Responding to the reviving demand for summer departures from regional Czech airports, the Čedok travel agency is expanding its range of flights starting in summer 2023, serving 17 popular tourist destinations from Brno-Turany airport as well as flights from Pardubice, Ostrava, and Karlovy Vary. Photo credit: Freepik
Brno, August 1 (BD) – In conjunction with SmartWings, the Čedok travel agency is planning to open a new hub for tourism charter flights from Brno-Turany for Summer 2023. The expansion of routes will include, for the first time, flights from Brno to Tirana in Albania and Madeira in Portugal, as well as new routes to Taba in Egypt, Fuerteventura, Kavala in Greece, Mallorca, and Hurghada. The expansion comes in response to high public demand for connections from regional airports.
“We have decided to open a base in Brno in cooperation with Smartwings during the next summer and will almost triple our operations compared to this season,” said Stanislav Zeman, CEO of Čedok. “We will use the entire plane for our charters and thanks to this we can also offer exclusive new routes to clients from the Moravian capital.” He added that there will be flights from Brno airport to 17 destinations in total, with higher frequency connections to popular destinations and more seats on regular lines.
Kateřina Chaloupková, of the Association of Czech Travel Agencies, told TV Nova that Czech tourists are increasingly preferring to travel from airports nearer their homes. According to Kateřina Pavlínová, a spokeswoman for Čedok, this reduces travel complications and enables travellers to use the airport more comfortably, as there are fewer flights arriving at the same time.
Passengers will fly to all locations with the low-cost airline Smartwings, which will move another 189-capacity Boeing 737 to Brno-Tuřany International Airport for the exclusive use of Čedok in summer 2023. Additional seats will be provided on regular or other shared charter flights. Tickets for next summer should be available as early as August.
Radek Langer, head of transport operations at Brno Airport, welcomed the news and noted the recent high demand, with Turany airport handling around 100,000 passengers per month during the vacation season. Summer 2022 has seen record interest in travel, with some travel agencies recording sales of up to six times the pre-pandemic 2019.
