After 101 years of existence: ČSA, the world's fifth oldest airline, shuts down

(Patria) - After 101 years since its founding and first flight, the Czech national airline has ceased to exist.

On Saturday, the last flight of Czech Airlines (ČSA) was completed - the last ČSA plane on the route from Paris landed at Prague's "Vaclav Havel" Airport. Incidentally, ČSA is the world's fifth oldest airline.

ČSA will be "absorbed" into another Czech airline - Smartwings, a scenario that came about due to long-term financial difficulties.

These were caused by a series of major events such as the September 11 attacks on the US, the 2008 economic crisis, and the COVID pandemic, as well as the rise of low-cost airlines.

The company's problems began as early as the 1990s with the first unsuccessful privatization attempt.

Following the events of this century, the company's fleet began to shrink, and ČSA came under the wing of Smartwings back in 2018 when the rival company purchased nearly 98% of its shares.

Czech Television also cites conflicts within the airline and inexperienced management leading to poor business decisions as problems.

Czech media also recall that under the leadership of businessman Jaroslav Tvrdík during the previous decade, new, expensive aircraft were purchased and other costs increased.

Former ČSA President Miroslav Kula blamed Tvrdík's "megalomaniac projects" and "incompetent management" for the company's failure.

On the other hand, Tvrdík, who led the company 20 years ago, previously assessed that the shutdown was an inevitable result due to external circumstances.

Recently, the airline operated only two routes - to Paris and Madrid.

Additionally, its fleet consisted of only two Airbus A320-200 aircraft. One of them was already flying exclusively for Smartwings. Nevertheless, Smartwings acquires four more aircraft through the purchase that were previously ordered. Two are expected to arrive by the end of the year, and two in the first half of next year.

The first flight ČSA operated in 1923 was on the then-domestic route Prague-Bratislava. That flight carried only two people - pilot Karel Brabenec and a journalist reporting on it.

They flew for three hours. The first aircraft was actually a two-seat biplane of the type used in World War I.

The first international route was to Yugoslavia when ČSA began flying to Zagreb in 1930. ČSA flew to distant destinations from the 1970s - Montreal, New York, and Havana.

Only airlines such as Dutch KLM and Colombian Avianca (both founded in 1919), Australian Qantas (1920), and Soviet/Russian Aeroflot (1923) were older than ČSA.

ČSA was also known for having its own code, i.e., the designation OK.