After years of delay, it should be ready in the summer of 2023. The Czech Budweis Airport wants to compete with Linz Airport. Smartwings will initially fly to Rhodes and Antalya with Boeing 737-800. According to regional politicians, further goals are already being prepared.

The former military airport near České Budějovice was expanded and transformed into a civil airport at great expense. The initiators of the project at the time promised a real low-cost Eldorado, but they did not succeed in attracting a single low-cost airline to Budweis. In addition, there were considerable problems with the extension of the approval, because the Czech air traffic control objected to a certain extent, as they initially felt unable to control it in the form desired by the operator for personnel reasons. There were significant restrictions that made the use of Airbus A320, Boeing 737 and Co impossible.

A lot has also changed in the area of ​​shareholders, because with the exception of the South Bohemian region, everyone has left. At the management level, too, almost nothing remained unchanged. The South Bohemian Region is now the sole shareholder of České Budějovice Airport. However, this has not accelerated the repeatedly postponed start date.

Irrespective of this: Flights operated by Smartwings to Rhodes in Greece and Antalya in Turkey have been announced for the 2023 summer flight schedule. These are not scheduled flights, but charter connections on behalf of the tour operator Čedok. This also means that initially there is only one pair of flights per week. From August 4, 2023, there will be flights to Rhodes on Mondays and Antalya on Fridays from České Budějovice. For the time being, these are seasonal charter flights.

“We are pleased that Smartwings will be the first airline in cooperation with Čedok to offer direct flights from České Budějovice Airport to popular holiday destinations in Turkey and Greece as early as the coming summer season. We believe that in the future the number of flights and destinations to which our aircraft fly from South Bohemia will continue to increase. This will make České Budějovice the sixth Czech airport from which we will operate our flights,” adds Petr Šujan, Smartwings Commercial Director.

Further flight destinations from Budweis are said to be in preparation. However, neither the airport nor Smartwings nor the tour operator gave any further details. It therefore remains to be seen whether the market will accept the new offer from the Czech airport or not. There is also speculation that passengers from Upper Austria can be won, since České Budějovice is only around 90 kilometers from Linz.