartwings customers will be able to enjoy more direct connections to a wide range of destinations across Europe.

January 26, 2022
Air carrier Smartwings landed its Boeing 737 MAX 8 in Antarctica.  The landing at Troll Airfield at the northern tip of Antarctica took place on January 26, 2022, and 737 MAX is the first aircraft of its type here. The flight was chartered by Aircontact to carry the members of the Norwegian Polar Institute to their base. The Troll Research Station located 235 kilometers from the coast in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast, in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. Run by the Norwegian Polar Institute, the station is dedicated to environmental and climate monitoring, scientific research, and mapping. The runway is built on a glacier at an altitude of 1232 meters.

January 14, 2022
Last year, Smartwings airlines carried more than 2.5 million (2,529,611) passengers on scheduled and charter flights, which represents a 199% year-on-year increase. Other 159 thousand passengers traveled on board Smartwings Group aircrafts operated on ACMI wet lease agreements with other carriers. Last year, more than 2.7 million passengers (2,716,299) used Smartwings services in the Czech Republic and abroad. The greatest number of passengers, 1.55 million, traveled with Smartwings from / to the Czech Republic (up 221.5%). Over 981 thousand passengers travelled with Smartwings on flights operated from its hubs in other countries. Besides the Czech Republic, Smartwings operated flights from airports in Poland, France, Germany, Israel, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Canary Islands.

December 30, 2021
Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Smartwings, a. s., recorded a 84% decrease in the number of transported passengers and a drop in sales of CZK 13.8 billion in 2020. This, together with depreciation of a financial investment into Czech Airlines, resulted in a loss of 2.5 billion crowns. In 2020, the company also faced strong negative economic impacts in association with grounded Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. In 2019, the company reported a profit of 133.4 million crowns, though, with revenues reaching 18.2 billion crowns. Before the coronavirus crisis broke out, Smartwings had been profitable for many years in a row and one of the fastest growing airline businesses in Central Europe. The company is currently undergoing a successful restructuring.

November 8, 2021
Smartwings has signed wet-lease contracts in other countries to utilize its aircraft in winter. The largest Czech air carrier has won tenders for the lease of Boeing 737-800 aircraft with crews to two Israeli airliners, Israir Airlines and Arkia, and to US-based Swift Air. A total of 6 Smartwings aircraft will be stationed in Israel in winter. Another three will be leased to the USA under an ACMI (Aircraft Crew Maintenance Insurance) contract.

November 1, 2021
Germany's largest holiday carrier Eurowings is cooperating with the leading Czech airline Smartwings. The two companies have concluded a codeshare agreement to market flights. In the future, selected connections operated by Eurowings from its new base in Prague will also be offered under Smartwings flight numbers and will be available for sale on smartwings.com and other sales channels of the airline. Smartwings customers will thus benefit from the growing range of direct connections offered by the Lufthansa subsidiary from the Czech capital. During the Covid crisis, Prague had lost numerous direct connections to attractive destinations in Europe, which are now being successively re-established.

October 20, 2021
Air carrier Smartwings has added a new attractive destination to its autumn offering. Smartwings today resumed direct flights from Prague to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The line will be operated by a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft every day under the winter flight schedule. The United Arab Emirates has been categorized as a country with a low risk of infection as of 18 October 2021.

September 30, 2021
Air carrier Smartwings is adding a new destination to its autumn offering. As of September 30, the company will be offering scheduled flights from the Czech capital Prague to Heathrow, the UK’s biggest airport. Smartwings will initially offer four London-bound services a week and subsequently daily flights under the winter flight schedule. As of October 20, Smartwings will also resume direct flights from Prague to Dubai, UAE, with a daily service.

September 21, 2021
Airline carrier Smartwings has won multiple international tenders for air transport services again. From mid-October until the end of April 2022, the company will operate flights from the Canary Islands to six destinations across Europe for two major tour operators. Smartwings will operate services from Las Palmas to Helsinki, Finland (weekly); Belgrade, Serbia (weekly); Tallinn, Estonia (weekly); Sofia, Bulgaria (weekly); and Bodø and Tromsø, Norway (weekly). Recently, Smartwings won an air transport services contract with German travel agents.

September 14, 2021
Air carrier Smartwings is launching direct scheduled flights from Bratislava, Slovakia, to Dubai, UAE, as of October 24. Under the winter flight schedule, the line will be operated once a week on Sunday by modern Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. Smartwings currently operates flights from Bratislava and Košice in Slovakia to destinations in Greece, Turkey, and Egypt.

July 28, 2021
Air carrier Smartwings has been expanding its presence at Prague airport, offering flights to nearly 60 destinations. As of October 20, Smartwings will resume direct flights from Prague to Dubai, UAE. The line will be operated very day under the winter flight schedule.

July 1, 2021
Smartwings airline company today launched a new line between Prague and the French town of Nice. Direct flights to the popular summer destination on French Riviera will be dispatched every Thursday and Sunday. In addition, Smartwings has also resumed flights to Valencia, Spain (twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays). Smartwings currently operates flights from Prague to 51 destinations and to another 14 destinations from Brno and Ostrava.

