China Eastern Airlines will restrict its flights from Prague to Shanghai with effect from March, joining Hainan Airlines, which announced the closure of its direct flights from Beijing to Prague earlier last week.
The carrier is currently operating five weekly connections between the two cities. China Eastern will scrap one of them as of March 1, keeping four other lines open.
“Let us inform you that China Eastern Airlines is cancelling MU708 / 707 flights between Prague and Shanghai as of March 1, 2020,” the airline wrote in its statement. The flights have already been deleted from the reservation system.
“At the moment we have no further information from carriers about the changes in the timetable. Of course, the situation may change for operational or other reasons, and these changes are always at the discretion of the airline,” said Prague Airport spokesperson Katerina Pavlikova.
Relations between the Czech Republic and China took a turn for the worse last year after city authorities in Prague showed support for Tibet and demanded changes to an intercity partnership agreement with Beijing over a reference to China’s ‘one-China’ policy on Taiwan.
Hainan’s website was offering direct Beijing-Prague and Prague-Beijing flights until Friday Feb. 28 when checked on Wednesday.
