Jiri Prusa

Jiri Prusa (born 4 January 1953, Prague) is a Czech businessman, pilot, author and aviation promoter.
== Work and business life ==
Aside from aviation and travel, Pruša had been attracted to the idea of private business, despite the limitations of the political system in CZ, where free traveling and private business were not allowed. During his studies, he earned money by typing, selling music records, driving a taxi, running a cinema, and repairing electrical appliances. In his first job at Czechoslovak Airlines, he was responsible for negotiating commercial agreements with international airlines. Later, he became the Financial Director, but his career was limited for political reasons because his sister was living in a Capitalist country--France. During a brief business trip to Geneva, Pruša got a job offer from IATA. Despite the hurdles created by various branches of the political system in the CZ, he managed to move to Geneva and began working for IATA. There, he was responsible, together with his team, for consultations and negotiations concerning en route and airport charges worldwide. After the disintegration of the USSR, he focused his attention, for the next three years, on the development of commercial aviation in the former Soviet Union bloc countries. Following this experience, he developed and introduced these main projects:
* IATA Billing and Collection Agency--a project that gradually took over the collection of overfly charges for most ex-USSR countries lacking their own systems for calculating and invoicing overfly charges directly from airline operators who were using their airspace. The project was critical for financing necessary improvements to the, then outdated, air traffic control system of Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. The turnover of the agency quickly reached over $200 million USD annually. 
* The Commercial insurance of the airspace of the former Soviet Union countries providing reliable and transparent insurance covering potential damages caused by the Air Traffic Control systems of any client countries. Reliable insurance proved to be extremely important for the international airlines which trust in the use of the newly opened airspace of the ex-USSR countries. The results of the project resulted in a fast growth of international flights to/from and over these countries. Subsequently, commercial insurance of the airspace became a widely accepted concept also in many other countries. Today is commercial insurance a standard.
* A training centre for Air Traffic Controllers in English aviation language in the newly established countries of the former Soviet Union. The increase in international traffic over the ex-USSR countries required many more Air Traffic Controllers, who are required to communicate in the English language. The training centre, which is based in Prague, trained approximately 1,000 Air Traffic Controllers between 1993-98, this contributing to increased capacity and safety.
After he returned to CZ in 1994, Pruša obtained the position of VP of marketing at Czech Airlines. He mainly focused on transforming Czech Airlines from a state monopoly into a standard European airline company which could compete against the most renowned European airlines. Pruša followed these objectives by negotiating Czech Airlines to include the flying alliance, implementing improvements and standardization of their products and services and introducing modern distribution methods. All of this brought IATA's billing and settlement plan to CZ and Slovakia. As a result, all of the airlines operating to CZ and Slovakia could distribute their services more efficiently and reliably through the network of Travel Agents operating there. After leaving Czech Airlines in 1999, Pruša founded a private company called Galileo CEE s.r.o., which provided marketing, client support, and help desk services for the Global Distribution System Galileo. Within several years, Galileo CEE was active in 10 CEE countries and opened five local offices. The market shares of the company grew from 0% to some 40-50% of ticket sales in the individual national markets.
In 2001, Pruša founded Broadtree Ltd., which owned and operated Glenspean Lodge in Scotland. In 2013, he developed a unique fitness product and established the company Biomagnetic Cyprus which promoted and distributed health products. In 2014, he bought the publishing rights for The Flying Revue, a bi-monthly aviation magazinehttps: www. flying-revue.com and began offering private pilot training classes. At this time, he also began piloting various flight expeditions all over the globe and offered aerial filming and photography, as well as expeditions. In the year 2015, Pruša also set up real estate development companies in Prague and Limassol.
== Pilot licences ==
* GLD – Glider pilot licence. Accumulated about 600 flight hours on gliders
* PG – Paraglider pilot licence – 2006 and 2007 about 60 flight hours, licence terminated
* PPL – Private pilot licence USA and Europe. About 2300 flight hours by the end 2019
== Piloting experience ==
* 1957 – first visit of Prague Ruzyně airport
* 1969 – first solo flight at Točná airport with Blaník glider
* 1971 – survived accident with glider 
* 2006 – survived accident with paraglider
* 2009 – 2020, flight expeditions to many countries including: USA including Alaska, Caribbean Islands, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Faroe Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and all European countries
Main piloting achievements:
* Flight over the deserts Sahara, Namib, Kalahari, Nevada
* Landing at Wales airstrip next to Bering strait, Alaska
* Flight over Manhattan, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Sydney, Auckland and many of the largest transport airports in the world
* Landing on more than 700 airports around the world
== Author ==
Books:
* Svět letecké dopravy, Prague 2007 – a book focusing on commercial aviation, aviation marketing and economics. With university students becoming travel and aviation experts.
* Svet leteckej dopravy – Prague 2008 dtto as above in Slovak language
* Chytré létání, Prague 2011, popular book witch explaining the basics of travelling by air to the travelling public 
* Abeceda reálného socialismu, Prague 2012 – an insight into the propaganda language that was used daily during the communist times in Czechoslovakia. About 2500 propaganda expressions from the period 1945–1989. The book also contains political jokes, photos etc. 
* Měním se, Prague 2013, a „personal book“ explaining the basics of healthy living and eating as well with specific recommendations to the reader, how to improve a lifestyle. These recommendations are based on Answers, provided on the line which is a book automatically adjusted. The recommendations are therefore tailored to the situations and needs of the reader. 
* Svět letecké dopravy II,https://www.martinus.cz/?uItem=228917 Prague 2015 second edition. Enlarged and updated edition of the well selling aviation book, published first in 2007
* Evropské ostrovy (1–4), Prague 2015/2016 – four e-books containing experiences, videos and photos from flying over the European Islands
* Jeden z miliard světů, Prague 2018 – a collection of 35 short stories
* Evropské ostrovy z nebe, Prague 2019 – reports and photos took during a flights over the hundreds of European islands on the Baltic, North and Mediterranean sea, also too the islands of the eastern Atlantic 
* Dozens of articles and journals written during or after the flight expeditions around the world and published in the magazine Flying Revue and in other media also around the world
* "Anglická VFR komunikace, psáno v pilotní kabině",https://www.flying-revue.cz/vfr-anglicka-komunikace Prague 2016 – Aviation English textbook based on real experience and containing a comparative dictionary showing the differences between US and British English aviation expressions.
Photos, videos, films, exhibitions and applications:
* Hundreds of photos taken during various flight expeditions
* Video databank with hundreds of landings around the worldhttps://www.flying-revue.com/airport-video-database
* Video data bank containing records from overflying various islands, cities, volcanoes, glaciers, lighthouses, mountains and historical sites
* TV documents „ The Caribbean Islands from the Sky“https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/12816525394-karibik-z-nebe/21938256803/ and „The Anabasis“ created in cooperation with Czech Movie director Petr Nikolaev
* Aviation English applicationhttps://www.flying-revue.com/vfr-communication for learning how to speak during flying – Czech, German, Russian and international (English) versions
* Multimedia exhibition – The Wonderful world of flying 1 and 2, Prague 2017 and 2018
* Unusual landings – video series on TV Seznamhttps://www.televizeseznam.cz/porad/neobvykla-pristani
* History from Sky – video series on TV Seznamhttps://www.televizeseznam.cz/porad/historie-z-nebe
== Reference ==
== External Links ==
* Official website
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Category:1953 births
Category:Czech businesspeople
Category:Czech aviators
Category:Czech pilot
Category:Czech writers
Category:Czech author