June 1, 2021
Airline company Smartwings is planning to resume flights from the Czech Republic to another 27 destination in Greece, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, Turkey, Morocco, and Cyprus. Smartwings currently operates scheduled flights from the Czech Republic to Split, Málaga, Mallorca, Crete, Rhodes, Kos, Corfu, Canary Islands (Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote), Madeira (Funchal), Egypt (Hurghada and Marsa Alam), Tel Aviv, Antalya, and St. Petersburg, Russia. Charter flights are available from Prague to UAE, Egypt, and Tunisia. In the first week of June alone, Smartwings is adding 12 new destinations for scheduled flights.

May 20, 2021
Airline company Smartwings is planning to resume flights to Tel Aviv, Israel, as of May 26, if the security situation permits. Scheduled flights between Prague and Tel Aviv will be operated twice a week (Wednesday and Saturday), with the frequency expected to increase incrementally by July to two flights a day, seven days a week.

May 4, 2021
Czech air carrier Smartwings is adding London as a new destination to its offering. As of June 3, Smartwings will operate regular flights to London’s largest airport, Heathrow. The Prague - London service will be operated four times a week: on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday. Flight tickets to London are available on Smartwings and Czech Airlines websites and at flight ticket vendors.

April 20, 2021
Airline company Smartwings will offer flights from 6 airports in Poland (Warsaw, Katowice, Gdansk, Poznan, Krakow, Wroclaw) to 28 destinations, mainly in the Mediterranean, in the 2021 summer season. Smartwings will operate up to 80 (return) flights a week from airports in Poland in the summer months. Smartwings currently operates flights from Poland (Warsaw and Katowice) to the Canary Islands (Tenerife and Fuerteventura), Madeira, and Marsa Alam, Egypt. Smartwings has been active on the Polish market for fourteen years and is one of the leading providers of charter flight services.

April 16, 2021
The Czech air carrier Smartwings is adding a new destination to its offering. As of May 6, Smartwings will operate a route between Prague and Nice, France. The scheduled service to/from Nice will be operated twice weekly, on Thursdays and Sundays. The flights are already opened for sales and tickets can be purchased on the website of both Smartwings and Czech Airlines (under the existing code-share cooperation) as well as by travel agents.

April 15, 2021
Clients of airline company Smartwings who had purchased a CSA ticket for a Smartwings flight that has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, will receive a voucher for a future Smartwings flight as a compensation. Clients who have not used their CA ticket for a new flight yet can apply for a voucher from Smartwings with a value equal to the price of the original CSA ticket. The voucher can be used to buy a new ticket for any regular flight operated by Smartwings. 

April 14, 2021
The Czech air carrier Smartwings resumes its flights between Prague and St. Petersburg as from 29 April 2021. The scheduled service to/from St. Petersburg will be operated twice weekly, on Thursdays and Sundays. The operation to the second largest city of Russia was suspended last spring due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The flights are already opened for sales and tickets can be purchased on the website of both Smartwings and Czech Airlines (under the existing code-share cooperation) as well as by travel agents worldwide.

March 26, 2021
Smartwings airline signed a loan agreement with a syndicate of banks led by UniCredit Bank for a CZK 2 billion (approximately €76 million) loan with a maturity of six years, as part of the the Covid Plus program announced by the Czech government to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. The loan agreement has been concluded with four banks - UniCredit Bank, Komerční banka, Československá obchodní banka and Česká spořitelna. The Export Guarantee and Insurance Company (EGAP) is securing secure the loan. For this guarantee, Smartwings will pay state-owned EGAP a fee of almost CZK 200 million (approximately €764,000). A vital part of the transaction is a significant financial support from Czech shareholders, especially the Unimex Group, without which it would not be possible to draw the loan from EGAP. The restructuring measures adopted by Smartwings, including support from lessors, bring Smartwings additional approx. CZK 5 billion. These measures together with the EGAP loan exceed CZK 7 billion. This amount significantly exceeds Smartwings’ due payables and creates a sufficient financial reserve for a full restoration of air traffic.

March 2, 2021
Smartwings and Czech Airlines are introducing new on-board measures to keep air travel safe during the coronavirus pandemic. As of Friday, 5 March 2021, passengers will be allowed to board Smartwings and Czech Airlines planes to and from the Czech Republic only with a hardcopy certificate of a negative antigen (rapid) or RT-PCR test from an accredited laboratory. The result of an antigen test must not be older than 24 hours and the result of an RT-PCR test must not be older than 72 hours prior to boarding. Apart from that, passengers will need to meet all the criteria for entry to the respective destination country.

February 25, 2021
Air carrier Smartwings has resumed flights with Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The first 737 MAX has been deployed today for Smartwings flight QS1152 to Málaga, Spain, taking off from Prague at 16:20.  This has been the first commercial flight with passengers since March 2019 when all Boeing 737 MAX airliners were grounded globally. Prior to their deployment, the aircraft underwent all required upgrades and checks, and the airline conducted a test flight without passengers. Smartwings has seven Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes in its fleet and would like to make other six of them operational before the start of the summer season.

