gr09 From Czech Republic, joined Jul 2008, 111 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 months 3 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 12038 times:
Czech Airlines decided to lease an A330 and start flights PRG-ICN in cooperation with Korean Air.
They are planning two flights per week. The rest of the week they will try to use the plane on some short haul destinations like Moscow and Yekaterinburg. Especially in Yekaterinburg I bet they don't see too many A330's.
Honestly I'm not sure what to think about the idea. As much as I like the fact OK will have a wide-body aircraft after retiring their A310 few years back, I'm not entirely convinced it is a financially wise step. Maybe an attempt to increase OK's price before selling it?
Carmelo From Hungary, joined Sep 2005, 121 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (5 months 3 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 11886 times:
I more logical thought that they bring it in for those Miami flights when I read the headline of this article.
When did Korean Air stop their flights to PRG?
JU068 From Serbia, joined Aug 2009, 2579 posts, RR: 6 Reply 6, posted (5 months 3 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 11639 times:
I have a really bad feeling about this but I hope I am wrong. What market are they after? They are currently serving cities which have decent links to Korea, so it is not like they are entering an uncompetitive market.
JU068 From Serbia, joined Aug 2009, 2579 posts, RR: 6 Reply 7, posted (5 months 3 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 11238 times:
According to a Serbian aviation portal CSA will be increasing frequencies towards Warsaw, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Copenhagen, Milan and Stockholm.
They will be also re-instating Munich, Florence, Zurich and Nice.
Nice to see them expanding once again. I guess this is all part of their restructuring plan which was used to justify the state aid.
smbukas From Lithuania, joined Feb 2009, 104 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (5 months 3 weeks ago) and read 10920 times:
Quoting JU068 (Reply 7): Nice to see them expanding once again.
Still we cannot be sure that they are expanding overall. For example, ÄŒSA is going to leave the Baltics and flights from PRG to VNO, RIX and TLL to be suspended.
It might be that they are going to reduce frequencies in some destinations as their press release says that overall they are going to reduce the fleet (at least phase out all B735) starting S13.
mah4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31119 posts, RR: 74 Reply 11, posted (5 months 2 weeks 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 8683 times:
One A330? That costs a fortune.
Where exactly do they plan to expand with one A330? While they can fill a plane to New York, Miami or Colombo - all veyr popular with Czechs - not quite sure how there is money to be made.
Tupolev160 From Ukraine, joined Oct 2011, 318 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (5 months 2 weeks 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 8626 times:
Why they don't intend to use the plane to North America as well? They'll hardly break even by relying only on ICN and Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, it is impressive how well PRG is well connected with provincial Russian cities. Are those mainly touristic or business links?
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
gr09 From Czech Republic, joined Jul 2008, 111 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (5 months 2 weeks 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 8484 times:
Quoting eire123 (Reply 9): Maybe they will run some weekly flights to JFK now that DL now have this as seasonal?
They mentioned in one interview that they would operate it only on routes where a strong codesharing agreements is in place. I assume they are negotiating with DL these days (hopefully). I see no sense in operating an A330 to Moscow except for the peak season.
Looks like with only 1 aircraft it would make most sense to operate it only destinations where a codeshare partner can help in case of AOG. So perhaps they will operate it between Prague, Seoul and New York. Still quite brave with one plane only.
Note that from my side it's a pure speculation, I have no connections to OK and I'm not from the airline business.
HB-IWC From Greece, joined Sep 2000, 4414 posts, RR: 76 Reply 16, posted (5 months 2 weeks 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 5687 times:
Looking at the proposed schedule for this A333, this venture has written failure all over it:
SAT OK190 PRG ICN 1255 0540+1
SUN OK191 ICN PRG 1245 1650
SUN OK190 PRG ICN 1830 1115+1
TUE OK191 ICN PRG 1245 1650
The aircraft is tied up on 2 PRG rotations between Saturday and Tuesday, with a 25 hour gap on the ground in ICN. That leaves Wednesday to Friday for other ventures, but no serious longhaul operation can be maintained on just 3 consecutive days per week.
If the airline felt that PRG ICN could do with extra capacity, why not ask KE to add capacity to its 4 weekly operation into PRG? For sure since the A333 seems to be sourced from KE anyway.
krisyyz From Canada, joined Nov 2004, 1575 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (5 months 2 weeks 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 5443 times:
Quoting gr09 (Reply 13): Looks like with only 1 aircraft it would make most sense to operate it only destinations where a codeshare partner can help in case of AOG. So perhaps they will operate it between Prague, Seoul and New York. Still quite brave with one plane only.
Operating just 1 long-haul aircraft doesn't sound like a good idea. What happens if it goes tech?
Will this be a wet or a dry lease?
One of the many reasons MA stopped their long-haul flights was their small fleet of 2 to 3 767s. The former-CEO of MA stated that they would need at least 5 long-haul planes to make their operations economical and feasible.
LJ From Netherlands, joined Nov 1999, 4149 posts, RR: 1 Reply 19, posted (5 months 2 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 4841 times:
Quoting HB-IWC (Reply 16): If the airline felt that PRG ICN could do with extra capacity, why not ask KE to add capacity to its 4 weekly operation into PRG?
Traffic rights perhaps? If the bilateral doesn't allow KE to operate additional flights than it's possible this was the only solution to increase flights until the bilateral is amended. I doubt Skyteam wanted to loose pax to other airlines.
Quoting HB-IWC (Reply 16): For sure since the A333 seems to be sourced from KE anyway.
In which case it probably can do one or more rotations for KE with KE crew when in ICN. It all depends on what kind of lease this will be.
