Czechia’s Smartwings to open Canary Islands base

Smartwings (Czechia) (QS, Prague Václav Havel) has secured charter contracts for the Winter 2021/22 season for services connecting Las Palmas with various airports in continental Europe, as well as out of Germany and Switzerland to destinations in the Canary Islands and Greece.

The Czech carrier said that the two contracts for flights out of Las Palmas are due to start in mid-October 2021 and cover services through the end of April 2022. While it did not name the “major” tour operator customers, it said that it would connect the airport with Helsinki Vantaa, Belgrade, Tallinn Lennart Meri, Sofia, Bodø, and Tromsø (weekly to each of the destinations).

Separately, the airline will also operate to the Canary Islands (Las Palmas and Fuerteventura) from nine airports in Germany and Zurich under another contract with unnamed German travel agencies. This agreement also covers operations to Heraklion and Rhodes in Greece and will start on October 1, 2021.

Combined with its previously planned services to the Canary Islands from Czechia, Poland, Slovakia, and France, the airline plans to base three aircraft out of the Spanish archipelago.

Smartwings, which owns financially struggling Czech flag carrier CSA Czech Airlines (OK, Prague Václav Havel), operates a mix of charter and scheduled routes with a heavy emphasis on leisure destinations. Its fleet currently comprises two B737-700s, twenty-four B737-800s, seven B737-8s, and two B737-900(ER)s, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows.