Prague-Letňany Airport
| Prague Airport - Letňany Letiště Praha Letňany |
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| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LKLT |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 278 m (912 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 7 km northeast of Prague |
| Local transport | Letňany terminus of line C of the Prague metro |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1925 |
| operator | Gemini PORT, as |
| Runways | |
| 05L / 23R | 860 m × 25 m grass |
| 05R / 23L | 800 m × 25 m grass |
The Prague-Letňany Airport ( Czech Letiště Praha Letňany ) is a public domestic and non-public international airport . It is located in the administrative district of Prague 18 in the Letňany cadastral district and borders on Prague 19 ( Kbely ) to the east . After its existence had been uncertain for a long time, it was bought by a British investment company in December 2007, which intends to continue operating the airport for general aviation . Open-air events are occasionally held here. It is the only airport in Prague that can be reached by metro . The airfield is due to a colony of European Ziesels the National Natural Monument was declared.
history
The airfield was founded in 1925, at the same time the Letov State Aircraft Works moved from the nearby Prague-Kbely military airfield to Letňany. In 1927 a military flight school was established here and the airfield became the center of flight research for Czechoslovakia and other European countries. All newly developed Czechoslovak aircraft have been tested here, and other countries, such as Turkey, use the airport for their first flights . In 1931 the aircraft manufacturer Aero moved here , also from Kbely, and the last to follow was Praga , the aircraft division of the ČKD concern . Of seven Czechoslovak aircraft manufacturers, three worked at the Letňany airfield. Avia operated a plant in neighboring Čakovice , and Kbely had the largest military and (until the founding of Ruzyně airport ) also the largest civil airport in the country.
The decline came after the communist takeover in 1948. ČKD and Letov stopped production and Aero relocated the main location to Vodochody . In the 1960s Avia stopped production in Čakovice and the airfield there was closed. Only the research and test flight institute remained at the Letňany site and the Svazarm (Army Support Association) sports pilots were added. At the end of the 1960s, the runway was significantly shortened when the Prosek settlement was built. Until 1989 the airfield was used less and less for research and test flights and the sport aviation traffic increased more and more. In the 1980s, the state company ČKD became the new owner, who wanted to set up an in-house airline based on the model of Škoda . These plans were abandoned in 1989.
In the mid-1990s, after the ČKD Holding went bankrupt, it was threatened with closure. At the end of 2007, a British investment company acquired the airfield. Since November 1st, 2009 the company Gemini PORT as from Hradec Králové is the new operator . It replaced the previous operator Aeroklub Praha Letňany.
Infrastructure, accessibility, nature and use
There are two parallel runways and a helicopter landing pad in operation. In addition to general aviation, there are flight schools, a place for model airplanes , a racetrack for model cars and a golf course .
The airport can be reached with the metro line C ; the corresponding underground station is called Letňany .
In 2005 the airfield was declared a national nature reserve because of the largest population of the European ground squirrel in the Czech Republic. About 400–500 animals live here. The critically endangered ground squirrel was found in 26 locations in the Czech Republic in 2005. Most of them are cultivated areas that are mowed regularly, such as sports airfields, golf courses and garden colonies.
The airfield is used for open-air concerts; In 2017, for example, Robbie Williams played a concert here, and in 2018 the Rolling Stones performed here as part of their No Filter Tour . In 2019 Metallica played at Letňany airfield.
Web links
Bubovice | Kladno | Prague-Letňany | Prague-Ruzyně | Prague-Točná | Vodochody
Military: Prague-Kbely