The first signs of life returning to Prague’s international airport have appeared in the form of a daily flight to Amsterdam operated by KLM and a twice-weekly service from Dusseldorf provided by Eurowings. Further expansion of the regular flights list is expected by the middle of May, though business is expected to pick up slowly. The news comes too late for 450 employees at the airport who were fired because of the lack of business, and the uncertainty over when the previously bursting airport will need their services again.
But there’s growing anger from some of the airport’s clients, especially the duty-free stores that would have been closed by government decree even if there had been customers to serve. They’re upset that despite six weeks of negotiations, they’ve been unable to convince the airport’s management to cancel plans to raise their rents. A group of them sent an open letter to the Czech finance minister Alena Schillerová in which they argued that the state is pushing private landlords to reduce the rent they charge, but is asking its own tenants to pay more. The airport’s management has angered its two taxi operators (Taxi Praha and Fix) who pay CZK 5m monthly for the right to offer curbside pick-up service. They’re complaining that the airport is demanding they pay an extra CZK 150,000 to cover inflation and that the increase be dated back to January 1.
