Prague Airport wins award

Prague Airport received one of the two award given out at the international competition ACI Europe Best Airport Awards in the category for 10 million to 25 million passengers. Prague Airport, the operator of Václav Havel Airport Prague, received a special award for Highly Commented Airport.

The best airport in this size category was Hamburg Airport. The results of the competition were announced June 19 at a ceremony in Brussels.

“This is the first time that Prague Airport has been awarded in this prestigious international competition. We see our award as confirmation of our success in meeting our long-term airport development strategy,” Václav Řehoř, chairman of the board of directors of Prague Airport, said in a press release.

“It confirms that we have successfully managed a dramatic 18 percent year-on-year increase in passenger numbers. At the same time, we also managed to invest in improving both services to passengers and the airport environment to make conditions for better passenger traffic. The prize is therefore mainly thanks to our employees and business partners,” he added.

Together with Prague and Hamburg, airports in Vienna, Düsseldorf and Athens were nominated in the category of 10 million to 25 million cleared passengers. A total of 29 airports could apply for a nomination in that category.

Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) is the largest European airport association. It brings together more than 500 airports in 45 European countries and represents 90 percent of the airline's share of the continent, more than 2 billion passengers and around 24 million air movements per year.

The prestigious ACI Europe Best Airport Awards are announced annually in four categories according to the number of cleared passengers. In addition to the Best Airport Award, ACI also gives out the Eco-Innovation Award, the HR Excellence Award, the Accessible Airport Award, and the World Business Partner Award.

Prague Airport expects clear around 17 million passengers in 2018, which would once again be a new record. This will be facilitated not only by newly opened lines, such as to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, or Kutaisi, Georgia, and also by increasing capacity on existing lines.

Strengthening is occurring during the summer season with more direct flights to Dubai, thanks to Emirates' second daily flight.

Other carriers are strengthening their capacities, such as Air Canada Rouge, increasing its Toronto route from three flights to five, or Aeroflot, with flights to Moscow now up to six flights a day.

Václav Havel Airport Prague had a record year in 2017. It handled a total of 15,415,001 passengers, an increase of 17.9 percent compared to 2016.

The airport recently opened new check-in facilities that will help increase the capacity of Terminal 2, which handles flights within the Schengen Zone.

Václav Havel Airport Prague opened April 5, 1937, as Prague Ruzyně Airport. Right after former president Václav Havel's death on Dec. 18, 2011, an online petition asked the government to rename Prague Ruzyně Airport to Václav Havel International Airport. This name change took place Oct. 5, 2012, on what would have been Havel's 76th birthday.