Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport

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For the airport near the town of Warsaw, New York, United States, see Perry-Warsaw Airport.
Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport
Port Lotniczy im. Fryderyka Chopina
Warszawa/Okęcie Airport

IATA: WAW – ICAO: EPWA
Summary
Airport type civil, military
Operator Polish Airports State Enterprise (PPL)
Serves Warsaw
Location Okęcie
Elevation AMSL 110 m / 361 ft
Coordinates 52°09′57″N 020°58′02″E / 52.16583°N 20.96722°E / 52.16583; 20.96722Coordinates: 52°09′57″N 020°58′02″E / 52.16583°N 20.96722°E / 52.16583; 20.96722
Website www.lotnisko-chopina.pl
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
11/29 2,800 9,186 Asphalt
15/33 3,690 12,106 Asphalt
Statistics (2008)
Passengers 11,736,958
Movements 159,718
Statistics: Civil Aviation Office[1]
Sources: Polish AIP at EUROCONTROL[2]
Departure hall of Terminal 1
Sculptured head of Frédéric Chopin installed on a monument base in front of Terminal 1
Terminal 2 façade
Baggage claim area, Terminal 2
Terminal 2 departures

Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport (Polish: Port Lotniczy im. Fryderyka Chopina) (IATA: WAW, ICAO: EPWA) is an international airport located in the Okęcie district of Warsaw, Poland. Formerly Okęcie International Airport, it is named after the famous Polish composer and former Warsaw resident, Fryderyk Chopin. It is Poland's busiest airport, handling just under 50% of the country's air passenger traffic.[1]

The former name, lotnisko Okęcie (Okęcie airport), remains in common use, including air traffic and aerodrome references.

Warsaw Airport handles approximately 100 scheduled flights daily and an ever rising number of charters. London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam are the busiest international connections, while Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk are the most popular domestic ones.[3]

Contents

[edit] History

 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)

In 1924, when urban development around Warsaw's aerodrome at Mokotów Fields (Pole Mokotowskie) began affecting air traffic, the Ministry of Railways purchased land near the village of Okęcie to construct a new airport. In 1933, The Central Airport (Okęcie) took over the handling of all traffic from the Pole Mokotowskie. During World War II, Okęcie was often used as a battleground between the German Army and Polish resistance and was practically destroyed. After liberation, LOT Polish Airlines resumed operations at Okęcie, using pre-war infrastructure. In 1956, maintenance of Okęcie was transferred from LOT Polish Airlines to state administration. In 1969 a new international terminal was built to handle 1 million passengers annually, few years later a separate, temporary arrival hall was built. Meanwhile, domestic flights continued to operate from the facilities built on the site of the pre-war terminal. In 1992, a new terminal (T1), with capacity for 3.5 million passengers per year, was built to replace the ageing complex from the communist era. In March 2001, Warsaw Airport was renamed in honour of the Polish pianist Frédéric Chopin (though this name is almost never used in practice, and most users know the place simply as Okęcie). In 2005, the old arrival hall from 70s was refurbished and reopened, and under the name "Etiuda" became a temporary terminal for the low-cost traffic. Since 2007 the T2, a newly built terminal adjacent to T1, has been gradually taking over the major part of the traffic. In March 2009 the Etiuda terminal was closed and low-cost carriers moved to T1.

[edit] Statistics

Passenger traffic growth 1995-2008, from the airport's official webpage:[4]

  • 1995 - 2,735,469
  • 1996 - 3,090,321
  • 1997 - 3,484,452
  • 1998 - 3,815,624
  • 1999 - 3,997,531
  • 2000 - 4,325,814
  • 2001 - 4,713,655
  • 2002 - 4,936,835
  • 2003 - 5,166,991
  • 2004 - 6,085,111
  • 2005 - 7,071,881
  • 2006 - 8,101,827
  • 2007 - 9,268,551
  • 2008 - 9,436,958

[edit] Terminals

Terminal 1 was built in 1992. Initially it handled all the traffic, but now it is serving mainly low-cost airlines (since the closing of Etiuda Terminal in March, 2009) and some other carriers (mainly SkyTeam alliance members).

Terminal 2 is a new terminal which became fully operational on March 12, 2008, two years after the originally planned opening date. The arrivals area was in operation from mid-2007 but problems with safety certification and disagreements between the airport and the construction firm delayed full operation. The new terminal is considerably larger[5] than the older Terminal 1 and has taken over departures for all Star Alliance and OneWorld airlines and a few other carriers.

