Smartwings Adds Prague-Venice and Prague-Bergen Flights in Winter 2026/27, Strengthening Czechia’s Business-Travel Links

Czech carrier Smartwings will broaden its European footprint this winter by launching two new scheduled services from Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG) to Venice Marco Polo (VCE) and Bergen Flesland (BGO). According to the airline-route update published on 29 June 2026, the Prague–Venice flight will start on 22 October and operate four times per week (Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday), while the Prague–Bergen flight will begin on 26 October with twice-weekly frequencies on Mondays and Fridays. The additions come as Central Europe’s largest leisure airline pivots toward higher-yield city-break and SME traffic alongside its core charter business. Venice gives Czech exporters, consulting firms and creative-industry professionals a nonstop link to northern Italy’s industrial cluster and major trade-fair venues, while Bergen plugs Czechia directly into Norway’s energy and shipping hub at a time when offshore-wind and green-hydrogen partnerships are gathering pace. Both routes offer convenient morning departures from Prague and late-afternoon returns, enabling out-and-back day trips for meetings. Prague Airport management has actively courted new point-to-point capacity to rebuild the network to 2019 levels. The airport handled 14.9 million passengers in 2025—still 8 % below its pre-pandemic peak—and has earmarked schedule diversification as a hedge against macro shocks. Smartwings’ decision reinforces Prague’s strategy of attracting traffic beyond traditional holiday markets and should lift winter seat capacity by roughly 30,000 seats, based on Boeing 737-800 operations. For corporate mobility managers, the move means shorter door-to-door journey times and reduced reliance on Vienna or Frankfurt connections. One-stop itineraries between Prague and Venice currently take 4-6 hours; the nonstop flight will cut this to 1 h 30 min. Likewise, Bergen trips that previously required transfers in Copenhagen or Amsterdam will drop from 5-7 hours to just over 2 h 20 min. Travelers holding Smartwings’ new corporate fare bundles will also have through-check-in to codeshare partners on onward European legs. Travel-risk advisers note that neither Italy nor Norway imposes additional Schengen border checks at present, but passengers should factor in the EU’s new Entry/Exit System biometric registration for non-EU nationals, which has been fully operational since mid-June 2026. Czech nationals remain exempt from ETIAS authorisations, yet companies employing third-country talent on assignment in Prague should verify visa validity for multi-country trips over the winter timetable.



For those passengers, VisaHQ can be a time-saving ally: the company’s digital portal (https://www.visahq.com/czech-republic/) aggregates the latest Schengen, work-permit and transit requirements and lets travel coordinators submit and track applications for employees headed to Venice, Bergen or any other destination, easing compliance headaches and keeping business trips on schedule.

In the medium term, Smartwings says it will evaluate further “short-haul business city pairs" from Prague, including potential links to Dublin, Manchester and Stockholm. If the Venice and Bergen launches meet a 75 % average load-factor threshold by March 2027, the airline plans to up-gauge selected rotations to the incoming Boeing 737-MAX 9 fleet, offering more capacity and a new Euro-business cabin—evidence that Czechia’s aviation market is regaining altitude after four turbulent years.