As fighting and political tensions in the east continue to mount, Czech Airlines finds itself struggling as passenger loads between Prague and Russia and other former Soviet countries have started to decline. The airlines begin focusing on these routes a few years ago to try and boost profits after Western European routes failed to attract enough passengers, Radio Praha reports. The strategy seemed to pay off, as passenger loads between EU countries and Moscow were increasing by 10 to 15 percent annually, despite high ticket prices. During the boom times, Czech Airlines was earning twice the amount on flights between Prague and Moscow than on any other route of a similar distance, the daily Mladá Fronta Dnes writes. But today passenger numbers to Russia have started to slip as fighting in Ukraine escalates and the Russian currency depreciates. Czech Airlines currently flies to nine destinations in Russia.