The new Southern Pier of the T1+T2 complex is currently under construction.[citation needed]

[edit] Future auxiliary airport at Modlin

Main article: Modlin Airport

The long awaited conversion of a former military airfield north of the city into Warsaw's second international airport for low-cost carriers is, as of May 2008, still awaiting government approval on environmental grounds, but due to proximity to bird migration routes and protected bird sanctuary wetlands, may be delayed or ultimately blocked. Modlin is also to service charter carriers and in some undefined future, cargo, but due to chronic delays in commencing needed construction, is not expected to become operational until 2011 at the earliest. Meanwhile other regional military airports at Sochaczew and Radom are being readied by their local governments and private investors to compete with Modlin for Warsaw-region low cost passenger traffic and cargo.

[edit] Ground transportation

[edit] Bus

Warsaw city centre can be reached by the bus lines: 175 and 188 during the day and N32 at night. There is also an additional line 148 that provides access to Ursynów (a southern part of Warsaw) and Praga (an eastern part of Warsaw). The fare is PLN 2.8 one-way for all the lines (day and night).

[edit] Train

A train station is located under Terminal 2[6] and a fast connection to the city centre (Warszawa Śródmieście station) is under construction. No definite date of completing the works has been established as of July 2008.

[edit] Scheduled airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations Terminal
Adria Airways Ljubljana 2
Aer Lingus Dublin, London-Gatwick [begins 25 October] 2
Aeroflot1 Moscow-Sheremetyevo 1
Aerosvit Airlines1 Kyiv-Boryspil 1
airBaltic Riga [begins 17 September]
Air France1 Paris-Charles de Gaulle 1
Alitalia Milan-Linate 1
Alitalia operated by Air One Rome-Fiumicino 1
Austrian Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways Vienna 2
Belavia1 Minsk 1
British Airways London-Heathrow 2
Brussels Airlines Brussels 2
Czech Airlines Prague 2
El Al Tel Aviv 2
Finnair Helsinki 2
Germanwings Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart 1
Iberia Madrid 2
Iceland Express operated by Astraeus Reykjavik-Keflavik 1
Jet Air1 Bydgoszcz, Dresden [begins 7 September], Zielona Góra 1
KLM Amsterdam 1
LOT Polish Airlines Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Belgrade, Berlin-Tegel, Brussels-Zaventem, Bucharest-Otopeni, Budapest, Chicago-O'Hare, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Gdańsk, Geneva, Hamburg, Helsinki, Istanbul-Atatürk, Katowice, Kyiv-Boryspil, Kraków, Larnaca, London-Heathrow, Madrid, Milan-Malpensa, Minsk, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Munich, New York-JFK, Newark, Nice, Odessa, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Poznań, Prague, Riga, Rome-Fiumicino, Rzeszów, Sofia, St Petersburg, Stockholm-Arlanda, Szczecin, Tel Aviv, Toronto-Pearson, Vienna, Wrocław, Zurich 2
LOT operated by EuroLOT Berlin-Tegel, Budapest, Gdańsk, Kraków, Lviv, Poznań, Prague, Riga, Rzeszów, Szczecin, Vilnius, Wrocław 2
Lufthansa Frankfurt 2
Lufthansa Regional operated by Augsburg Airways Munich 2
Lufthansa Regional operated by Eurowings Düsseldorf 2
Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine Düsseldorf, Munich [ends 11 September] 2
Malév Hungarian Airlines1 Budapest 1
Norwegian Air Shuttle Alicante, Athens [ends 14 October], Bergen, Copenhagen [begins 17 August], Dubrovnik (seasonal), Malaga, Oslo-Gardermoen, Paris-Orly [ends 16 August], Rome-Fiumicino [ends 23 October], Split (seasonal), Stavanger, Stockholm-Arlanda [ends 16 August], Varna (seasonal) 1
Scandinavian Airlines System Copenhagen 2
Swiss International Air Lines Basel/Mulhouse 2
Swiss operated by Contact Air Zurich 2
TAP Portugal Lisbon 2
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk 2
Vueling1 Barcelona 1
Wizz Air Bourgas (seasonal), Brussels-Charleroi, Corfu (seasonal), Cork, Doncaster/Sheffield, Dortmund, Forlì, Glasgow-Prestwick, Gothenburg-City, Liverpool, London-Luton, Malmö, Milan-Bergamo, Oslo-Torp, Paris-Beauvais, Rome-Fiumicino, Stockholm-Skavsta 1

[edit] Notes

  • Note 1: Check-in is at Terminal 1, but arrivals are handled at Terminal 2.

[edit] Cargo Terminal

Cargo Terminal

[edit] Runways

Satellite picture

The airport has two intersecting runways, whose configuration and available taxiways under current rules permit 34 passenger operations (takeoffs or landings) per hour.[3]

[edit] Preferential runways

The following preferential runway system has been established for the airport:[7]

Arrivals:

  1. Runway 33
  2. Runway 11
  3. Runway 15
  4. Runway 29

Departures:

  1. Runway 29
  2. Runway 15
  3. Runway 33
  4. Runway 11

Between 20:00 and 04:00 hours (in winter: 21:00 and 05:00), Runway 15/33 is used, weather and technical considerations permitting.[7]

[edit] Accidents

 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)

[edit] Accidents at or near WAW

  • On December 19, 1962, a LOT Polish Airlines Vickers Viscount 804 crashed on approach after a flight from Brussels and Berlin-Schönefeld Airport, while attempting a go-around. All 33 passengers on board died.
  • On March 14, 1980, LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007, Ilyushin Il-62 aircraft crashed on final approach from New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport, when attempting a go-around. All 87 passengers on board died, including the entire amateur US boxing team, Polish pop singer Anna Jantar and Alan P. Merriam.
  • On May 9, 1987, LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055, Ilyushin Il-62M took-off for a flight to New York-JFK Airport and returned to Okęcie, after an engine failure. During its approach the aircraft crashed in a heavily wooded-area, short of the runway. All 183 passengers on board died.
  • On December 17, 1991, Alitalia Flight 1212, a McDonnell-Douglas DC 9-32 arriving from Rome-Fiumicino Airport, landed next to the runway after unstabilized approach. As a result, the nose gear of the aircraft collapsed. All 96 passengers and crew survived, however the aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written-off.
  • On September 14, 1993, Lufthansa Flight 2904, an Airbus A320-200, overran the runway and crashed into an embankment, after a flight from Frankfurt. The co-pilot and one passenger died, and 68 passengers and crew were injured.
  • On December 31, 1993, LOT Polish Airlines Flight 002, a Boeing 767-300ER arriving from Chicago-O'Hare Airport, suffered a substantial damage after its nose gear collapsed when touching down. There were no fatalities.

[edit] Other accidents involving WAW

  • LOT Polish Airlines Flight 232 (1957), an Ilyushin 12 outbound from Warsaw, crashed when approaching Moscow-Vnukovo Airport. 9 people on board were killed.
  • Austrian Airlines Flight 901 (1960), a Vickers Viscount 880 "Joseph Haydn", en route from Vienna and Warsaw to Moscow-Sheremetyevo Airport, crashed during the final approach. 31 people on board were killed.
  • LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 (1969), an Antonov 24 en foute from Warsaw to Krakow, veered off course and strucked Polica Mountain near Zawoja, Poland, killing all 53 passengers and crew.
  • Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 353 (1978), en route from Sofia to Warsaw, crashed near Gabare, Bulgaria, after sudden loss of altitude, killing all 73 occupants.
  • LOT Polish Airlines Flight 703 (1988), bound for Rzeszów, crashed during an emergency landing on a field in the village of Białobrzegi, Poland. One passenger was killed.
  • Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751 (1991), an MD-81 bound for Copenhagen and Warsaw, crashed shortly after take-off from Stockholm-Arlanda Airport, near the village of Gottröra, Sweden. There were no fatalities.
  • AMC Aviation Flight 4270 (2007), an MD-83 on a charter flight from Hurghada to Warsaw, was forced to make an emergency landing at Istanbul-Atatürk Airport after a fire had bursted out on board. The landing gear collapsed and the aircraft was substantially damaged, however there were no fatalities.
  • Mirosławiec air accident (2008) , EADS CASA C-295 of Polish Air Force, crashed on approach to Mirosławiec runway. All 20 people on board were killed.

[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Data from The Civil Aviation Office of Poland (Urząd Lotnictwa Cywilnego). (Polish)
  2. ^ EAD Basic
  3. ^ a b "Dokładnie 72 lata temu otwarto lotnisko Okęcie", www.tur-info.pl (information originally available from the official airport webpage), 6 June 2006. Link accessed 2008-05-07. (Polish)
  4. ^ Official webpage for WAW/EPWA, Airport statistics. Link accessed 2008-05-07.
  5. ^ "Airport specifications". http://www.lotnisko-chopina.pl/content/informations/en/terminalinfo.php. Retrieved on 2009-03-12. 
  6. ^ Images at Skyscraper City
  7. ^ a b Boeing Company data sheet for noise policies at WAW/EPWA, Boeing.com, June 2007. Link accessed 2008-05-07.
  8. ^ http://aviation-safety.net/database/airport/airport.php?id=WAW

[edit] External links

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