Travel Service (airline)

Travel Service
IATA ICAO Callsign
QS[1] TVS SKYTRAVEL
Founded 1998[2]
Operating bases Václav Havel Airport Prague
Focus cities
Subsidiaries
Fleet size 41
Destinations 92
Headquarters Prague, Czech Republic
Key people
  • Jiří Šimáně
  • Roman Vik
  • Jiří Jurán
Website www.travelservice.aero

Travel Service, a.s.[2] is a Czech charter airline and the biggest airline in the Czech Republic, with its head office on the property of Václav Havel Airport Prague in Ruzyně, 6th district, Prague.[3] It operates charter flights, mainly to leisure destinations, and also wet and dry leases aircraft to other airlines. It operates scheduled flights under the lowcost brand SmartWings,[4] owns 98 % of Czech Airlines, and has subsidiaries in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.

History

In 2007, the company carried 2.2 million passengers, one 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.[5]

On 18 September 2007, the Icelandair Group acquired 50% stake in the carrier and purchased further shares to bring its holding to 80% by April 2008. In December 2008 it reduced its holding to 66% by selling shares to the other shareholders, Unimex.[6][7] In 2009 their stake was further diluted to 50.1% through a new share issue, and they also sold a portion of their stake to fellow owners reducing their holding to 30%[8][9] In 2009 Icelandair spun its 30% stake in Travel Service into a new company, that was the taken over by Icelandair's creditors. Chinese investment group CEFC China Energy holds a 49.9% stake in Travel Service.[10] 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 October 2017 it was announced that Travel Service plans to change its branding from an Airline to a Holding Company and will move all of its operations under the SmartWings brand.[11] In 2018, it was announced that Travel Service liveries on the airplanes will be replaced by SmartWings livery.[12] Also, deliveries of the new Boeing 737 MAX began.

Business figures

Travel Service head office in Prague
Selected financial results of Travel Service, a.s.
million CZK20052006200720082009
Operating revenues 4,3914,8445,8186,5117,006
Operating profit 4073205384344
Net profit after tax (25)151564212
Assets 1,0741,2051,5642,2261,653
Equity 7062237158409
Liabilities 1,0041,1431,3272,0681,245

Destinations

Fleet

Travel Service received its first Boeing 737 MAX in January 2018
Travel Service Boeing 737-800
Travel Service also operates private business jets

Current fleet

As of February 2018 the Travel Service fleet consists of the following aircraft (this list also includes all aircraft in SmartWings livery, since they are all operated by Travel Service):[13][14][15]

Travel Service fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Boeing 737-700 2 — – 148 148 Both in SmartWings livery
Boeing 737-800 38 — 18 150 168 Twenty-eight in SmartWings livery
One in Moravian-Silesian Region livery
– 189 189
Boeing 737-900ER 2 — – 212 212
Boeing 737 MAX 8 6 33[16] – 189 189[16] in SmartWings livery
Deliveries 2018–2021
Total 48 33

Business jet fleet

Travel service also operates business jets that are available for private air charter.[17] As of January 2017 the business jet fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Travel Service business jet fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
Cessna Citation Sovereign 3[18] — 9
Cessna Citation Sovereign+ 1[18] — 9
Cessna Citation Longitude — 1[19] 9 Delivery in 2018
Total 4 1

Previously operated

References

  1. ↑ "IATA - Airline and Airport Code Search". iata.org. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Výpis z obchodního rejstříku - Travel Service, a.s." (in Czech). Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic.
  3. ↑ "Travel Service Contacts". Travel Service, a.s.
  4. ↑ "SmartWings Contact". smartwings.com.
  5. ↑ "Travel Service hlásí za loňský rok skoro o pětinu víc cestujících" (in Czech). Novinky.cz. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  6. ↑ Annual Report of Travel Service 2007
  7. ↑ "Icelandair Group signs LOI to acquire Czech airline operator Travel Service". Air Transport World. Retrieved 13 May 2007.
  8. ↑ "Icelandair Group hf. Prospectus - October 2010" (PDF). euroinvestor.dk.
  9. ↑ "Icelandair Group sells 20% of its share in the Czech airline Travel Service". euroinvestor.dk. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  10. ↑ "Chinese-backed firm Travel Service to take over Czech Airlines". Reuters. 6 November 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  11. ↑ https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/60187-czech-airlines-has-new-owner-as-travel-service-ups-stake Travel Service Rebrand]
  12. ↑ "Travel Service mění nátěr letadel. Místo červené bude oranžová a logo SmartWings". Zdopravy.cz (in Czech). 2018-03-16. Retrieved 2018-03-31.
  13. ↑ "CAA Czech Republic".
  14. ↑ Travel Service Fleet retrieved 8 July 2016
  15. ↑ "Global Airline Guide 2017 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2017): 13.
  16. 1 2 "iDnes". idnes.cz. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  17. ↑ "Business jet". Travel Service. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  18. 1 2 "Travel Service rozšíří flotilu business jetů, první v Evropě kupuje novou Cessnu". E15.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  19. ↑ "Travel Service objednal letoun Cessna Citation Longitude" [Travel Service orders Cessna Citation Longitude]. planes.cz (in Czech). 24 October 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  20. ↑ "Planes.cz".
  21. ↑ "Planes.cz".

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