A new all-A350 airline is coming, and its name is PRAGUSA.ONE. The ambitious carrier will be based out of Prague and Dubrovnik, and will fly around the world with AIrbus A350-900s. Most excitingly, the airline plans to outfit its widebodies with an all-premium economy arrangement, offering a new take on affordable long-haul comfort.
PRAGUSA.ONE, a British investment vehicle, is applying for an Air Operator Certificate in a European Union member state to launch an airline that will operate flights to Central and Eastern Europe to the United States, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Africa.
The start up airline is already negotiating with Airbus for an order of four Airbus A350-900 aircraft in a single-class configuration, each fitted with 251 premium economy seats. The company plans to base two A359s in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and the other two in Prague, Czech Republic.
The A350s are not planned for delivery until 2024, but PRAGUSA.ONE wants to start flying sooner, in June 2021, using four wet-leased A350-900s and A330-300s.
PRAGUSA.ONE wants to fill a market gap for premium travel to CE Europe
A British company named PRAGUSA.ONE wants to establish an airline of the same name using an Air Operator Certificate it will apply for in April 2021 in Croatia. With its Croatian AOC, as an EU member state airline, PRAGUSA.ONE would then open a multi-aircraft base in two major tourist destinations in Central and Eastern Europe: Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG) in the Czech Republic and Dubrovnik Airport (DBV) in Croatia. The choice is deliberate: the company name, PRAGUSA.ONE, is a combination of the words Prague and Ragusa (the historical name for Dubrovnik). Both airports have already agreed to provide incentives for PRAGUSA.ONE.
At the same time, PRAGUSA.ONE has established contact with the network of airports it wants to fly to out of its bases in Prague and Dubrovnik. These are New York (EWR), Tokyo (NRT), Beijing (PEK), Los Angeles (LAX), Singapore (SIN), Johannesburg (JNB), Chengdu (CTU), and Kuala Lumpur (KUL).
PRAGUSA.ONE has a four-year timeline
The company is in talks with Airbus to place an order for four A350-900 aircraft in a single-class configuration only, offering 251 Premium Economy seats in each. The deliveries of these would take place in 2024. Both Dubrovnik and Prague would receive two of these A359s each.
However, PRAGUSA.ONE does not plan to wait until the A350s are delivered to start operations. It wants to start flying in June 2021 already, and it plans to use wet-leased aircraft from an established European aircraft provider to do so. The company is negotiating to wet-lease two Airbus A350-900 and two A330-330 aircraft.
The planned start date for operations, June 2021, is deliberately targeting a gap in the market that has emerged as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that have been imposed globally. In PRAGUSA.ONE’s two target airports, Prague and Dubrovnik, there has been a considerable loss of seat capacity to far-away markets. American Airlines will not be operating its daily Philadelphia-Dubrovnik flights this summer, and Qatar Airways has canceled the launch of its Doha-Dubrovnik route. In Prague, direct flights to both Shanghai and Beijing have been canceled with both Hainan Airlines and China Eastern Airlines pulling out of the Czech Republic.
What products will be on offer?
Customers wishing to travel on PRAGUSA.ONE’s services will have several choices on offer. For example:
- 7-day return trips with organized tours to a single destination, e.g. LAX – PRG – LAX
- 14-day return trips to both Central and Eastern European destinations, e.g. ERW – DBV followed by PRG – ERW
- One-way tickets, e.g. DBV – LAX
- Return trips of any duration, e.g. PEK – DBV – PEK
You can find further details about PRAGUSA.ONE’s plans, including an analysis of what the airline’s plans will mean for Dubrovnik and Prague, in this Simple Flying article.
What do you make of PRAGUSA.ONE’s plans for Dubrovnik and Prague? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.