The vultures are flying over the Prague airport, watching for the outcome of a game of chicken between the owners of the airlines Smartwings and the Czech government. Smartwings has requested a CZK 900 million loan from the state, threatening that failure to bail it out the way all the other European states are doing will lead to bankruptcy. Ryainair is trying to convince Czechs that it’s a rather empty threat; that if Smartwings and its subsidiary Czech Airlines (ČSA) can’t fly them to their holiday destinations, Ryanair and its subsidiary Buzz will be glad to do so. In fact, Buzz CEO Michal Kacmarczyk claims to be “in advanced negotiations with key tour operators and the Ryanair group to expand its services from Prague to new destinations in Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Portugal and northern Africa for the summer of 2021.” Ryanair also claims to be in negotiations with Prague airport officials about expanding the size of its operations.
