Smartwings Prague and the Central European charter carriers: summer sun flying, the winter to Egypt, the pay in koruna and the seasonal reality
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#1 Smartwings, Prague, five years, ex military, and the Czech carriers get no mention on this forum. Here is the Central European charter and leisure carrier life, which is its own thing between the low cost and the legacy models.
The airline
Smartwings (formerly Travel Service), the Czech leisure and charter carrier, Prague based with bases in Brno, Ostrava, Bratislava, Budapest and Warsaw, a 737 fleet (800s and MAXs), and a network to the Mediterranean, the Canaries, Egypt and Turkey for the tour operators, plus a scheduled network from Prague. Summer is the whole business; winter is Egypt (Hurghada, Marsa Alam) and the Canaries and the ski charters.
The charter model for crew
Charter flying means the passengers are tour operator groups: a full aircraft of Czech families going to the same resort, out on Saturday and back on Saturday. The service is a buy on board with a meal for the tour operator's package passengers on some flights. The sector lengths are two to five hours. The days are two or four sectors. The night stops are rare on the Mediterranean and common on the Egypt and Canaries winter flying.
Recruitment
Czech and Slovak nationals mainly, with some Polish and Hungarian for those bases. Czech required for the announcements and the passengers. English tested. The assessment is small, the training is in Prague, and the contract is Czech employment law with a seasonal or permanent structure.
Pay in koruna
A basic that is modest, flying hour pay that makes the summer, and allowances on the night stops. A summer month is a comfortable Czech salary; a winter month for the seasonal crew is nothing, and for the permanent crew is basic plus the Egypt flying. Prague rent is the Czech version of every capital's problem.
The seasonal reality
The Cyprus Airways and Jet2 threads describe the same shape: a core of permanent crew who fly the winter and a larger group of seasonal crew who work April to October and do something else. The seasonal crew at Smartwings are students, the crew with a winter job in the mountains, and the ones who do a winter contract elsewhere (the Gulf takes some for a season).
The military angle
I came from the Czech army and the transition was easier than I expected: the discipline, the procedures, the calm in a bad situation. What I had to learn was the warmth, which the military does not teach and the charter passengers need. The assessment thread for men on this forum has it right: translate the stories into customer words.
Why crew stay
Prague as home, the summer sun on the roster, the Egypt winter with the Red Sea night stops, and a small airline where the crew know each other. The crew who leave go to the Gulf, to Ryanair's Czech and Polish bases, or to the legacy carriers with hours. Smartwings is a good first airline and a fine career for the ones who love the charter rhythm.
For Czech and Slovak applicants
Apply. The rounds are in the spring for the summer. Czech required, English tested, a seasonal contract likely first. And plan the winter in July, as every seasonal thread on this forum says.
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#2 Prague, and finally a Czech thread. Smartwings is where half my friends started and the charter Saturday rhythm is exactly as Tomáš says: a full aircraft to the same resort, out and back. The Egypt winter night stops are the reward.
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#3 Cyprus Airways, and the seasonal shape is identical: the summer is everything, the winter is the question. The Central European charter carriers and the Mediterranean island carriers are the same airline with different snow.
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#4 Jet2 Leeds, and the Smartwings 737s are on the same Mediterranean aprons as ours in July. The charter and leisure crews of Europe are one seasonal tribe. Plan the winter in July, always.
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#5 Wizz Budapest, and the Smartwings Budapest base competes with us for the same young crew. The charter rhythm suits a different person from the Wizz rhythm. Both are Central European flying.
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#6 Austrian Vienna, and the Czech carriers are the neighbours we see at the Vienna and Bratislava aprons. Tomáš is right that the legacy carriers take Smartwings crew with hours. Two of my Vienna colleagues came from there.
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#7 FlySafair Johannesburg, and the military to cabin crew translation is the same story here: the calm is the asset, the warmth is the lesson. Ex military crew are the best in a bad situation and the last to smile. We learn.
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#8 Pegasus, and the Smartwings charters to Antalya are on our apron every summer Saturday. The Czech families and the Turkish resort. Tomáš's passengers are our summer too.