January 26, 2021
Air carrier Smartwings and travel agencies EXIM Tours and CK FISCHER, members of DER Touristik Eastern Europe Group, have signed a three-year contract for air transport services. The value of the contract exceeds 9 billion Czech crowns. In the next three years, clients of Exim Tours and CK Fischer will fly to 50 holiday destinations in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia, Albania, Cape Verde, South Africa, and Oman by modern aircraft operated by the largest Czech air carrier. Separately, Smartwings signed a three-year contract for air transport services with CK Blue Style travel agency in autumn last year.

January 12, 2021
Smartwings Group recorded a steep decline in the number of passengers last year due to the unprecedented situation in the aviation industry caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The group carried more than 1.3 million passengers on its regular lines and charter flights under its Smartwings and CSA brands, which was 83.7% fewer than in the previous year. Other 451 thousand passengers traveled on board Smartwings Group aircrafts operated on ACMI wet lease agreements with other carriers. In total, Smartwings Group served 1.8 million passengers (-81.47% y-o-y). The Czech air transport industry has been hit the hardest of all European markets by the pandemic and associated travel restrictions, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

August 26, 2020
Members of Smartwings Group including Smartwings, a.s. (Smartwings) and České aerolinie, a.s. (Czech Airlines, CSA) today filed request to the Municipal Court in Prague to declare an extraordinary moratorium under the so-called Lex COVID legislation. This new law introduced the moratorium as a tool to alleviate the impact of the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic. The need to apply for the moratorium is solely driven by the impacts of the pandemic that has caused the largest crisis in aviation history. Both companies had been profitable before the pandemic broke out and they are expected to return to profitability once it subsides. The extraordinary moratorium will provide protection to both Smartwings and CSA at a time when their revenues have reduced significantly. Both companies will also obtain time to develop and negotiate a long-term sustainable financing solution that would benefit all concerned parties, i.e., creditors, employees, and passengers.

June 30, 2020
Airlines of the Smartwings Group, Smartwings and Czech Airlines, are resuming flights to 25 additional destinations in July.

June 29, 2020
Earlier today, the Smartwings Group, comprising Smartwings and Czech Airlines, announced to the Labour Office of the Czech Republic its intention of collective redundancies. The company was forced to take this step due to the unfavourable situation in the aviation industry caused by Covid-19. Depending on the development of the situation, the reduction in the number of staff could affect up to 600 employees of the Smartwings Group.

May 28, 2020
Airline companies Smartwings and Czech Airlines, members of Smartwings Group, are planning to resume further flights in June and July. Czech Airlines will launch a new daily flight from Prague to London’s biggest airport, Heathrow, as of June 25.

April 29, 2020
On Wednesday, 29 April 2020, at 13:45 a.m., a Smartwings Group aircraft landed in Budapest, Hungary, bringing 17 tonnes of medical supplies from Malaysia. The flight was commissioned by the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

April 9, 2020
Smartwings airline has successfully passed another stringent audit of operational safety by The International Air Transport Association (IATA). The IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) Program is designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline. Airlines registered for the IOSA program are required to prove their compliance with strict international operational safety and quality standards every two years. The in-depth assessment evaluated 900 operational parameters.

March 29, 2020
Smartwings Group dispatched further special flights for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic at the weekend to bring Czech citizens home from other countries. On Sunday evening, a Smartwings aircraft carrying Czechs from Peru and Mexico landed at Prague airport. Another Smartwings aircraft is to take Czech citizens home from Canada and the Dominican Republic on Monday, March 30.

March 24, 2020
On Tuesday, 24 March 2020 at 01: 30 a.m., another Smartwings Group aircraft landed at Prague’s Václav Havel Airport, bringing much needed medical supplies from China, including 1.9 million face masks and 100 thousand respirators. The Boeing 737-900 took off on Monday, 23 March 2020, at 13:15 CET from Shanghai, heading for Prague with a technical stop at Novosibirsk, Russia. Another Smartwings Group aircraft, a Czech Airlines’ Airbus 319, brought 1 million face masks and other medical supplies to the Czech Republic the day before.

March 13, 2020
The airlines of the Smartwings Group, Smartwings and Czech Airlines, pursuant to measures applied by the Government of the Czech Republic regarding a ban on travelling abroad for all Czech citizens and a ban on entry to the country for all foreigners without permanent or temporary residency in the Czech Republic, are suspending, for the term of effect of said measures, all their air connections from/to the Czech Republic and are forced to ground up to 50% of their fleet. An additional seven Smartwings Group Boeing 737 MAX8 aircraft have been grounded for a year due to their global ban.

March 12, 2020
Smartwings and Czech Airlines have implemented no rebooking fee policy on all existing and new individual bookings.

March 10, 2020
Smartwings has suspended its regular flights between Prague, Czech Republic, and Tel Aviv, Israel, until March 31, effective immediately.

March 6, 2020
Smartwings Group, whose members include air carriers Smartwings and Czech Airlines, is implementing an austerity program in response to the extraordinary situation caused by the current coronavirus outbreak. The Group is adopting the following measures to face an economic impact of coronavirus on Smartwings Group and minimize damage.