It was time for an other weekend trip; this time I chose Prague as my destination – a city I had already visited some years ago and I wanted to visit again. There are two carriers offering direct flights between STR and PRG: CSA and Germanwings. But as Germanwings offers only three flights per week and only flights around noon while CSA offers two flights every day, it became clear that they were the airline of my choice, especially because they offer a very good fare as well: I paid EUR 28,00 + EUR 65,11 tax + EUR 10,00 service charge, so all in all EUR 103,11 for the return ticket.


Saturday, 11 March 2006
Stuttgart (STR) – Prague (PRG)
Airline: CSA Czech Airlines
Flight number: OK 563
Scheduled departure time: 09:10
Scheduled arrival time: 10:25
Type of aircraft: ATR 42-300
Registration: OK-VFI “Nebesky jezdec”

View Large View Medium Photo © Tomas Galla

View Large View Medium Photo © Alan Lebeda

This aircraft was built in 1990 and delivered to NFD (which later became Eurowings) as D-BHHH; in 2000, the aircraft was returned to ATR and then leased to CSA.

View Large View Medium Photo © Frank Schaefer

View Large View Medium Photo © George Polfliet

On Saturday morning I arrived at Stuttgart Airport by train as usually. Check-in opened 90 minutes before departure in Terminal 3 with one counter, and a friendly lady from Stuttgart Ground Services checked me in. The airport was not very busy at that time, so I passed security and passport control without waiting and proceeded to gate 122 which is located in Terminal 1 (check-in was done in Terminal 3, but the terminals are connected on the air-side as well as on the land-side, so no problem).

After an LX-flight to ZRH (Emb 145) had left, the gate area was quite empty:



The aircraft for this flight had arrived from PRG early, so they started boarding 30 minutes before departure which is quite early for such a small plane. The few passengers boarded the bus, but as usually, one pax was missing and the bus was waiting. After about 10 minutes, the bus left without the pax; when it was a few metres away from the gate, the gate agent walked out to stop the bus as the pax had finally arrived, but it was to late; they had to order a second bus for this single passenger.

Our aircraft was parked at the far Eastern end of the apron where the regional planes have their parking positions:



We boarded the plane through the rear door, as on all ATR aircraft:






Two female flight attendants welcomed the passengers and offered a wide selection of Czech and German newspapers. I took a copy of “Prager Zeitung”, a newspaper issued in Prague in German language. The last three rows were Business Class. I took my seat 9A which was in the last row of Economy Class. There were only 8 passengers on board of this flight (all in Economy).

The cabin was equipped with blue cloth seats:



Some signs in the cabin were still in German language which showed the Eurowings-history of this plane. Safety demo was done in Czech and English language plus a short tape in German language. The captain informed us that we still had to wait for clearance which was given at 9:10, so we were off-block on time and taxied to the runway where we took off in Western direction.

The town of Bernhausen with the tower on the right of the picture:



The cargo area with the stored Tu 154 owned by Stuttgart Airport:



The town of Leinfelden-Echterdingen:



Soon we were up in the clouds and there wasn’t much to see outside any more:



The captain informed us about the flight route that would be STR-NUE-PRG. Cabin crew started their service which consisted of a snack box with a sandwich (choice between cheese or ham) and some mint bonbons, followed by hot and cold drinks:



With only 8 passengers and 2 flight attendants, they had plenty of time for their service. The remaining flight was uneventful; I read a bit in the in-flight magazine and the newspaper. But the flight time was very short anyway and soon we were on approach into PRG:









The cargo area:



We touched down and taxied to a parking position on the apron where the regional planes are parked:



A bus took all passengers to the terminal where I cleared customs and collected my luggage. Then I went to my hotel in downtown Prague by bus and metro.

Now I had two days to explore this interesting city. A few impressions:

The River Vltava (Moldau) with Charles Bridge (Karlsbruecke):



On Sunday, Winter came back and it started snowing heavily:



Prague Castle with St. Vitus Cathedral:



The Swiss Alps? No, a cable car leading to a small viewing hill in Prague:




Monday, 13 March 2006
Prague (PRG) – Stuttgart (STR)
Airline: CSA Czech Airlines
Flight number: OK 560
Scheduled departure time: 17:10
Scheduled arrival time: 18:35
Type of aircraft: ATR 42-500
Registration: OK-KFP “Svitavy”

View Large View Medium Photo © Zdenek Ondracek

View Large View Medium Photo © Ivan Kresanek

This aircraft was built and delivered to CSA in 2005 and is the newest member of CSA’s ATR-fleet.


