Smartwings

Smartwings, a.s. (formerly ''Travel Service, a.s.'') is a Czech airline with its head office on the property of Václav Havel Airport Prague in Ruzyně, 6th district, Prague. It is the biggest airline in the Czech Republic, and it operates scheduled and chartered flights, mainly to leisure destinations. The airline also wet and dry leases its aircraft to other airlines. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Czech Airlines and has subsidiaries in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.

History

Foundation and early years

Smartwings was founded in 1997 originally under the name Travel Service and focused on operating charter flights mainly for Czech tour operators. Its first airplane was a Tupolev Tu-154M. In 2000, Travel Service received its first Boeing 737-400.

In 2004, Travel Service launched its low-cost brand Smartwings. Travel Service leased two Boeing 737-500s from Lufthansa which were primary intended for Smartwings flights. Both aircraft were painted in the new Smartwings livery. Former Czech president Václav Klaus attended the opening ceremony, which was held on May 1, 2004. In 2007, the company carried 2.2 million passengers, and a year later about 2.3 million passengers. In 2014, it carried 4.3 million passengers, about 1.2 of them on regular flights under the brand name Smartwings. On 18 September 2007, the Icelandair Group acquired 50% stake in the carrier, and purchased further shares to bring its holding up to 80% by April 2008. In December 2008, it reduced its holding to 66% by selling shares to the other shareholders, Unimex. In 2009, their stake was further diluted to 50.1% through a new share issue; they also sold a portion of their stake to fellow owners, reducing their holding to 30%. In 2009, Icelandair spun its 30% stake in Travel Service into a new company, which was taken over by Icelandair's creditors. Chinese investment group CEFC China Energy then held a 49.9% stake in Travel Service.

In 2013, Travel Service cancelled its order for a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and purchased a Boeing 737 MAX 8 instead.

Development since 2017

Travel Service owned 98 percent of Czech Airlines; it bought 64% from Prisko and Korean Air in 2017. Before, it owned 34%, bought in 2014. After Czech Airlines went through business restructuring, Smartwings retained 30% of the company.

In October 2017, it was announced that Travel Service planned to transfer its branding from an airline to a holding company, and would move all of its operations under the Smartwings brand. In 2018, it was announced that the Travel Service livery would be replaced by the Smartwings livery. Also in that year, deliveries of the new Boeing 737 MAX began.

Travel Service was renamed to Smartwings, the name of its former low-cost subsidiary, in December 2018.

In March 2019, Smartwings announced plans to create a German subsidiary by late 2019, and to transition its Czech Airlines subsidiary to an all-Boeing 737 fleet.austrianaviation.net - "Smartwings establishes German subsidiary"
(German) 7 March 2019 However, as of 2022, these plans have not materialized, and Czech Airlines maintains its Airbus fleet. In February 2021, Smartwings announced the return of their stored Boeing 737 MAX to service by the end of the month, the first European airline to resume operations following the flying ban lasting over 20 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.aero.de
(German) 9 February 2021

In February 2024, then owner CITIC – which bought its shares from CEFC – sold all of its shares in Smartwings to Czech-owned Prague City Air, which also owns the majority in Czech Airlines.ch-aviation.com - Smartwings becomes fully Czech-owned company
27 February 2024 In October 2024, Smartwings took over all flight operations of Czech Airlines, operating under the Czech Airlines brand, while Czech Airlines was restructured as a holding company.

Business figures

Destinations

Smartwings serve over 40 destinations in 25 countries from their hub at Václav Havel Airport Prague. Additionally, some flights are operated from Brno and Ostrava airports. The airline primarily focuses on leisure destinations across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

Codeshare agreements

Smartwings has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

*Air Europa
*Eurowings

Fleet

Current fleet

, the Smartwings fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Historic fleet

Smartwings and formerly Travel Service also operated the following aircraft types:

* Boeing 737-400
* Boeing 737-500
* Boeing 757-200
* Boeing 767-300ER
* Tupolev Tu-154M

Business jet fleet

Smartwings also operates business jets that are available for private air charter. As of January 2017 the business jet fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Incidents

* On 22 August 2019, a Smartwings Boeing 737-800 (Registration: OK-TVO) operated flight QS-1125 departed from Samos, Greece to Prague, Czech Republic with 170 passengers on board. The aircraft was flying at over the Aegean Sea about northeast of Athens, Greece when it had an engine failure. The crew drifted the aircraft down to without informing ATC of the emergency, only informing them of a "technical malfunction". Instead of landing at the nearest suitable airport, as per engine failure procedure, the flight crew carried on to Prague at that level for a landing without further incident about 2 hours 20 minutes later. The Czech Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed that an investigation had been launched into the incident: "we have decided to launch an investigation as the procedure followed doesn't seem standard." Following the incident, Prague police launched an investigation into the flight on suspicion of endangering the public due to negligence, and a Smartwings internal investigation demoted the captain from his post as head of flight operations. In July 2020, the CAA released the final report by the Air Accidents Investigation Institute (AAII), which blamed the incident on the captain failing to follow mandatory procedures, including landing at the nearest possible diversion airport after an engine failure. , the captain who piloted the plane during the incident continued to pilot Smartwings flights.

References

External links

Official website

{{Authority control

Airlines of the Czech Republic
Airlines established in 1997
Airlines for Europe
Charter airlines
Companies based in Prague
Lufthansa Group
Czech brands
Czech companies established in 1997