Ryanair, Finnair, easyJet, British Airways and Korean Air. Prague Airport awarded the best airlines of last year

"It has been repeatedly confirmed that the decision to reward the best airlines is the right one. This is standard practice by international airports and helps to strengthen relationships with our external partners. We also believe that we motivate carriers to further develop at Václav Havel Airport Prague. Compared to last year, we have decided to expand the portfolio of awards and add an award for the most developing cargo carrier. This is a segment that we value, and we wanted to reflect its significance." says Jiří Pos, Chairman of the Board of Prague Airport.

The fastest growing and most efficient airlines

The award recognising the greatest year-on-year increase in passenger numbers, “Fastest Growing Airline at Prague Airport 2023”, was presented by Prague Airport to the air carrier that achieved the highest year-on-year increase in the total number of transported passengers compared to 2022, and thus contributed the most to the development of flight connections at Václav Havel Airport Prague. The award was presented to Ryanair, the Irish low-cost carrier.

The title of the most efficient carrier in terms of traffic, “Best Performing Airline at Prague Airport 2023”, factors in the key operational indicators, alongside the volume performance of carriers. Only carriers that completed at least 100 aircraft movements from July to December last year were evaluated. This corresponds to traffic of about two flights per week. Finnish carrier Finnair won the title as in the previous year.

„We are honoured to receive this award for the second year consecutively. We aim to constantly improve our processes both inflight and, on the ground, and the strong partnership we have built with Prague Airport has played a pivotal role in this work. With multiple daily flights, Prague remains an important part of our network serving our customers globally”, says Jari Paajanen, Vice President, Operations Control at Finnair.

Top Sustainable Airline

The "Top Sustainable Airline at Prague Airport 2023" category has three criteria for evaluation: noise and emissions of aircraft operating at Václav Havel Airport Prague and the airlines' overall approach, commitment, and activities in the area of sustainability.

“We are delighted to once again be recognised by Václav Havel Airport as a leader in sustainability. We are working tirelessly to reduce the impact of our operations and, while there is considerable work to be done, we are making progress every day. Decarbonising the aviation sector will be a significant challenge, but we are seeing a lot of commitment and enthusiasm from across the aviation sector, including from our many airport partners, to drive change. Alongside this activity, with the right support from policymakers, we are optimistic we can deliver a net zero emission future for the aviation sector while preserving the many benefits it delivers to so many people around the world.” said Jane Ashton, Director of Sustainability at easyJet.

The Best Marketing Campaign

As part of the assessment of the best way of using the marketing support in cooperation with Prague Airport and the "Best Airline Marketing Campaign with Prague Airport 2023" title awarding process, the quality of jointly implemented campaigns in the past year was evaluated by an expert committee. The expert committee comprised five members who are marketing professionals in the partner tourism agencies of CzechTourism and Prague City Tourism, the Kaspen/Jung von Matt advertising agency, and the Corporate and Airline Marketing departments of Prague Airport. The evaluation included
33 campaigns of air carriers that effectively used the possibility of marketing cooperation. The promotion of the Prague Airport brand and the attractiveness of Prague as a destination, and the clarity of the message were among the main campaign evaluation criteria. In 2023, British Airways was the airline with the best campaign.

Taylor Collins, Partnership Executive at British Airways Holidays commented: „We are delighted to receive the award for our annual Christmas market campaign, which complemented our British Airways Holidays brand initiative, 'Take Your Holiday Seriously.' The goal was to inspire our customers to use their remaining annual leave with us, and to showcase Prague as an enticing European city break and Christmas market destination. Collaborating with Prague Airport on this campaign was a pleasure, and we are pleased that they were satisfied with the outcome. “

The new category

Compared to last year, the Most Developing Cargo Carrier category has been added to the list of awards. Prague Airport decided to reward the carrier that showed the largest year-on-year increase in air freight transported. The award also serves as a recognition of the growing cooperation in the field of air freight transport and the development of international trade. The award was presented to Korean Air.

"Korean Air is very appreciative of receiving the award for the fastest growing cargo partner at Prague Airport. We would like to thank our customers and the GSA, without whom we would not have achieved these results, as well as Prague Airport and our handling partner Skyport for their work and continued support. Finally, we would like to thank our employees for their efforts and dedication, which have contributed significantly to the success of the company. Thank you all." said Václav Charousek, Cargo Sales Manager of Korean Air for the Czech Republic, Croatia and Serbia.

2023 Passenger Numbers

Prague Airport handled 13,828,137 passengers last year. In 2022, the total number of passengers for the entire year was almost 10.8 million, so there was an increase of 29 percent year-on-year recorded in this case. The number of take-offs and landings climbed to over 118,000, which was an increase compared to last year.

According to Jiří Vyskoč, Executive Director of Aviation Business Development, the strongest day in terms of the number of handled passengers was 23rd July. “Over 56 thousand passengers passed through the airport that day, while the average daily number exceeded 38 thousand. The strongest month was July 2023. This year, we expect 15.5 million transported passengers.”