Łódź Władysław Reymont Airport

Łódź Władysław Reymont Airport Port Lotniczy Łódź im. Władysława Reymonta Łódź/Lublinek Airport
IATA: LCJ – ICAO: EPLL Łódź Location of airport in Poland
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Port Lotniczy L¤dz im. Wladyslawa Reymonta Sp¤lka z o.o./L¤dz Wladyslaw Reymont Airport Ltd.
Serves		Łódź
Elevation AMSL		185 m / 607 ft
Coordinates		51°43′19″N 019°23′53″E
Website		www.airport.lodz.pl
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
07L/25R	2,500	8,202	Asphalt
07R/25L	700	2,297	Grass
Statistics (2010)
Passengers			413,662
Movements			3,245
Source: EUROCONTROL Statistics from the Civil Aviation Office

Łódź Władysław Reymont Airport (IATA: LCJ, ICAO: EPLL), formerly known as Łódź-Lublinek Airport, is a regional airport in central Poland, located approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) southwest of the Łódź city center.

The airport has been in operation since September 13, 1925 and has recently undergone a number of upgrades enabling it to handle services by low cost airlines to destinations in Europe.

It has recently been named after the celebrated 20th century Polish writer and the winner of the 1924 Nobel Prize in Literature, Władysław Reymont.

History

Interior view of the international terminal

The Łódź airport opened on September 13, 1925. During World War II, the German occupying forces improved the airport for military use, by building a concrete 1,200 m (3,937 ft) runway. In the immediate postwar years the airport was a key transport hub, but that role diminished by the 1950s with the development of Warsaw airport. By the end of the decade, regular passenger connections to Łódź were suspended.

Efforts to restart passenger traffic were undertaken in the 1990s. In 1997 a new passenger terminal (capacity approx. 50,000/year) was opened.

Since 1997 Port Lotniczy Łódź-Lublinek sp. z o.o. (Lodz-Lublinek Airport LLC) has been the operator of the airport, changing its name in 2007 to Port Lotniczy Łódź im. Władysława Reymonta Sp. z o.o. (LODZ WLADYSLAW REYMONT AIRPORT LLC).

On October 31, 2002 an ILS/DME System (instrument landing system/distance measuring equipment) was installed at the airport.

In September 2005 the runway was extended from 1,443 m (4,734 ft) to 2,100 m (6,890 ft) in order to accommodate larger aircraft such as the Boeing 737.

On October 28, 2005 a new passenger terminal (capacity approx. about 300,000/year) was opened.

On October 30, 2005 the first Boeing 737 in the history of the Łódź Airport landed.

On January 19, 2007 the runway extension to 2,500 m (8,202 ft) was put into use.

Airlines and destinations

Despite Łódź being Poland's third largest city, it has one of the smallest international airports in the country. Gdańsk, Katowice, Poznań and Wrocław are all much larger airports, but smaller cities. Łódź is mainly served by Ryanair, which still has a small presence at the airport and currently only flies to six destinations from Łódź, significantly less than many other Polish airports. Wizz Air also have a smaller presence at Łódź than its surrounding airports because it is not a Wizz Air base, whereas the larger Gdańsk, Katowice, Poznań and Wrocław airports all are. The airport also does not enjoy the high frequency domestic services to Warsaw which surrounding cities do, but this is likely to be because Łódź is too close to Warsaw for flight connections.

Airlines	Destinations
Enter Air	Seasonal: Antalya
OLT Express Regional	Gdańsk [begins 2 April], Wrocław [begins 2 April]
Ryanair	Bergamo, Bremen [begins 28 March 2012], Bristol [begins 26 March], Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London-Stansted, Oslo-Rygge [begins March 2012]
Sun d'Or operated by El Al	Seasonal: Tel Aviv
Wizz Air	Dortmund, London-Luton

External links

• Official website of Łódź Airport (English)
• Official website of Łódź Airport (Polish)
• Lotnisko dla Łodzi Association (The Airport for Łódź Association) (English)