Slovak Republic has presently no aircraft carrier capable of large-scale international flight operations. Apart from the Bratislava and Kosice airports, dispatching planes for Prague, Moscow, and Vienna, the public is entirely dependent on international airports in Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and to some extent also Warsaw.

Passengers flying from Bratislava and Kosice abroad prefer usually Czech Airlines. The familiar CSA logo dating back to the period of a unified country also plays its role. Yet much has changed since, because Czech Airlines went through a significant structural transformation. The most extensive change refers to a thorough aircraft fleet renewal.

As late as 1990 the CSA aircraft fleet comprised only Soviet union-made machines (Tupolev, Jakovlev, Iljusin). The fleet was subsequently replaced by Airbus A310-300, ATR 72-200, ATR 42-400, Boeing 737-400, and Boeing 737-500. Upon request of the Slovak Republic authorities the Czechoslovak Airlines, a.s. changed their name to Czech Airlines, a.s. in 1995.

CSA connecting Prague with fifty cities across the world

Czech Airlines provide connections with over fifty cities in Europe, North America, Asia, North Africa, and Middle East. A network of regular lines constantly expands, primarily through high efficiency of the existing lines. Owing to a co-operation with American Continental Airlines the passengers can travel comfortably also to the American continent. According to Ing. Peter Sivak, CSA Bratislava and Piestany director, CSA can for example carry their clients on regular lines from Bratislava and Kosice via Prague to New York, with links to other 24 USA cities. It is an indisputable advantage of this co-operation that Slovak passengers reach those destinations within a single day. In adition to a sophisticated network of regular lines, CSA are also proud of their aircraft fleet. After the TU 123A decommissioning in 1997 the average aircraft service time is only five years. The CSA travellers are served by five types of planes. They travel mostly by Boeing 737-400 or 500 (in total four B737-400 and nine B737-500), and for long-distance flights to USA, Canada and Bangkok two Airbus A310-300 planes are used.

Short and regional lines are serviced by four ATR 72-200 and two ATR 42-400 planes. Four Tupolev 154 M aircrafts are presently used for charter flights only. This year CSA will expand their aircraft inventory by two Boeing 737 planes, including one 500 and one 400 modification. Two more new ATR 42-320 aircrafts are planned for short-distance and regional flights.

Upgrading does not apply only to new planes

CSA have focused their attention lately on upgrading a customer service quality in all aspects, i.e. air tickets distribution, passenger check-in procedure, and board service. This is why business class seats are in a convertible 2 + 2 configuration, instead of standard 3 + 3, catering for higher comfort.

The OK Plus facility is a rewarding feature for frequent CSA passengers, accumulating flight miles points with CSA, Continental Airlines, Air Ostrava and other partner companies, including car rentals and hotels. A specified number of flight miles gives the client a title for an air ticket bonus from the involved companies.

CSA are also pleased to have a growing number of passengers over the past years. 1 801 826 passengers used the CSA services in 1998 compared to 239 693 passengers in 1994. The seat occupancy rate is also increasing, and the 1998 figure was 66,3 %. These indices, together with a rising labour efficiency expressed as a per employee turnover, are an evidence of positive development in the CSA corporate management.

Slovak Trade FORUM