The Czech Republic's Finance Ministry approved a new long-term development plan for Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG), setting the stage for an expensive expansion intended to attract new airlines and routes.

The airport handled 10.7 million passengers in 2022, down 40% from 2019. PRG says in a statement that the expansion plan calls for an increase in annual capacity to 21.2 million passengers and a doubling of peak hourly capacity by 2030.

The approved plan calls for growing PRG’s overall routes to 200 by 2030, up from 160 currently. The airport also wants to increase long-haul routes from 21 to 37 by 2030. The first phase of the expansion will add 3,500 automobile parking places, 54,000 ft.²) of retail space, 420 onsite hotel rooms and more than 86,000 ft.² of lounge space, a five-fold increase.

The first phase of the development plan, largely involving the expansion of the airport’s Terminal 2, is expected to cost CZK32 billion ($1.3 billion). “I would like to emphasize that no development projects will be funded by taxpayers,”  says Jiří Pos, chairman of the PRG board of directors. “We will cover implementation costs of all visions and plans from our own financial resources.”

Czech Finance Minister Zbyňek Stanjura says the development plan was approved because the “airport will contribute to the influx of investments, a richer economy and international trade growth.”

The airport will be connected to the center of Prague and other points by train by 2030, says Czech Transport Minister Martin Kupka. “Terminal capacity expansion, new air connections and an increase in the number of passengers is not possible to implement without a quality connection with the center of Prague,” he says, adding that another goal is to “facilitate the connection of long-distance trains with the future traffic to the airport.”