Smartwings

Smartwings, a.s. (formerly Travel Service, a.s.)[2] is a low-cost Czech airline, with its head office on the property of Václav Havel Airport Prague in Ruzyně, 6th district, Prague.[3] It is the biggest airline in the Czech Republic and it operates scheduled and chartered flights, mainly to leisure destinations, and also wet and dry leases its aircraft to other airlines. It also owns 98% of Czech Airlines, and has subsidiaries in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, but also operates from France, the Canary Islands and Israel.

Not to be confused with Smartavia.
Smartwings
IATA ICAO Callsign
QS[1] TVS SKYTRAVEL
Founded1997[2]
Operating basesPrague
Subsidiaries
Fleet size35
Destinations92
HeadquartersPrague, Czech Republic
Key people
  • Jiří Šimáně
  • Roman Vik
  • Jiří Jurán
Employees2,438[2]
Websitewww.smartwings.com

History
Former Travel Service Boeing 737-800 in 2013

In 2007, the company carried 2.2 million passengers, and a year later about 2.3 million passengers. In 2014, it carried 4.3 million passengers, about 1.2 of them on regular flights under the brand name Smartwings.[4]

On 18 September 2007, the Icelandair Group acquired 50% stake in the carrier, and purchased further shares to bring its holding up to 80% by April 2008. In December 2008 it reduced its holding to 66% by selling shares to the other shareholders, Unimex.[5][6] In 2009 their stake was further diluted to 50.1% through a new share issue; they also sold a portion of their stake to fellow owners, reducing their holding to 30%[7][8] In 2009 Icelandair spun its 30% stake in Travel Service into a new company, which was taken over by Icelandair's creditors. Chinese investment group CEFC China Energy now holds a 49.9% stake in Travel Service.[9]

Travel Service owns 98 percent of Czech Airlines; it bought 64% from Prisko and Korean Air in 2017. Before, it owned 34%, bought in 2014.

In 2013, Travel Service has cancelled their order for Boeing 787 Dreamliner and ordered Boeing 737-max8.

In October 2017 it was announced that Travel Service planned to transfer its branding from an airline to a holding company, and would move all of its operations under the Smartwings brand.[10] In 2018, it was announced that the Travel Service livery would be replaced by the Smartwings livery.[11] Also in that year, deliveries of the new Boeing 737 MAX began.

Travel Service was renamed to Smartwings, the name of its former low-cost subsidiary, in December 2018.[12]

In March 2019, Smartwings announced plans to create a German subsidiary by late 2019, and to transition its Czech Airlines subsidiary to an all Boeing 737 fleet.[13]

Business figures
Smartwings head office in Prague
Selected financial results of Smartwings, a.s.[14]
Million CZK 201220132014201520162017 2018
Operating revenues 15,010 13,992 15,558 16,902 29,864
Operating profit 86 149 274 488 71 223 303
Net profit after tax 47 158 60 192 193 (500) 81
Assets 1,998 2,798 2,993 3,728 4,458 4,342 5,964
Equity 575 735 777 982 1,981 1,443 1,552
Liabilities 593 1,315 1,320 1,470 2,384 2,771 4,174

Destinations
Main article: List of Smartwings destinations

Fleet

Current fleet
Smartwings Boeing 737-800
Smartwings Boeing 737 MAX 8

As of March 2020 the Smartwings fleet consists of the following aircraft:[15][16]

Smartwings fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Boeing 737-700 2 — – 148 148
Boeing 737-800 23 — 18 150 168
– 189 189
Boeing 737-900ER 2 — – 212 212
Boeing 737 MAX 8 7 32[17] – 189 189[17] All aircraft grounded until further notice.
Total 35 32

Business jet fleet
Smartwings also operates private business jets (Cessna Citation Sovereign).

Smartwings also operates business jets that are available for private air charter.[18] As of January 2017 the business jet fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Smartwings business jet fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
Cessna Citation Sovereign 4[19] — 9
Cessna Citation Sovereign+ 1[19] — 9
Cessna Citation Longitude 1 — 9
Total 5

Previously operated

Accidents and incidents
  • On 22 August 2019, a Smartwings Boeing 737-800 (OK-TVO) operated flight QS-1125 from Samos, Greece to Prague, Czech Republic with 170 passengers on board. The aircraft was flying at 36,000 feet over the Aegean Sea about 100 nm northeast of Athens, Greece when it had an engine failure. The crew drifted the aircraft down to 24,000 without informing ATC of the emergency. Instead, they continued to Prague at that level for a landing without further incident about 2 hours and 20 minutes later. The Czech Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed that an investigation has been launched into the incident: "we have decided to launch an investigation as the procedure followed doesn't seem standard."[22][23] Following the incident, the Prague Police launched an investigation into the flight on suspicion of endangering the public due to negligence, and a Smartwings internal investigation removed the captain as head of flight operations.[24] In July 2020, the CAA released its final report, which blamed the incident on the captain failing to follow mandatory procedures, namely, to land as soon as possible at a diversion airport after an engine failure.[24]
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References
  1. "IATA - Airline and Airport Code Search". iata.org. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  2. "Výpis z obchodního rejstříku - Smartwings, a.s." (in Czech). Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic.
  3. "Travel Service Contacts". Travel Service, a.s.
  4. "Travel Service hlásí za loňský rok skoro o pětinu víc cestujících" (in Czech). Novinky.cz. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  5. Annual Report of Travel Service 2007
  6. "Icelandair Group signs LOI to acquire Czech airline operator Travel Service". Air Transport World. Retrieved 13 May 2007.
  7. "Icelandair Group hf. Prospectus - October 2010" (PDF). euroinvestor.dk.
  8. "Icelandair Group sells 20% of its share in the Czech airline Travel Service". euroinvestor.dk. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  9. "Chinese-backed firm Travel Service to take over Czech Airlines". Reuters. 6 November 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  10. Travel Service Rebrand
  11. "Travel Service mění nátěr letadel. Místo červené bude oranžová a logo Smartwings". Zdopravy.cz (in Czech). 2018-03-16. Retrieved 2018-03-31.
  12. https://zdopravy.cz/konec-ery-travel-service-akconar-schvalili-zmenu-jmena-na-smartwings-20558/
  13. austrianaviation.net - "Smartwings establishes German subsidiary" (German) 7 March 2019
  14. "Annual Report — Zpráva nezávislého auditora — k účetní závěrce a výroční zprávě — za období od 01.01.2017 do 31.12.2017". eJustice. Rödl & Partner Audit, s.r.o.
  15. "Global Airline Guide 2017 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2017): 13.
  16. planespotters.net retrieved 24 March 2020
  17. "iDnes". idnes.cz. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  18. "Business jet". Travel Service. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  19. "Travel Service rozšíří flotilu business jetů, první v Evropě kupuje novou Cessnu". E15.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  20. "Planes.cz".
  21. "Planes.cz".
  22. "Engine of a SmartWings Boeing 737-800 shuts down in-flight, crew continues to Prague for another 2 hours and 20 minutes on remaining engine". Aviation24. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  23. "Smartwings probed for continuing flight after engine failure". Reuters. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  24. Gibertini, Vanni (26 July 2020). "Investigation Blames Pilot Error For Smartwings Engine Shutdown Incident". Airline Geeks. Retrieved 2 August 2020.

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