Ruzyně International Airport

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Prague-Ruzyně International Airport
Letiště Praha-Ruzyně

IATA: PRG – ICAO: LKPR
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Airport Prague
Serves Prague
Location Ruzyně district of Prague
Elevation AMSL 380 m / 1247 ft
Coordinates 50°06′03″N 14°15′36″E / 50.10083, 14.26
Website www.prg.aero
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
06/24 3,715 12,191 Concrete
13/31 3,250 10,665 Concrete
04/22
closed		 2,120 6,957 Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2007)
Passengers 12,436,254
Passenger growth 06-07 +7.4%

Ruzyně International Airport (IATA: PRG, ICAO: LKPR) serves Prague, Czech Republic. Located 10 km from the city centre, the airport is a hub for Czech Airlines. It was opened on April 5, 1937. Prague-Ruzyně is the biggest airport in the Czech Republic and with 12.4 million passengers in 2007 the busiest one within the new EU member states. It was named the best airport in Central and Eastern Europe by Skytrax in 2005[1] and 2007[2].

Most flights depart Ruzyně International Airport from the North Terminals (North 1 and North 2). The South Terminals (South 1 and South 2) handle a few irregular flights, as well as VIP flights, special flights and small aircraft.

In 2004, the airport served 9.7 million passengers, in 2005 nearly 10.8 million[3] and in 2006 11.6 million. In 2007 the number of passengers rose to 12,440,000 and the owners of the airport predicted further growth for 2008 with more than 13 million passengers [2]

Terminal 1 on the right, connecting building in the middle and Terminal 2 on the left.
Terminal 1 on the right, connecting building in the middle and Terminal 2 on the left.

The airport contains two runways in service: 06/24 and 13/31. Former runway 04/22 is not used any more. The most used runway is 24 due to the prevailing western winds. Runway 31 is also used often. Runway 06 is used rarely while runway 13 is used only exceptionally.

Public transport to and from Prague city center involves taking the bus number 119 to Dejvická metro station and transferring on to the green metro line (Line A) or Tram there or express number 100 to Zličín metro station (yellow Line B) farther from the city centre. A typical trip takes about 40 minutes. After midnight when the metro line is closed, night bus number 510 runs from the airport, offering 4 transfer points to center-bound trams en-route. Also number 179 can be used for a longer but more interesting travel to a Prague Metro station (yellow Line B).

From December 11, 2005 also the bus line AE (=Airport Express): RW Station Holešovice - Terminal North 1 - Terminal North 2 - AP Ruzyně; goes every day, from 5.00 to 22.00 H in the interval of 30 minutes; special tariff: 45 CZK.

Contents

[edit] History

Old control tower built in 1937 (rear view) - now part of Terminal South 1
Old control tower built in 1937 (rear view) - now part of Terminal South 1
Old control tower (front view) during the visit of Dwight D. Eisenhower in Prague on Oct. 12, 1945
Old control tower (front view) during the visit of Dwight D. Eisenhower in Prague on Oct. 12, 1945

Czechoslovakia, today Czech Republic, belonged to the leading European pioneers of the civil aviation and became over time a part of the most state-of-the-art continental transportation system. The Prague – Ruzyně Airport began operation on April 5, 1937, but the Czechoslovak civil aviation history started at the military airport in Prague - Kbely in 1919. Due to insufficient capacity of the Kbely airport in the middle of 30s of 20th century, the Government decided to develop a new State Civil Airport in Ruzyně. One of the major awards the Prague Ruzyně Airport received include Diploma and Gold Medal granted in 1937 at the occasion of the International Art and Technical Exhibition in Paris (Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne also known as Paris 1937 World's Fair) for the technical conception of the central airport, primarily the architecture of check-in building (nowadays known as Terminal South 1) designed by architect Ing. A. Beneš. Other awards were granted for modernization during individual airport development phases. All these facts have been increasing the interest of carriers in using Prague airport.

The airport has excellent location both with respect to short distance from the center of Prague and within the European area. Moreover, the Ruzyně fields provide opportunities for further expansion of the airport according to the increasing capacity demand. The airport serves as a hub of the trans-European airport network.

Clearly, the political and economic changes affected the seventy years of existence of the Prague-Ruzyně Airport. Some new air transportation companies and institutions were founded and some ceased operation since then. Ten entities were responsible for airport administration over time, including the new construction and development. Until 90s of the last century, there were two or three decade gaps before the major modernization of the Prague-Ruzyně Airport began in order to match the current capacity requirements. Since then, the Airport began modernization on an ongoing basis and is gradually one of the top European airports.

[edit] Further development

Departure hall of Terminal 1 opened in 1997
Departure hall of Terminal 1 opened in 1997
Departure hall of Terminal 2 opened in 2006
Departure hall of Terminal 2 opened in 2006

As the capacity of the airport has been reaching its limit for the last couple of years (as of 2005), further development of the airport is being considered. Besides regular repairs of the existing runways, the Airport Prague (Czech: Letiště Praha s.p.) began the preparations for building a new runway, parallel to the 06/24 runway. The construction with estimated costs of CZK 5-7 billion is scheduled to begin in 2007 and the new runway marked 06R/24L (also called the BIS runway) is to be put into service in 2010. It will be over 3500 m long. Located about 1500 m south-east of the present main runway. The 24L runway will be equipped with a category III ILS allowing landing and taking off under bad weather conditions.

The Airport Prague states that besides increasing the airport capacity, the new runway system will greatly reduce the noise level in some densely inhabited areas of Prague. This should be achieved by reorganizing the air traffic space around the airport and shifting the traffic corridors after putting the two parallel runways into service. The vision of heavy traffic raised many protests from the suburban communities directly surrounding the airport. On 6 November 2004, local referendums were held in two Prague suburbs - Nebušice and Přední Kopanina - giving official support to the local authorities for active opposition against the construction of the parallel runway.

[edit] Terminals

[edit] Terminal “North 1”

Czech: Terminál Sever 1 — All domestic, non-Schengen, and inter-continental flights including flights to the United Kingdom, North America (USA, Canada), Middle-East, Africa, and Asia.

[edit] Terminal “North 2”

Czech: Terminál Sever 2 (opened January 17, 2006 after rebuilding works) — Flights within the Schengen Agreement member countries.

Concourse B at Christmas time
Concourse B at Christmas time

[edit] Terminal "South 1"

Czech: Terminál Jih 1 — VIP and private flights. Official State visits or prominent occasions. Charter flights. Historic landmark terminal that began operation on April 5, 1937.

[edit] Terminal "South 2"

Czech: Terminál Jih 2 (opened 1997) — VIP and private flights. Official State visits or prominent occasions. Charter flights.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] Cargo airlines

[edit] Former Airlines and Destinations

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Letiště Praha, s.p. - Významné mezníky a ocenění
  2. ^ Hong Kong named best airport in the world by international travellers
  3. ^ Official statistics for 2005
  4. ^ [1]
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[edit] External links