Over the first quarter of this year, Czech Airlines carried 1.06 million passengers, thus registering a 5.2 percent increase over Q-1 2006.  It took CSA thirty years to carry it first million passengers, crossing that threshold in 1952.  And in 1964, for the first time, CSA carried more than one million passengers in a calendar year.

Regular carriage accounted for the greatest share of the overall carriage results in the January - March 2007 period, with a share of over 90 percent.  Over the first three months of the year, nearly 963,000 passengers travelled on regular CSA services, which is 6.2 percent more than in Q-1 2006.  The greatest demand in the CSA network in the first quarter was for the flights between Prague and Paris, Moscow, Amsterdam, Madrid, and Dublin.  Over the first three months of 2007, CSA also carried more than 5,200 tonnes of goods and mail.  Overall, CSA operated more than 8,840 flights.

Czech Airlines charter flights, primarily to exotic destinations, were used by nearly 103,000 passengers in the first quarter.  The most popular charter destinations were Varadero, Cuba; La Isla Margarita, Venezuela; and La Romana and Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic.

CSA continues to improve the services it offers to its passengers.  The Company is gradually renewing its medium-haul fleet.  On European routes, eight Airbus A320/319 aircraft were deployed in the first quarter, of which six were manufactured just this year and last.  The Airline took delivery of another A320 airplane on Friday night, and the last new plane for this year, an Airbus A319, will be delivered to CSA this week.

In 2006, Czech Airlines carried a record 5.5 million passengers, representing a 4.8 percent year-on-year increase.  In 2005, CSA carried 5.2 million passengers, and the year before 4.3 million.  This year, CSA plans to carry over 5.7 million passengers.
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