Pardubice

Pardubice Airport – A Bit of Everything

The airport in the central Czech city of Pardubice can trace its history back to 1930 when it was established for the local flying club and hosted both civil and military aircraft. Annexed by the German Luftwaffe in 1939 and used by the Czechoslovak military following the Second World War, the airport was purely military until the political changes of 1989 and the fall of Socialism made it possible for civilian aircraft to operate there again

The Luftwaffe used Pardubice primarily as a training base. From the 1950s to the mid 1990s, the Czech military based  a variety of fighter aircraft there including MiG-15, MiG-21 and Su-25 aircraft.

Today, in the military context, Pardubice is home to the CLV flight training centre. CLV is a civilian contractor which operates a mixed fleet of aircraft to train Czech air force pilots, as well as military pilots from other nations.

In the civil sense, the airport is international in nature. It handles regularly scheduled flights from a number of airlines and has runways capable of handling very large aircraft such as the Antonov An-124 transport.

Pardubice Aviation Fair

The Pardubice Aviation Fair (Aviatická Pouť) is a very well organised annual event that has been going on for over 30 years.

Much more than an airshow, the fair also features vintage ground vehicles and actors re-enacting battles in WWI or WWII style. Some of the vintage aircraft at the show participate in the productions.

The show leans heavily towards vintage aircraft. If you wanted to attend an airshow in the Czech Republic and be assured of lots of vintage flying action, Pardubice is the place to go.