Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Václav Havel Airport Prague is the Czech Republic's principal international gateway, sited at Ruzyně on the western edge of the capital. It is a large, fully controlled aerodrome with two long paved runways and full ILS coverage, making it a straightforward if busy destination for simulator pilots flying airliner or business-jet types into central Europe.
Václav Havel Airport Prague, known by its ICAO code LKPR, is the sole civil airport serving the Czech capital and the country's busiest by a wide margin. It sits in the Ruzyně district on the western fringe of Prague, close to the village of Kněževes, and today functions as a hub for Smartwings and an operating base for Ryanair and Eurowings. For a simulator pilot it offers a classic large European hub experience: parallel-style runway operations, full ATC services, ILS approaches and a busy mix of airline and general traffic.
The airport lies at the edge of the Prague-Ruzyně area, about 12 km west of the centre of Prague and roughly 12 km southeast of Kladno. It sits within controlled airspace commensurate with a major international airport, with dedicated approach, radar, tower, ground and clearance delivery services covering arrivals and departures to and from the Prague area.
The airfield has two physical runways. Runway 06/24 is a hard-surfaced, lit runway of about 12,169 ft (06) and 12,168 ft (24), equipped with ILS on both directions, and is the main runway. Runway 12/30 is a hard-surfaced, lit runway of about 10,671 ft (12) and 10,670 ft (30), also equipped with ILS on both directions. Both runways are substantial enough to accommodate the full range of airliner types likely to be flown into Prague in a flight simulator.
Prague operates a full suite of radio services. Praha Approach is available on 120.53 MHz and 127.58 MHz, with Ruzyně Radar on 119.01 MHz. Ruzyně Tower operates on 134.56 MHz, Ruzyně Ground on 121.91 MHz, and Ruzyně Delivery (clearance) on 120.06 MHz. Ruzyně Information broadcasts on 118.31 MHz, and the airport ATIS is on 122.16 MHz. Both runways are equipped with ILS, supporting instrument approaches in all but the poorest visibility conditions on the main runway.
Prague-Ruzyně Airport opened on 5 April 1937, replacing the earlier Kbely Airport (which had served since 1919 and is now home to the Prague Aviation Museum) as the city's principal airport. The original check-in building, designed by architect Adolf Benš, won a Diploma and Gold Medal at the 1937 Paris International Art and Technical Exhibition and survives today as part of Terminal 4. The airport was reconstructed and extended in 1956, 1968, 1997 and 2006. In one of its most dramatic episodes, it was seized by Soviet paratroopers on the night of 20-21 August 1968, who used it to bring in troops and transport aircraft for the invasion of Czechoslovakia. In October 2012 the airport was renamed in honour of Václav Havel, the playwright and former president who led Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic through the transition to democracy, following a public petition that gathered over 65,000 signatures in a single week. The main runway, 06/24, was reconstructed between 2012 and 2014 owing to poor technical condition; during the works runway 12/30 carried all traffic, though its approach path over densely populated areas of Prague 6 and Kladno, and its lack of Category II/III ILS minima, meant the later stages of the project had to be merged to finish the job in 2013. A former runway, 04/22, is now permanently closed.
Václav Havel Airport Prague remains the only civil airport serving the capital and the busiest in the Czech Republic, handling well over 15 million passengers a year across its two terminals. It serves as the hub for Smartwings and as an operating base for Ryanair and Eurowings, with a wide range of European and intercontinental carriers using the field. Further terminal and infrastructure expansion, including new concourse capacity, is planned for the later part of this decade.
