Travel agency Čedok together with Polish air carrier LOT today launched a direct flight from Prague to Sri Lanka after 17 years. More than 250 tourists took the Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Prague at 18:30 yesterday, and the flight was sold out. Representatives of the companies said this at a meeting with journalists yesterday. Polish LOT has chosen Prague as a base for the Dreamliner, and this will be the first time the aircraft will be based at the Prague airport.
The last carrier to fly directly to Sri Lanka was CSA, which cancelled the route in 2006. Since then, flights to the island nation have been operated only with a stopover, for example in Dubai. The direct route takes about ten hours. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has a capacity of 252 passengers and offers business, premium and economy class.
The Dreamliner of the Polish carrier LOT will serve six charter routes of the travel agency Čedok. For example, it will fly to Colombo, Sri Lanka, every Tuesday, to Madagascar on Wednesdays and to the Dominican Republic on Sundays.
“Sales of tours are currently 90 percent higher than last year and we are pleased that we have not only significantly raised the level of travel by charter flights, but that Czechs want to discover new places such as Sri Lanka, where the first sold-out flight from Prague is heading today,” said Stanislav Zeman, CEO of Čedok. Accommodation on the island is offered by Chedok from CZK 18,990 per person.
Prague Airport will be the base for the Polish carrier’s Dreamliner in the winter season, which runs until the end of March. “All of us at LOT Polish Airlines are delighted that, thanks to our partnership with Čedok, a renowned Czech travel agency, we are launching six direct charter flights together this year. In order to continuously improve the travel experience, we are also proud to announce the base of our Dreamliner at Václav Havel Airport Prague during the upcoming winter season,” said Krzysztof Moczulski, the carrier’s spokesperson.
According to Prague Airport’s executive director of air business development, Jiri Vyskoc, outbound travel is stronger than in the pre-Christmas 2019. “We are currently at 130 percent of our record year in this segment in 2019 and we believe that the growth in demand will continue,” he said.
Direct flights to exotic destinations were also recently announced by tour operators Fischer and Exim Tours of the DER Touristik Eastern Europe group. They are offering direct charter flights from Prague to the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc and the resort of Santa Clara in Cuba this winter season. From the end of October to the beginning of May, flights will be operated three times a week. According to spokesman Jan Bezdek, these will be the only direct charter flights from Prague to Vietnam and Cuba in the winter season.
Source: Čedok and CTK
