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With flight patterns returning to normal after an unprecedented blow to their traffic in 2020, Prague airport officials visited Atlanta this week to continue a pitch for a nonstop flight to the Czech capital that started before the pandemic.
The delegation was here to advance a “sister-airport” arrangement hatched in April 2019, one of many that the world’s busiest and most efficient airport, Hartsfield-Jackson, has launched with its counterparts around the globe.
“Today, our bond with the Czech Republic is stronger than ever and we look forward to continuing to foster and grow these ties,” said Odie Donald, chief of staff for Mayor Andre Dickens, in welcoming aviation executives from the Czech capital’s gateway, Vaclav Havel International Airport.
Atlanta’s acclaimed airport is run by the City of Atlanta; while its sister-airport partnerships focus on training and sharing management best practices, the Prague officials made it clear that they had another ulterior motive: boosting tourism and business traffic from the Southeast U.S.
At least one person from the initial signing — Jiri Kraus, vice chairman of the board of directors — joined this week’s Czech delegation, which also included board Chairman Jiri Pos; Jiri Vyskoc, executive director for aviation business and Radek Nehoda, executive director for asset management.
Monika Vintrlikova, honorary consul of the Czech Republic in Georgia, met with the group at the airport. Her predecessor, the late George Novak, said at the 2019 MOU signing that he got the idea to reconnect Atlanta and Prague during the 2015 celebration of ATL becoming the first airport in the world to hit 100 million passengers.
Prague’s airport, PRG, is decidedly smaller, handling a record 17.8 passengers in 2019. Its 2021 full-year total, 4.4 million, remained down 75 percent from the pre-pandemic peak.
The sister-airport agreement with Prague was the the seventh such pact signed by Hartsfield-Jackson and its first in Europe. Other sister airports are located in Cote D’Ivoire, Israel, Liberia, China, El Salvador and Jamaica.
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