A ride between Václav Havel Airport and the centre of Prague is one of the best jobs a ride-hailing driver can get: 15 to 20 kilometres, half an hour, and a passenger with luggage who is happy to pay. But how much of the fare does the driver actually keep? We compared prices for the airport run on Bolt, Uber, Liftago and Uber Airport from 2025 and 2026 with the commissions the platforms take, and this is our best estimate.
All amounts are for a whole standard car and a one-way trip between the airport and the centre, meaning Wenceslas Square, the main train station or the Old and New Town.
Our estimate: fare and driver’s share per airport ride
| Service | Usual fare | Typical fare | Commission (our model) | Driver keeps | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolt | 400–650 CZK | 450 CZK | 25 % | about 340 CZK | 300–490 CZK |
| Uber (UberX, cheapest) | 450–700 CZK | 550 CZK | 25 % (assumed) | about 410 CZK | 340–525 CZK |
| Liftago | 550–750 CZK | 650 CZK | 20 % (assumed) | about 520 CZK | 440–600 CZK |
| Uber Airport | 650–850 CZK | 750 CZK | 25 % (scenario only) | about 560 CZK | 490–640 CZK |
“Driver keeps” is what remains after the platform’s basic commission. It is not profit: fuel, the car, parking and airport entry, a fleet partner’s cut and taxes all still have to come out of it. The figures describe a typical airport job, not a statistical average of every ride, and rush hours, high demand, promotions and bigger car categories can move the fare well outside these ranges.
What passengers actually paid
The most useful prices are the ones checked at the same moment, because traffic and demand affect all apps the same way. On 10 October 2026 at 3 pm, the Czech motoring site Garáž.cz opened three apps for the same ride from the airport to Wenceslas Square:
| App | Price offered |
|---|---|
| Bolt | 400 CZK |
| Uber, cheapest category | 470 CZK |
| Uber Airport | 760 CZK |
Other prices point the same way:
- Bolt: 449 CZK from Terminal 1 to the main train station and 435 CZK to Wenceslas Square (estimates published by Around Prague on 30 October 2026); 460 CZK for a ride from Novoměstská radnice to the airport in September 2025, before a promotional discount; 460 and 470 CZK reported by passengers in spring 2025. Eight Bolt prices for the centre average 450 CZK.
- Uber: Uber itself states that UberX rides from Prague Airport cost 543 CZK on average over the last six months, to all destinations, not only the centre. A traveller paid 532 CZK from a hotel near the centre to the airport in spring 2026.
- Uber Airport: 729 CZK to a hotel on Wenceslas Square, reported by a passenger in May 2025, and the 760 CZK offer above.
- Liftago: passengers report 550 to 750 CZK for rides from the airport to just beyond the centre. Of the four services, this is the one with the least data.
For comparison, a metered taxi may charge at most 70 CZK to board, 42 CZK per kilometre and 7 CZK per minute of waiting since 21 October 2026. For 17 kilometres that is 784 CZK before waiting time, and Prague Airport itself puts a taxi to the centre at around 800 CZK. Our guide to official Prague taxi fares has more examples. During the three weeks in October when the cap was lifted, some taxi passengers paid ten times that; see 70 complaints from three weeks without a price cap.
How much the platforms take
- Bolt takes 25 %, as drivers confirmed to the Czech magazine Page Not Found in 2026. Bolt says the airport entry fee is not part of the commission.
- Uber charges a variable service fee that changes from ride to ride. For the model we use 25 %, which is an assumption, not a published rate.
- Liftago has a sliding scale from 15 to 30 % since 2 November 2026: drivers who drive more pay less. We use 20 % for a regular driver; an occasional driver may pay 25 to 30 %.
- Uber Airport, the official taxi service at the airport, does not publish what it pays its drivers. That is why its line in the table is only a scenario.
The commission matters a lot. On a 750 CZK Uber Airport fare, the driver keeps 600 CZK at a 20 % commission, 563 CZK at 25 %, 525 CZK at 30 % and 488 CZK at 35 %. On a 650 CZK Liftago fare the driver keeps 553 CZK at 15 %, 520 CZK at 20 %, 488 CZK at 25 % and 455 CZK at 30 %.
Airport surcharges change the sum a little. If 50 CZK of the fare is an airport fee that the platform does not take commission from, a driver on 25 % commission ends up 12.50 CZK better off than the simple calculation suggests, but then has to pay the actual entry or parking cost.
Why the airport run is not as good as it looks
The fare is only half the story. A driver who takes a passenger to the airport usually drives back empty, and a driver who wants a passenger from the airport has to wait, sometimes for a long time. When Uber Airport drivers went on strike in July 2026, they complained about low prices and about having to drive in from a remote holding car park to the terminals.
A rough example of our own: a petrol car using 6 litres per 100 km burns about 2 litres on a 35-kilometre round trip, around 70 to 90 CZK. Take that from the 340 CZK a Bolt driver keeps on a typical airport ride, add the empty return or the waiting, and the hourly rate looks much less attractive. A former Uber and Bolt driver wrote in 2025 that his hourly earnings had fallen from 400–500 CZK to 200–300 CZK before fuel and car rental. That is one unverified account, but it matches what drivers told reporters in 2026.
Prices have not moved much in two years. In August 2024 a Bolt driver told PrahaIN that a ride from the centre to the airport usually paid 300 to 400 CZK, and the editors found offers between 365 and 450 CZK.
What it means for passengers
- The cheapest way to the centre by car is usually Bolt or the cheapest Uber, at around 400 to 550 CZK, but the price rises with demand.
- Uber Airport costs more, around 650 to 850 CZK, but you can find it at the official stand and the price is agreed before the ride. Our guide to taxi transport from Prague Airport explains all the options, including fixed-price transfers booked in advance.
- In Uber and Bolt the whole tip goes to the driver. On an airport ride where the driver keeps around 340 to 410 CZK, a tip of 50 to 100 CZK makes a real difference.
- Which app is best depends on what you value; see our comparison of Uber, Bolt and Liftago.
How we made the estimate: we collected 30 price records from 2025 and 2026 (app offers, passengers’ rides, published estimates and Uber’s own average) and set a typical fare for each service. These are not 30 independent rides, and there is not enough data for a true two-year average. The driver’s share is the typical fare minus the commission named in the table; for Uber and Liftago the commission is our assumption and for Uber Airport only a scenario. Sources: Garáž.cz (14 October 2026), Around Prague (30 October 2026), Uber, Bolt, Liftago, Page Not Found, Zdopravy.cz (8 July 2026), PrahaIN (30 August 2024), Prague Airport and passengers’ reports on Reddit and Los Viajeros.
