Due to the coronavirus crisis, airports all over Europe are now in a spin cycle, some are already facing massive liquidity problems, but the airport project there is still being held in the Czech region of South Bohemia. The development process, in order to be able to carry out the first international flights in the foreseeable future, is accompanied by a highly criticized and complicated certification process for the necessary air traffic control procedures. In addition, an important partner in the city of Budweis has already left the project.

“Selling the Ceske Budejovice stake is for a profit”, notes Viktor Lavicka, Deputy Mayor of Ceske Budejovice, stated with clear words: “It is the only way to get out of this grave of millions”. How Czech media report, the evaluation of the urban airport shares in the run-up to tough negotiations resulted in a value between 1,2 and 1,5 million euros. “Since there is still no start of operations in sight, the actual market value of the airport can only be rated as zero. We too have to think about the future and can no longer finance such an airport project, ”explains Lavicka the final agreement to sell the shares at a book value of less than 250.000 euros. After the European Union withdrew a funding commitment of 2012 million euros from the European Regional Development Fund, or ERDF for short, to expand the airport in 15, the previous project operators, City of Budweis and the South Bohemian Region, had to drastically reduce the planned investment amount of around 40 million euros. Nevertheless, despite critical voices from the field of trade and economy in South Bohemia, the ambitious project, which is similar to the one in Maribor or Kassel-Calden, was pushed forward. Overall, the city of Budweis may have spent around 18 million euros on the airport project in recent years, so city officials assumed that in the long term, public funds would have to be added to operations for operations.

The passenger terminal was completed in 2018 and would have been designed for 600.000 passengers (Photo: Hochtief AG)

The regional administration of South Bohemia sees it quite differently. “One owner is better than two, that's why this sale had to be carried out,” said Josef Knot, the deputy of the South Bohemian district chief Ivana Stráská, on the sale of the shares by the city of Budweis. At the end of June, the regional assembly of the South Bohemian Region voted to take over the town. The opposition faction of the ODS supports the decision, but has repeatedly raised the critical objection that there is still no corresponding development concept for Budweis Airport. For the ODS, it seems reasonable to assume that the airport should be opened for freight connections after the development in the area of ​​passenger traffic at airports such as Brno or Pardubice would be very manageable. “We do not intend to offer cargo flights in Ceske Budejovice,” Josef Knot countered the criticism. Much more is to be negotiated with interested investors such as Accolade, owner of several large business parks in the Czech Republic and Poland, about utilizing parts of the area of ​​the former military airport Plana accordingly and thus contributing to the airport's turnover. As the owner of Brno Airport, Accolade already has sufficient experience and good contacts to large Czech and international companies in order to be able to develop appropriate concepts for business relocation.

In terms of air traffic, the “Letiště České Budějovice ”, ICAO code LKCS, However, currently bake smaller rolls, due to the pending certification, it is still considered a non-public airport and is therefore only allowed to handle private flights with aircraft with a maximum wingspan of 36 meters. Martina Vodičková, spokeswoman for Budweis Airport, on AviationDirect: “We should return to the AFIS flight information service early next year and obtain a license to provide IFR / AFIS services later this year. In accordance with the existing European standards, we certify airport operations and air traffic control services, albeit in a very complicated process. " In the course of this certification process, there have now been setbacks. At the beginning of the process, the Czech air traffic control established that the necessary personnel would be missing to look after another regional airport in the Czech Republic. One that has already been built, but is responsible for the safe handling of flight operations high transmission mast had to be dismantled and rebuilt in accordance with the provisions of aviation law.

As empty as the European airports are currently due to the coronavirus pandemic, not a single passenger has been handled in the new Budweiser passenger terminal since its completion (Photo: Hochtief AG)

Currently, after the corridor maps for arrivals and departures have been published, controversial reviews from the municipalities surrounding the airport are increasing. To this end, a protection zone that has existed for 25 years and that goes back to military flight operations is to be softened in favor of the new certification of Budweis Airport. While parts of the population and regional politicians expect noise pollution from aircraft arriving and departing via the new flight routes and would like to take action against this even after the objection period at the end of November, others welcome the lifting of the existing protection zone, as requested by the Czech civil aviation authority. “According to the regulations in force in the protection zone, we couldn't even build a kindergarten in the municipal office, which we urgently need. If this zone is removed, we can build such a facility. And the owners of the surrounding property were finally able to build ”, says the mayor of Planá, Tomé Pintér, towards the media. By abolishing the protection zone, the zoning plans could be reorganized accordingly, which would enable the development of new residential and business areas, according to the proponents.

