Czech Airlines-CSA (Prague) will have a new airline partner. The Czech government has approved Korean Air‘s (Seoul) $3.4 million offer to acquire 44 percent of the stock of state-owned Czech Airlines.
Read the full report from The Financial Times: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Keith Burton.ย Airbus A320-214 OK-GEB (msn 1450) departs from Southend.
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Korean Air (Seoul) has submitted a proposal to acquire 44 percent of the shares of unprofitable Czech Airlines-CSA (Prague) according to this report by the Wall Street Journal. Reportedly Korean was the only bidder for this minority share.ย The airline is currently owned by the Czech Ministry of Finance (56.92%), Czech Consolidation Agency (34.59%) and other Czech institutions.
Previously in December 2012, Czech Airlines announced it would acquire theย Airbus A330 starting in June 2013, enabling the flag carrier to launch new scheduled service to Seoul, South Korea, and to initiate more intensive code-share cooperation with Korean Air in operating long-haul flights from Prague via Seoul to Asia.
Korean Air wants a larger presence in Europe and, if successful, would not interfere with Czech management of the company.
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On the financial side, KALย issued this statement:
Korean Air, South Koreaโs flagship airline, has announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ending December 31, 2012.
Due to weak economic recovery and high fuel prices, Korean Air posted an operating income of 3,083.5 billion KRW for the fourth quarter of 2012, and an operating loss of 17.6 billion KRW. International passenger and cargo business remained the major revenue contributors for the airline in Q4, accounting for 56.4% and 26.5% of the operating revenue respectively. Compared to the same period last year net income for Q4 increased by 215.1% to 140.3 billion KRW.
For the full year of 2012, the airline recorded an operating income of 12,728 billion KRW, up 3.7% year-on-year, and an operating profit of 322.4 billion KRW. The net income for 2012 returned to the black and reached 256.4 billion KRW.
Copyright Photo: Jacek Fiszer. Czech Airlines has retired its Boeing fleet and now operates an Airbus and ATR fleet only.ย Airbus A319-112 OK-PET (msn 4258) approaches Warsaw.
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Qatar Airways (Doha) is interested in the privatization of Czech Airlines-CSA (Prague) according to this report by Reuters. However the Gulf carrier has not yet made a decision on whether it will bid for the flag carrier.
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Top Copyright Photo: Dave Glendinning. Brand-new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner A7-BCL (msn 38330) made its first visit to London (Heathrow) on December 13 where it is pictured landing on the historic first flight.
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Czech Airlines-CSA:ย
Bottom Copyright Photo: Ole Simon. Airbus A319-112 OK-NEO (msn 3452) prepares to land at Stockholm (Arlanda).
Czech Airlines-CSA (Prague) is again getting back into the long-haul business with leased Airbus A330s (previously operated with Airbus A310s). The first route will be to Seoul starting in June 2013. The airline is also adding short-range flights to Florence, Nice and Perm (Russia) on March 31, 2013. Czech Airlines is also retiring the last Boeing 737-500 (pictured) at the end of the current winter schedule. The company has issued the following statement:
After a three-year hiatus, Czech Airlines is again including its own long-haul flights in its flight schedule. A wide-body Airbus A330 will join the airlineโs fleet, enabling Czech Airlines to launch new scheduled service to Seoul, South Korea, and to initiate more intensive code-share cooperation with Korean Air in operating long-haul flights from Prague via Seoul to the East Asia, based on the model of cooperation being successfully employed with Etihad Airways. The new agreement will also ensure better connections to Czech Airlines flights from Prague to Europe for Korean Airโs clients. In addition to Seoul, Czech Airlines will introduce new service to Perm, Nice, Munich, Zurich and Florence in the 2013 summer season.
The twice-weekly Airbus A330-300 service to Seoul (Incheon) will commence on June 1 per Airline Route. The carrier is expected to also launch A330 service to Almaty, Ekaterinburg and Moscow (Sheremetyevo).
Next June, a long-haul Airbus A330 hired on the basis of operative leasing will join the Czech Airlines fleet. Among other flights, the aircraft will be deployed on Czech Airlinesโ new scheduled long-haul service to Seoul. The flights will leave Prague every Saturday and Sunday, and Seoul every Sunday and Tuesday, supplementing the four weekly Korean Air flights. The two airlines will share codes on the route.
