CSA gets bankrupt carrier's routes

Published: 3/28/2000

Czech Airlines (CSA) is in the process of taking over the routes previously operated by the bankrupt carrier Air Ostravo between Prague and Ostravo, which have been suspended since the 1st March. The airline also believes that it will take control of the route from Brno to Prague, although the Brno City Council has said it is considering another carrier. According to CSA however, they are currently fully utilising their 42 seat ATRs on other routes and will therefore have to find additional appropriate capacity to restore flights between the centres. The flights between Brno, were only re-established in January after a break of more than five years, used Saab 340As, although the reported view of CSA is that even these 35 seat aircraft were too large for the seven times a week route. The bankruptcy of the regional carrier has occurred after losses of Kr18.2m in 1999, which although an improvement on the KR87m lost in 1998, proved to be insufficient to save the carrier. The airline has had difficulties for some time with CSA cancelling cooperation on routes in October of 1999 and the bankruptcy of its parent company Chemapol. At the end of the first half 1999, the company was reported to have an operating profit after radical restructuring according to its President Milan Rouser.

Article ID: 1737