On 23 March 2011 a new Czech airline, Czech Connect Airlines, a. s. (stock company) starts regular flights from Karlovy Vary. So it has become another carrier offering their services on the route Karlovy Vary - Yekaterinburg. The Czech Connect Airlines (IATA code CQ) will fly the route regularly at the following times:
Karlovy Vary – Yekaterinburg (Wednesday)
Flight CQ 158 departs from Karlovy Vary at 22:50 and arrives in Yekaterinburg at 07:30 (morning next day).
Flight time: 4 hours 40 minutes
Yekaterinburg - Karlovy Vary (Thursday)
Flight CQ 159 departs from Yekaterinburg at 08.30 and arrives in Karlovy Vary at 09:30.
Flight time: 5 hours 00 minutes
The air connection will be provided by the aircraft Boeing 737 - 300 and the on-board services will be offered in two deck classes, Business for 20 passengers and Economy for 118 passengers. The Economy class passengers will be offered refreshment, including hotplate, free.
Mr Hubert Pikl, Business Development Director Czech Connect Airlines, says: „The Karlovy Vary – Yekaterinburg route is already the third route we have launched this year. Mainly the demand as well as the feedback we get prove that not only our routes to Moscow, Sankt Petersburg, but also to Yekaterinburg, and above all the whole Czech Connect Airlines policy has its space on the market“.
The route diversifies the offer of flights from Karlovy Vary airport and reacts to the demand and interest from the Russian clients for the direct flights to Karlovy Vary while travelling to the Czech Republic. It is estimated that about 1/3 of all the tourists from the Sverdlovsk region, travelling to the Czech Republic in summer, head to Karlovy Vary and the Karlovy Vary region. The new route is going to be used also by the Karlovy Vary region citizens, for whom Yekaterinburg may become an attractive gateway on their journeys to the Russian Federation.
Mr Josef Novotny, the Karlovy Vary Region Marshal: „Yekaterinburg is an important traffic junction, so I believe the new route from the Karlovy Vary airport could serve both the spa guests and the region citizens“.
Mr Vaclav Cerny, the airport director: „We are delighted to welcome a new carrier at our airport, the Czech Connect Airlines, and we believe that the new route will help the further develpoment of tourism in our region together with the air traffic at the airport“.
Yekaterinburg is the fourth largest city in the Russian Federation with a population
of 1,323,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Sverdlovsk Region and the Urals Federal District.
Between 1924 and 1991 the city was known as Sverdlovsk.