Seoul is not the only new destination in the Czech Airlines flight schedule in the 2013 summer season. The airline will open regular service to Perm in Russia, as well as Nice, Munich, Zurich and Florence. To certain destinations, it is introducing a noon flight wave, and increasing the number of flights compared to the 2012 summer season. These destinations include Berlin, Dรผsseldorf, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Milan, Stockholm and Warsaw. In making a year-on-year comparison, the airline will also offer more weekly flights to Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don and Ufa. Czech Airlines will newly add Brisbane, Singapore and Nairobi to its flight schedule, which will be operated in cooperation with Etihad Airways. Another innovation in the summer flight schedule is a change in the model of operation to Baltic destinations. Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn will remain in Czech Airlinesโ offer, and will be operated by airBaltic on a code-share basis.
In the 2013 summer season, only Airbus (A330, A320, A319) and ATR (ATR 72 and ATR 42) aircraft will be deployed on Czech Airlines flights. The airline will have thereby complied with one of its last restructuring tasks โ the transition to a fleet of just two aircraft makes. Boeing 737-500 aircraft will be retired from the fleet by the end of the current winter season.
Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems. Boeing 737-55S OK-XGE (msn 26543) is currently painted in the SkyTeam colors. The airliner is pictured at Palma de Mallorca.
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Czech Airlines-CSA (Prague) has secured European Union approval for a $130 million state loan after it agreed to a five-year restructuring plan according to this report by Bloomberg.
Read the ย full report: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Tony Storck. Airbus A319-112 OK-REQ (msn 4713) prepares to land at Amsterdam.
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Czech Airlines-CSA (Prague) went into the red in 2011 with a pre-tax loss of $11.8 million. The airline blamed the loss on aircraft commitments and higher fuel costs.
The airline issued the following statement:
“The second year of Czech Airlineโs three-year restructuring plan was marked primarily by the continued reorganisation of the company, transformations in its transport network model, and cost optimisation. Last year the airline was impacted by financial leasing obligations for aircraft ordered in the past, and a significant increase in fuel costs. Last year Czech Airlines transferred its subsidiaries Czech Airlines Handling, CSA Services, and HOLIDAYS Czech Airlines to Czech Aeroholding. The money that the airline obtained through these transactions was used to pay instalments on aircraft. This means that Czech Airlines invested nearly a billion crowns into its future assets last year. The airline finished the 2011 financial year with an aggregate loss of CZK 241 million.
Phase two of Czech Airlineโs on-going restructuring influenced the airlineโs financial results for last year. Czech Airlines continued its human resources optimisation and the optimisation of its sales and transport networks, with corresponding gradual changes in its fleet structure. โLast year Czech Airlines managed to reduce its personnel costs by nearly one third, year on year, and in terms of its fleet size, it is returning to a state that corresponds to the transport network and market potential of a small local market. The structural changes in the transport network unfortunately did not have enough time to fully manifest themselves in last yearโs financial results, whether in terms of revenue or costs,โ explains Philippe Moreels, Chairman of the Management Board and President of Czech Airlines, adding: โFinancial obligations for aircraft ordered in the past had an adverse impact on our financial results. Last year alone Czech Airlines had to invest nearly a billion crowns that it obtained from the sale of assets into new aircraft.โ
A significant increase in the price of aircraft fuel also had an adverse impact on the airlineโs finances last year. In spite of the planned decrease in aircraft movements by nearly one fifth last year, Czech Airlines noted a nearly 40% year-on-year increase in fuel costs. โThe same trend was manifest in the first four months of this year. Although on the revenue side, certain other positive effects of the gradual transformation of the transport and sales network are beginning to show, the increase in fuel costs has nearly eliminated them, at least in the first four months of the year. In its last, third year of restructuring, Czech Airlines will therefore focus even more on reducing its costs, primarily fixed costs, and will also enhance some of its modern pro-revenue projects,โ concludes Philippe Moreels.”
| Item | 2011 (in CZK โ000) | 2010 (in CZK โ000) |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | 16 905 211 | 21 518 307 |
| Sales of fixed assets and material | 876 271 | 2 694 502 |
| Total costs | 17 146 567 | 21 442 148 |
| Equity | 108 226 | 376 367 |
| Share capital | 5 235 510 | 5 235 510 |
| Profit/loss before tax | -241 356 | 76 159 |
Copyright Photo: Keith Burton.
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