Czech Airlines is extending its transport network and, on 21 June 2016, is relaunching its regular service between Prague and Beirut.
The route will be operated as seasonal with Czech Airlines servicing two weekly frequencies.
Czech Airlines is relaunching the Prague – Beirut route after more than a four-year-break. The carrier will operate two return flights a week on the route, departing Prague on Mondays and Thursdays in the evening. In the reverse direction, flights will leave Beirut on Tuesdays and Fridays in the early morning hours.
Czech Airlines will operate its first regular flight on the Prague – Beirut route on 20 June 2016. Departures from Prague are scheduled for 9:45 p.m. and arrive in Beirut at 2:15 a.m. the next day, while return flights from Beirut will take-off at 3:10 a.m. with arrivals in Prague at 6:05 a.m. The Prague – Beirut flight takes three and a half hours, while the return Beirut – Prague service lasts nearly four hours.
Czech Airlines will use modern Airbus A319 jet aircraft in a two-travel-class configuration, Business and Economy, to operate the Prague – Beirut flights. For now, the route connecting the Czech and Lebanese capitals will be operated as seasonal with the last Prague – Beirut flight of this season provided on 29 September 2016.
“Our renewed Prague – Beirut connection was primarily designed for the Lebanese market and tourists travelling to Prague and the Czech Republic, West and North Europe, and based on co-operation with tour operators. Nevertheless, Beirut itself and its vicinity, for example the nearby cities of Byblos and Baalbek, has also a lot to offer tourists from the Czech Republic, West and North Europe thanks to their rich history, beautiful sights, unique atmosphere, exceptional cuisine and stunning beaches on the Mediterranean Sea shore. Our flights to/from Beirut ideally connect to a number of our services to or from West and North Europe. This will be appreciated by transfer passengers from Germany, France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia as Beirut and Lebanon will become more accessible to tourists from those countries and thus more attractive,” Ján Tóth, Czech Airlines Director of Commerce and Marketing said, adding: “Together with the renewal of Czech Airlines’ Beirut – Prague connection, the carrier is also rejuvenating its partnership with the Transas Company, a Czech Airlines partner since 1953. Transas will now perform the role of Czech Airlines’ General Sales Agent in Lebanon.”
Czech Airlines’ regular service between Prague and Beirut is ideally connected to a number of Czech Airlines’ or its partners’ flights to/from Prague (in both directions). Upon arrival in Prague from Beirut, passengers, following an easy transfer, can continue aboard Czech Airlines’ flights to, for example, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Budapest, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Nice, Paris, Stockholm and Warsaw.
Historically, the first flight to Beirut was operated by Czech Airlines (as Czechoslovak Airlines) on 2 September 1948. The route was serviced without interruption until 13 February 2012, when its operations were temporarily discontinued due to the company’s restructuring process. After more than four years, Czech Airlines has now renewed the route service under the same flight numbers, OK 296 and OK 297, and with the same departure times.