Fleet size40Destinations92HeadquartersPrague, Czech RepublicKey people
Jiří Šimáně
Roman Vik
Jiří Jurán
Websitewww.smartwings.com
Smartwings (formerly Travel Service a.s.)[2] is the largest Czech airline, with its head office on the property of Václav Havel Airport Prague in Ruzyně, 6th district, Prague.[3] It operates scheduled and chartered flights, mainly to leisure destinations, and also wet and dry leases aircraft to other airlines. It owns 98 % of Czech Airlines, and has subsidiaries in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.
Contents
1 History
2 Business figures
3 Destinations
4 Fleet
4.1 Current fleet
4.2 Business jet fleet
4.3 Previously operated
5 References
6 External links
History[edit]
Former Travel Service Boeing 737-800
In 2007, the company carried 2.2 million passengers, one year later about 2.3 million passengers. In 2014, it carried 4.3 million passengers, about 1.2 of them on regular flights under the brand name Smartwings.[4]
On 18 September 2007, the Icelandair Group acquired 50% stake in the carrier and purchased further shares to bring its holding to 80% by April 2008. In December 2008 it reduced its holding to 66% by selling shares to the other shareholders, Unimex.[5][6] In 2009 their stake was further diluted to 50.1% through a new share issue, and they also sold a portion of their stake to fellow owners reducing their holding to 30%[7][8] In 2009 Icelandair spun its 30% stake in Travel Service into a new company, that was taken over by Icelandair’s creditors. Chinese investment group CEFC China Energy holds a 49.9% stake in Travel Service.[9] Travel Service owns 98 percent of Czech Airlines, it bought 64 % from Prisko and Korean Air in 2017. Before, it owned 34 %, bought in 2014.
In October 2017 it was announced that Travel Service plans to change its branding from an airline to a holding company and will move all of its operations under the Smartwings brand.[10] In 2018, it was announced that the Travel Service livery will be replaced by the Smartwings livery.[11] Also in that year, deliveries of the new Boeing 737 MAX began.
Travel Service was renamed to Smartwings, the name of its former low-cost subsidiary, in December 2018.[12]
Business figures[edit]
Smartwings head office in Prague
Destinations[edit]
Main article: List of SmartWings and Travel Service destinations
Fleet[edit]
Smartwings Boeing 737-800
Smartwings Boeing 737 MAX 8
Smartwings also operates private business jets
Current fleet[edit]
As of January 2019 the Smartwings fleet consists of the following aircraft:[13][14][15]
Business jet fleet[edit]
Smartwings also operates business jets that are available for private air charter.[17] As of January 2017 the business jet fleet consists of the following aircraft:
^ a b “iDnes”. idnes.cz. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
^ “Business jet”. Travel Service. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
^ a b “Travel Service rozšíří flotilu business jetů, první v Evropě kupuje novou Cessnu”. E15.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2017-03-11.
^ “Travel Service objednal letoun Cessna Citation Longitude” [Travel Service orders Cessna Citation Longitude]. planes.cz (in Czech). 24 October 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
