LETECKÁ DOPRAVA MEZI PRAHOU A VÍDNÍ V MEZIVÁLEČNÉM OBDOBÍ A ZA PROTEKTORÁTU
AIR TRANSPORT BETWEEN PRAGUE AND VIENNA IN INTERWAR PERIOD AND UNDER THE PRO-TECTORATE

Summary/Abstract: As well as for many other scientific and technological branches, the World War I represented a major step forward for the aviation. It cannot be of surprise that shortly after the end of war, almost all states and private investors started to think about establishing regular air transport between European cities. In the case of Czechoslovakia, while there was no problem with pilots or technicians, it did not have enough available aircraft. Another limit consisted in the fact that the defeated states, or their successors, were not allowed to decide about their air routes. The final word was with the allied committee. For the development of the air transport, it was equally important that the states reached an agreement on allowing foreign planes to pass through their territory. The regular air transport was initiated, at the end of 1920, by the French-Romanian Air Company (Compagnie franco-roumaine de navigation aérienne, CFRNA), a predecessor to the Air France. It first operated on the route Paris – Strasbourg – Prague – Warsaw, it was also planned to connect Prague via Vienna and Budapest to Bucharest, however, first such flight took place on May 1, 1922. Another planned air route was the connection from Vienna via Prague, Dresden to Berlin. Although this idea came up as early as at the beginning of 1920s, it was put into operation only in 1927 when the planes of Austrian Österreichische Luftverkehr and German Deutsche Lufthansa operated the route, a year later joined by the newly established Czechoslovak Air Company. During the occupation, there were air routes via Prague to Vienna and other European cities operated by the German company Deutsche Lufthansa, which employed also planes from the former Czechoslovak Air Company.

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