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Prague Airport is holding a gala opening of the
new airport terminal today.

This news was published on Friday, January 13th, 2006 and is archived under Airports.

Prague Airport is holding a gala opening of the new airport terminal today. By launching Terminal North 2, Prague Airport has made a significant step in the effort to modernize its facilities, offer seamless handling and increase the transport capacity of the airport, which is becoming one of the major air hubs in Central and Eastern Europe. Terminal North 2 will start operating on 17 January.

The new terminal will allow Prague Airport to handle another up to 4 million passengers a year. More planned investment linked to this terminal will help channel more visitors to Prague and double the number of passengers to around 20 million a year roughly over the next 12 years.

“With the increase in capacity, Prague now clearly belongs among the European airport elite and the Czech Republic has become a key player on the air transport market,” said Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek who led the opening ceremony of Terminal North 2 together with Mr. Milan Šimonovský, Minister of Transport, and Ms. Hana Černochová, General Director of Prague Airport. “Equally important is the fact that the growth in air transport creates new jobs,” Mr. Paroubek added.

The number of passengers handled by Prague Airport has been growing at a fast pace in the recent years. “Last year, Prague Airport handled around 10.8 million passengers. We expect this number to increase further this year,” Ms. Hana Černochová, General Director of Prague Airport, stated.

Thanks to the new Terminal North 2, Prague Airport already satisfies the conditions  of the future membership of the Czech Republic in the Schengen Area, as it will allow simply to separate flights between the Schengen Agreement countries (regarded as domestic) from other international flights.   

Prague Airport earmarked a CZK 10 billion investment for the original construction budget for the terminal. As a result of dividing the whole project into six individual packages with separate tenders, construction cost management and a consistent review of costs while preserving high quality standards, savings of CZK 1.8 billion were achieved. The construction cost of the new terminal totals CZK 8.2 billion so far. The new terminal itself as the biggest facility of the whole project cost CZK 3.3 billion and was built by Skanska. In addition to the terminal, the airport has grown to include the connection facility, linking the old and the new hall, and Finger C which will allow for direct boarding. Both facilities have already been put into operation in September, ahead of schedule. Furthermore, the project includes other facilities, such as the access flyover, collector, etc.

Under the EUropa Project, other facilities are slated to be added to the terminal by the end of 2006, further enhancing the standards of Prague Airport. Estimated costs exceed one billion crowns.

Terminal North 2 is designed to allow for a flexible increase in airport capacity. The check-in hall, for example, is built to potentially accommodate twice as many check-in counters. There are twenty departure gates in Finger C alone, another seven could be built directly in the terminal hall, as well as in the envisaged Finger D at the opposite end of the building.   

Terminal North 2 stands out by its concept. In contrast to the current Terminal North 1 it uses a two-floor layout. Passengers arriving to Prague will be handled separately from those departing from the city.

Thanks to the new terminal, the area of Ruzyně airport will grow by more than 53 thousand square meters. The number of check-in counters will increase from 62 to the total of 122. The number of boarding gates will rise to 47, out of which 27 equipped with boarding bridges, with the possibility to extend those further in the future. Seamless handling will also be facilitated by 12 new passport control points, which is one more than in the existing terminal. The hourly handling capacity thus doubles to 3400 passengers.

Also, passengers will enjoy more comfort, for example in the new conference rooms and other facilities, aimed at, among other, VIP and business clients, passengers traveling with children, etc. The number of new shops and catering facilities in the public and transit areas of the terminal will also increase significantly and the service space for air carriers will be extended.
 

Source: Prague Airport
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