President Pavel flies home from Morocco on Ryanair via Marseille

Czech President Petr Pavel returned from his holiday in Morocco on Thursday evening. He flew home not on a private plane but on a Ryanair low-cost flight with a layover in Marseille, iDNES.cz reports. He left the Moroccan airport of Nador at around noon.

According to a source familiar with the details of the holiday, the president originally planned to return by private plane again. But he then decided that would be too much, and a regular flight was sought.

Pavel flew to Morocco on Friday, 2 October. The trip coincided with the municipal elections, for which the head of state was criticised. According to iDNES.cz, he travelled on a private plane belonging to the family of billionaire Pavel Hubáček, founder of the Creditas group, who otherwise rents the aircraft out to clients. Prague Castle said the plane was chartered by a group of friends who split the costs among themselves.

Prague Castle initially announced that Pavel would not vote in the Černouček municipal council election because of a long-planned private trip abroad. It was described at the time as “a planning error the president regrets”. In the end, however, Pavel flew back to Czechia, voted in Černouček and then returned to Morocco.

For his flights to Prague and back he used the services of the airline Sarah Airways: six minutes before polling stations opened on Friday, its jet from Casablanca landed at Terminal 3 of Václav Havel Airport. The company specialises in transporting VIP passengers and in medical flights.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz