Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines clinched a last-minute agreement on December 7 to buy Smartwings and its now-defunct subsidiary Czech Airlines — one of the oldest brands in global aviation — for a reported €154mn, beating Polish state-owned flag carrier LOT to the deal.

The outcome marks a setback for LOT, whose negotiators said they had been preparing to finalise the transaction in Prague last week before it collapsed abruptly. 

The Polish airline had hoped to take over Smartwings to bulk up ahead of the launch of CPK, Poland’s new central airport west of Warsaw, currently under development and expected to start operating in 2032.

“We reached an understanding in Prague last week. We had been there since Friday sorting out the paperwork. Everything was ready for signatures,” one LOT negotiator told the industry and business news website wnp.pl on condition of anonymity.

“On Sunday there was a sudden turn – two billionaires settled the matter over our heads,” the negotiator also said. The billionaires are Smartwings’ owner Jiří Šimáně and Şevket Sabancı, the Turkish owner of Pegasus Airlines’ parent company Esas Holding.

LOT negotiators also said the Turks’ late intervention stemmed from “the European Union growing complacent and letting non-EU businesses into our market. Airlines that grow outside Europe, untouched by our rules and charges, are then able to acquire European assets,” wnp.pl reported.

The agreement still requires approval from the European Commission, with LOT representatives saying they will monitor the process closely in case the takeover is blocked and LOT can return to the negotiating table.

If the deal between LOT and Smartwings had gone through, the Polish carrier’s fleet would have expanded to 128 aircraft, up from the current 87. Operating Boeing 737 MAX jets as well as Airbus A220 and A320 aircraft, the Czech airline carried 6.5mn passengers in 2024.

Here is a cleaner and more neutral version:

Czech Airlines’ last flight landed in Prague on October 26 last year. The historic carrier, one of the five oldest in the world, has since operated under the Smartwings brand, although its logo and colours were retained on the last four aircraft.