Regardless of the problems and criticisms, at Budweis Airport one already thinks of the time after the end of the necessary certification. “Already this year we wanted to ensure the transportation of Asian passengers from Prague closer to the city of Krumlov. The intention was to gradually connect UNESCO cities and offer Asian tourist routes Prague-Krumau-Salzburg-Split, unfortunately the coronavirus crisis has stopped this project. We will see the state of the airports and airlines after the crisis, ”explains Martina Vodičková. At the moment, the pandemic would make it possible to prepare airport business accordingly for the time afterwards. Vodičková told AviationDirect which potential partners should be convinced of the opportunities that the South Bohemian Airport České Budějovice - as its full marketing name - offers. It is completely open, however, how quickly tourism, especially from Far East Asia, can recover in the so-called Golden Triangle Prague-Vienna-Budapest. With almost 2 million tourists a year, the South Bohemian UNESCO World Heritage City of Krumlov (Krumlov) was one of the top destinations. Every day hundreds of Asian tourists stopped for a few hours as part of their sightseeing tour through Europe below the Witigonen Castle Crumlov, which was first mentioned in 1253. It will depend on the prompt availability of a vaccine against the coronavirus and probably also on the highest and fastest possible vaccination rate when the Czech Republic and thus also South Bohemia can return to the tourist numbers before 2020. That even Czech tourism experts assume that this will not happen so quickly is also shown by the early return of an Airbus A330-300 used in Asia from Prague at CSA Czech Airlines.

For promotional purposes, an Embraer 2018 and an Airbus A190 visited Planá Airport near Budweis in mid-319. These aircraft are no longer allowed to land until the certification process has been completed (Photo: South Bohemian Airport České Budějovice)

Vodičková is thus continuing the announcement policy that was created by a former airline marketing manager. The airport manager at the time, Ladislav Ondrich, brought him in in mid-2018 in order to enable the Czech airport to contact airlines and tour operators. Compared to the OTS-based tourism press, the Announcement of the first scheduled flights from spring 2020. As insiders report, however, after Ondrich's personal withdrawal, there should have been differences of opinion with the new management of the company by Robert Kala, as a result of which the airline marketing manager and his Czech employer parted ways after just one and a half years . On behalf of the Budweis airport, Martina Vodičková explains at AviationDirect's request that the separation took place at her own request, but without any disputes or problems, there is still a good exchange and can imagine a new cooperation in the future. The supposed goal of luring low-cost airlines to Ceske Budejovice so that international tourists can discover the cultural treasures of the South Bohemian region and Czechs, but also Upper and Lower Austrians can start their vacation trips ex Planá, is currently even further away than the end of the certification process. A year-round stationing of a Boeing 737-MAX was also possible advertisedto enable year-round flight connections from Budweis from the Canary Islands to Egypt in a 24-hour tour operator concept or to offer new niche destinations such as Sitia on Crete or Paros on the Cyclades with smaller charter planes. However, a look at the outgoing leisure offers at other regional airports in the Czech Republic showed a completely different reality, as the capacity of several thousand flight chairs were withdrawn by Czech tour operators in recent years due to reorganization and market shakeout measures. While the Czech media rarely, but predominantly, reported critically about the ambitious plans for the future in Planá, the Austrian local media and German-language aviation magazines reported rather positive and hardly questioned reports. 

However, Budweis Airport was able to achieve a small but important success. At the turn of the year, the rescue helicopter “Kryštof 13” is returning to Planá from the Bechyně airfield. “The rescue training on the airport premises began at the beginning of November. For Budweis Airport, the return of the rescue helicopter is a logical unification of aviation activities in our area near the regional hospital, ”says Vodičková. A few years ago, the rescue helicopter for the South Bohemian region was stationed at the heliport built for this purpose in Planá, and when the aircraft used was changed from the Bell 427 to the W-3A Sokol, operated by the air force, the unit was taken over by the Czech Ministry of Defense in 2017 relocated to the Bechyně military base, north of Budweis. At the same time as the return to Planá, the “Kryštof 13” is being converted to the Eurocopter EC135 T2 +, operated by the provider DSA.

Ultimately, the coronavirus crisis caught up with Planá Airport near Budweis, as a Covid-19 test road was set up on the extensive airport grounds.

Note on its own behalf: AviationDirect relies on its own inquiries from official bodies, corresponding contributions in the Czech and Austrian media (see corresponding link) and background discussions with people from the Czech Republic and Austria for the research on this report.