Czech Airlines (ČSA) was founded in 1923 as Československé státní aerolinie. Since October 2026 it has been owned, together with the Smartwings group, by the Turkish company Pegasus Airlines.
Czech Airlines (ČSA) was founded in 1923 as Československé státní aerolinie. It stopped flying under its OK code in 2024.[1]
Owners and development
In 2013, owing to financial difficulties, the Korean carrier Korean Air entered the company and acquired 44 percent of its shares. In February 2018 the majority owner became Smartwings, which already held a third of the shares and bought out the stakes of Korean Air (44 percent) and the state enterprise Prisko (20 percent). In March 2021, ČSA fell into insolvency because of heavy debts, and the new investors were the Smartwings owners Jiří Šimáně and Roman Vik with Chinese partners.[1]
At the beginning of October 2024, ČSA changed its business model and became the parent company of the Smartwings group, in which it holds a majority stake.[1]
Takeover by Pegasus Airlines
Pegasus Airlines, headquartered in Istanbul, announced the purchase of ČSA, including its subsidiaries and related receivables, for EUR 154 million, or about CZK 3.8 billion. According to Smartwings spokeswoman Vladimíra Dufková, the takeover was completed on 1 October 2026 after all necessary regulatory approvals had been obtained. The Czech Úřad pro ochranu hospodářské soutěže approved it about a month earlier on the condition that Pegasus cede part of its summer slots on the Prague–Antalya route to another carrier.[1][2]
Chronology
- — Turkish company Pegasus Airlines completed its takeover of Czech Airlines and Smartwings. → Novinky.cz Seznam Zprávy
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Sources
- Seznam Zprávy — 1 October 2026
- Novinky.cz — 1 October 2026