New airline plans to fly direct from Joburg to Czech Republic and Croatia
An ambitious new Croatian airline startup has announced plans to launch direct flights between Johannesburg to Prague in the Czech Republic and Dubrovnik in Croatia. The airline, called PRAGUSA.ONE, also plans to fly to New York, Los Angeles, Beijing, Tokyo and a number of other destinations.
But the start-up, which hopes to begin flying in June, has been met with scepticism. Apart from pandemic-induced travel bans, the aviation market in Central and Eastern Europe has remained fairly underdeveloped. It also remains unclear whether there will be a strong travel demand for South Africans to Central and Eastern Europe, which require visas.
But this hasn’t stopped Croatian entrepreneur, Kresimir Budinski, from attracting investments for PRAGUSA.ONE, the strartup airline which aims to operate from Václav Havel Airport in Prague and Dubrovnik Airport. Budinski has already secured incentives from both airports and is planning to apply for a Croatian Air Operator Certificate (AOC) in April, according to an exclusive interview with SimpleFlying. Budinski is the founder of the app Air Ticket Arena, which provides last-minute fliers the option to bid on unsold tickets.
PRAGUSA.ONE – a combination of “Prague” and Dubrovnik’s historical name “Ragusa” – is also proposing a unique business model, which relies on four Airbus A350-900 aircraft being fitted with 251 “premium economy” seats.
This uncommon single-class configuration, which is described as being between economy and business class in both comfort and cost, offers a bit of extra legroom, wider seats, and more space to recline.
Budinski is hoping to purchase these single-class aircraft by 2024 but, in the meantime, plans to wet-lease two A330-300s and two A350-900s which will be split between Prague and Dubrovnik.
PRAGUSA.ONE is planning to conduct its maiden flight in June, which, considering the ongoing uncertainty surrounding travel restrictions amid the Covid-19 pandemic, has been described as wishful thinking by aviation experts.
“While I love to see innovation in the airline industry, and while I’d love a concept like this to work, I just don’t get how the math could possibly make sense,” notes travel writer Ben Schlappig, in response to PRAGUSA.ONE’s flight plans which rely heavily on seasonal tourism.
