President Pavel saved money on a private flight to Morocco

President Petr Pavel travelled to Morocco on holiday in a cost-saving way: on a 30-year-old plane operated by a Moroccan airline. This was explained by Richard Santus, owner and head of the Czech company Aeropartner. The trip drew criticism because the president first said that his holiday would keep him from voting in the elections, but then came back after all.

Why this flight turned out to be cheap

“If my information is correct, the president chose the economical option. The plane he flew on is 30 years old, so the price paid for it was, I think, very reasonable,” Santus said. According to the publication, a private flight from Prague to Morocco costs hundreds of thousands of crowns.

For the unexpected Friday trip from Morocco to Prague and back because of the municipal elections, Pavel picked a local carrier, which, according to Santus, cut costs even further. The plane was used on both legs: it brought the president to Prague, waited, and flew back. With a Prague-based company, the flights “there and back” would have had to be paid for twice, that is, double the price.

How cheap “empty” flights work

On one-way private jet trips, airlines try to fill the return leg too, so the aircraft does not fly empty. These flights are offered on specialised platforms to brokers, intermediaries and end customers, for whom the flight can be noticeably cheaper.

Santus gave an example: the main client, around whom everything is arranged, may pay about 20 thousand euros for a flight from Prague to London. Someone who buys the “empty” return leg, already paid for once by the first client, pays five or six thousand euros. According to him, the cheapest way to fly from Prague to London is on the smallest aircraft, for roughly 10–11 thousand euros, or 250–280 thousand crowns.

What aircraft owners do not want

After the president’s trip, reports appeared that he had flown on a jet belonging to businessman Pavel Hubáček. It then turned out that the plane did indeed belong to Hubáček, but that it can be rented in the usual way. The owner, however, is entitled to set conditions.

According to Santus, owners lately most often do not want people on sanctions lists on board, or clients prone to unruly behaviour in the air, for example because of alcohol. These are often young people of about 20, the so-called golden youth. A client cannot rule out the plane of an owner they would rather not fly with: they specify range, capacity and desired comfort.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz