Prague airport has refused to announce flights to Ukraine in a third language – Russian. From February 1, announcements will be in English and Czech.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the Czech Republic, Yevhen Perebyinis, said that he had received many complaints from our citizens about the Russian language when announcing flights. The embassy has been trying to influence the situation for several years.
“I am glad to inform you that starting from February 1, all announcements for flights to Ukraine will finally be made in Czech and English only. That is a standard set of languages for a Czech airport, as is the case when boarding flights to the vast majority of other countries,” the diplomat said.
When contacted by the embassy, Vaclav Havel Airport replied that announcements are made in Russian at the request of airlines and also because of concern for transit passengers.
According to Perebyinis, the first argument shows that airlines underestimate Ukrainians, who, like other passengers, are able to understand basic announcements about the beginning of boarding in English or Czech.
The second argument sounds strange at all, because:
Russians do not transit through Ukraine because there is no air traffic between Ukraine and the aggressor country for a long time;
Transit passengers from other countries are able to understand English.
Perebyinis stressed that the Russian language is used artificially in such a situation, and its necessity is clearly far-fetched and exaggerated.