The Story Of Czech Airlines" Former Widebody Fleet

The carrier used to fly twin-aisle jets from European manufacturer Airbus.


Photo: Lukáš Musil via Wikimedia Commons

ČSA Czech Airlines has flown an interesting variety of aircraft over the years, including classic jets from the Soviet era. Recent times have seen it fly a more consolidated all-Airbus fleet, which currently consists solely of narrowbody designs. However, in previous years, Airbus widebodies also formed part of its operations.

Read more: Prague Airport: Positive thinking!

The A310 was the dominant force

Upon examining data from ATDB.aero, it becomes clear that, when it came to twin-aisle designs from Airbus, the European manufacturer's A310-300 was the model of choice at Czech Airlines. Indeed, of the five Airbus widebodies that flew for ČSA over the years, four were examples of this classic twin-engined aircraft.

The A310-300 shared the same dimensions as the original A310-200 but benefitted from increases in aspects such as its range and maximum takeoff weight (MTOW). As far as Czech Airlines' four examples of the type were concerned, they arrived in two distinct waves. The first pair joined the carrier brand-new in 1991.

OK-WAA was the first to come onboard at ČSA, doing so in February of that year. Meanwhile, OK-WAB followed a month later. After more than a decade of flying two A310-300s, June 2003 saw Czech Airlines take on a third example on a second-hand basis. This was joined by a fourth in October 2004. All four had left by May 2010, and the original pair remain active today at Iran's Mahan Air.

A single A330

Three years after its last Airbus A310-300 departed, Czech Airlines re-entered the world of widebodies with the arrival of OK-YBA, its sole A330-300. This aircraft was just under 12 years old at the time, having originally entered service with Korean Air as HL7701 in 2001. According to Planespotters.net, it seated 24 business class and 252 economy class passengers during its time at ČSA.

This spell was a long-term lease, and it came to an end when Czech Airlines withdrew the aircraft from use in February 2020, around a month before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic brought the world of commercial air travel screeching to a sudden halt. It returned to Korean Air in October 2020, whereupon it was re-registered as HL7701. Now 21 years old, it remains active today.

It is worth noting that there was also an example of the smaller A330-200 that was registered to Czech Airlines, but ultimately remained unused. This particular aircraft bore a Czech registration (OK-GBB), and was reportedly registered to the carrier between October 2018 and April 2019 before returning to Smartwings Poland.

The Czech Airlines fleet today

Nowadays, the Czech Airlines fleet is a rather more low-key affair than during its widebody years. Indeed, data from ch-avaition.com shows that it currently consists of just two aircraft: a 144-seat, 11.5-year-old A319-100 (OK-REQ) and a 180-seat, 20.1-year-old A320-200 (OK-HEU). Going forward, the carrier has plans to bolster its fleet with the addition of four Airbus A220-300s on a leased basis.