On Monday morning, I returned to the airport by metro and bus. I arrived there at about 11:30 which offered me a lot of time to explore the airport. It consists of two terminals; both are very modern but Terminal 2 is brand new – it was opened in January 2006 and is used mainly for flights to Schengen countries while Terminal 1 is used for flights to other European countries as well as for Intercontinental flights.


The glass front of Terminal 1 with a reflection of a CSA A 310-300:



Terminal 2 where my flight departed:






Lots of space in the check-in area (note the nice image on the floor):






CSA has a strange check-in system at PRG which I would call “partly-common check-in”: every counter is designated for a group of several flights according to a system that flights that are about to depart have more counters available while all flights in the further future (departure in more than two hours) are collected at only one counter. It was around noon and I still had five hours left to departure, so I had to go to this counter which was counter 229. A monitor above every counter lists all flights that are checked in there:



The young lady at the counter was still being trained; she was assisted by an experienced colleague. That’s why it took quite a time although there were not many passengers, but no problem as it was more than early enough. I got my boarding pass for seat number 4A and sequence number 18, a bit surprising at such an early time, but later I would find out that there were many same-day return and connecting passengers on that flight who had already got their boarding passes at other airports.

After I had got rid of my luggage, I went to the small but nice observation deck and watched the traffic:



A CSA A 310-300, bound for Toronto:



Smart Wings, a low-cost operator by Travel Service:



What else to see at PRG besides the local airlines? The typical European traffic, plus lots of British low-costs (many Easyjet aircraft, BMIbaby, Thomsonfly, Jet2) – Prague seems to be very popular among British tourists. On the other hand there are many German tourists in Prague as well, but I guess most of them arrive by car or train as there are only few low-cost flights to Germany.

I had lunch in an airport restaurant. At around 15:00 I passed security check and entered the air-side gate area with lots of shops:



I found a place at the end of the terminal with a nice glass front where I watched some more planes:



Some CSA ATR aircraft:



The gates for air-bridge positions are on the upper floor of the terminal while the bus gates are on the ground floor. So I went downstairs to my gate C 14. Different from many other airports where the bus gate areas are much too small with only few seats, PRG offers a spacious gate area even for these flights with enough seats and nice shops:



Boarding started 30 minutes before departure; many passengers were holding boarding passes issued by Stuttgart Ground Services, so obviously many same-day returns, as well as many connecting passengers. The majority of them seemed to be business travellers. Again the bus waited a long time for some connecting passengers before it was decided to let the bus go. It took us to OK-KFP, the newest ATR 42-500 in CSA’s fleet, built and delivered in late 2005:



The two female flight attendants welcomed us at the back door. I took my seat 4A, next to a German business man. This time load factor was much better: around 30 passengers on board, some of them in Business Class. We had a German-speaking crew on that flight, so all announcements were made in Czech, English and German language. The cabin was equipped with dark blue leather seats (picture was taken after landing at STR):



The captain announced that we were still waiting for some connecting pax. Their luggage was already waiting on the apron but they didn’t load it before the pax arrived. After some more minutes a bus with the missing passengers arrived and we were off-block about 10 minutes late. What I found interesting was the fact that our aircraft drove back with its own power in order to leave the parking bay before taxiing to the runway. Then we took off in Eastern direction:



As we had to change our flying direction, we made a U-turn to the left which offered some nice views:



Then the airport came into sight again (sorry for the dirt in the middle of the window):



The Terminal building:



Cabin crew started their service and distributed snack boxes again:



But this time it only consisted of a chocolate bar, a cracker and the mint bonbons; all in all no need for a box - these items could have easily been distributed separately. No sandwich – I think they are only served on morning flights. But for the short flight time I won’t complain. Hot and cold drinks were available as usual.

Our flight route was PRG-NUE-STR like on the first flight. The last sunbeams over Southern Germany:



Soon we were in the Stuttgart area again, and we were crossing the town of Ludwigsburg, some kilometres North of Stuttgart:



Boeblingen:



Shortly before touch-down at STR, with a HLX B 737-500 in pink T-Mobile colours:



We taxied to our parking position where a bus collected the passengers. This time it was not a “real” airport bus but an ordinary city bus chartered from a local bus company: during the Hapagfly hub that took place at that time, Stuttgart Airport is short of busses; that’s why they charter some additional busses and drivers from local bus companies.


I cleared customs and proceeded to baggage reclaim in Terminal 3 where my bag arrived quickly.


Conclusion: CSA offered a very good product with on-time flights and a friendly service. With two daily flights on that route, they have the most convenient flying times for business travel as well as for leisure trips. At a price that is not much higher than on Germanwings, I will always go for the full-service airline.


Thanks for reading my report – questions and comments are always welcome.

Regards
Christoph