Quoting HB-IWC (Reply 16): That leaves Wednesday to Friday for other ventures, but no serious longhaul operation can be maintained on just 3 consecutive days per week.
Which OK doesn't intend to do. I reckon there is an urgency to increase PRG-ICN and this was the only option for KE/OK as it's far from ideal.
thus
Quoting HB-IWC (Reply 16): Looking at the proposed schedule for this A333, this venture has written failure all over it:
It's impossible to assess whether this will be a failure as we don't know the logic behind this new service. There must be a benefit for OK, KE and/or Skyteam to operate this schedule as OK was not supposed to fly long haul anymore. Why suddenly fly PRG-ICN? We don't know (unfortunately). However, i do believe that somebody has thought through this as nobody has an interest in OK losing more money than they already do (and the current management has proved to be taken serious cost cutting measures if routes do not perform).
Depends on what type of lease it is and how it's structured. I agree this is definitely strange, but who knows, maybe they got a sweet deal on a wet lease?
Quoting HB-IWC (Reply 16): Looking at the proposed schedule for this A333, this venture has written failure all over it:
The scheduling does not look promising. I don't think it would be an altogether bad move if they had some holiday package division and would be able to send the a/c on rotations to MIA or NYC (all heavily traveled holiday destinations as mah pointed out), but it doesn't appear they will be doing that.
JU068 From Serbia, joined Aug 2009, 2579 posts, RR: 6 Reply 21, posted (5 months 2 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 4757 times:
Quoting smbukas (Reply 8): Still we cannot be sure that they are expanding overall. For example, ÄŒSA is going to leave the Baltics and flights from PRG to VNO, RIX and TLL to be suspended.
Yes but the Baltic states are relatively small and well covered by airBaltic, Ryanair and Wizz Air. I wonder if there was really a market left for OK.
Quoting VCy (Reply 10): Would be nice to see them here at LCA again... Was shocked to see the route go because it was so popular.
I think they were preoccupied with connecting passengers that they forgot all about the O&D.
Quoting LJ (Reply 15): KIA / Hyundai corporate traffic (and KE which doesn't have the capacity to fufill this)????
Yes but I doubt corporate traffic will be thrilled to use CSA's weekend flights. The only logical flight could be the one on Tuesday. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.
I am really sceptical about their decision to use the A330 on European flights. Cyprus Airways which operated the same bird on its Larnaca-London route, needed a loadfactor of about 85% to break-even. I fear that unless they find a more suitable intercontinental route they should forget about Europe.
eta unknown From Comoros, joined Jun 2001, 2010 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (5 months 2 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 4277 times:
I'm sure there's more to this story. I'm guessing the PRG-ICN flights are CSA in name only to get around the bilateral. I wouldn't be surprised if the A330 and crew were all from KE and OK will be paid a royalty for using their traffic rights.
alespesl From Czech Republic, joined Jan 2004, 580 posts, RR: 2 Reply 23, posted (5 months 2 weeks 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 3847 times:
Quoting smbukas (Reply 8): Still we cannot be sure that they are expanding overall. For example, ÄŒSA is going to leave the Baltics and flights from PRG to VNO, RIX and TLL to be suspended.
It might be that they are going to reduce frequencies in some destinations as their press release says that overall they are going to reduce the fleet (at least phase out all B735) starting S13.
As per their release the flight to the Baltics will be operated by Air Baltic for them. Form Jan 2013, BT is starting to fly to PRG and will route the flights to TLL and VNO via RIX.
Next Flight: Jun 25 PRG-BRU-PRG with Brussels Airlines, Aug 19 DRS-DUS-GWT on Air Berlin, Aug 19 HAM-PRG on Czech Airlin
AirAfreak From United States of America, joined Apr 2012, 244 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (5 months 2 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 3682 times:
Does anyone know how the KE flights between Incheon and Prague are doing concerning yields/loads? Perhaps there is good reason to launch this rotation via CSA!
Love thy neighbor, Hate thy Economy Class Seat.
25 CPHFF: Was it really polular? I flew it twice (May and September 2010) and the flight was only half full. A 02.55am departure time is also tough.......
26 ushermittwoch: LH has a 3:25 departure to FRA, LOT leaves at a similar time to WAW. There are a bunch of pretty unconvenient flight times from LCA to central Europe
27 JU068: There are a lot of Cypriot students in Prague and generally Prague is very popular in Cyprus. CSA also offered good deals via Prague to other cities
28 babybus: Cyprus seems to follow the Arabic nations tradition of middle of the night arrivals and departures. Maybe it's to do with the heat in summer or maybe
29 JU068: It has to do with the fact that these flights can leave in the evening and come back early in the morning, just before the first wave of departures.
30 ushermittwoch: In the case of LH one could see it as the perfect strategy to skim off Transatlantic travellers from Cyprus, since they are able to catch basically a
32 zruda: Exactly my thoughts. Florida is really popular among Czech people, lots of PRG traffic both on direct US flights and on SkyTeam flights via AMS/CDG a
33 LJ: KIA Motors and Samsung have a plants in Slovakia and Koreans provide a large part of Slovakia's foreign direct investment. Moreover, Korea isn't smal
34 HOONS90: KE has been operating flights to PRG continuously since May 15th, 2004 and even sends 77Ws and 744s there in the Summer. PRG is the only KE European
35 mah4546: Korean's A333s are very light on the premium capacity. Less than 30 premium seats. That's probably fine. Not sure where CSA provides the best connect
36 JU068: Lufthansa used to operated daily A300-600 flights into Larnaca in addition to a few weekly flights during the night. Now they have only a few flights
37 airbazar: This makes me believe that this is really just KE adding more frequencies and just slapping the "operated by Czech Airlines" label on it to get around
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