Warsaw Chopin Airport

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Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport

Port Lotniczy im. Fryderyka Chopina
Summary
Airport typecivil, military
OperatorPolish Airports State Enterprise (PPL)
ServesWarsaw
LocationOkęcie district of Warsaw
Elevation AMSL110 m / 362 ft
Coordinates52°09′57″N 020°58′02″E / 52.16583°N 20.96722°E / 52.16583; 20.96722
Websitewww.lotnisko-chopina.pl
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
11/29 2,800 9,186 Asphalt
15/33 3,689 12,106 Asphalt
Statistics (2006)
Passengers8,101,827
Aircraft movements126,534
Statistics from Office of Civil Aviation.[1]
Airport maintenance facilities seen from the runway
File:Terminal1-inside.JPG
Departure hall of Terminal 1
Sculptured head of Frédéric Chopin installed on a monument base in front of Terminal 1. Zofia Wolska (2001)
Terminal 2 façade
Baggage claim area, Terminal 2
Etiuda Terminal façade
Cargo Terminal

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, Frédéric Chopin. It is Poland's busiest airport, handling more than 50% of the country's air passenger traffic.

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.

History

The land was used for aviation since 1910, while in 1927 it was decided that Okęcie would become the city's primary airport. After the completion of technical buildings and the passenger terminal in 1934, the airport took over the handling of all traffic from the Pole Mokotowskie airfield. Apart from LOT Polish Airlines, Okęcie was also home to four squadrons of the Polish Air Force and to aircraft manufacturer Doświadczalne Zakłady Lotnicze. Today, the military continues to use the airport, mostly in support of government VIP flights.

During World War II the airport infrastructure was almost completely destroyed. In 1969 a new international terminal was opened; domestic flights continued to operate from the facilities built on the site of the pre-war terminal. The current two-story Terminal 1 was constructed in 1992 to replace the separate domestic and international terminals. The latter has since been mostly torn down with the arrivals hall being adapted in 2004 to become the Etiuda Terminal for low-cost carriers. The newest addition, Terminal 2, is expected to become fully operational in November 2007. Currently it handles all the incoming flights.

Statistics

Statistics of passenger traffic 1995-2006 posted on the airport's official webpage:[3]

  • 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

Terminal 2 construction and mixed terminal use

The construction phase of a Terminal 2, which will triple the airport's capacity, is nearly finished. The airport was until recently negotiating permission from the fire inspector to fully open Terminal 2 for use. Its Arrivals Hall was opened on December 1 2006. Its North Concourse (first of three) and the shared Departures Hall were expected to open at the end of November 2007 (original date for the entire project, complete with 3 pirses: 2005).[2] However, on 12 October 2007, after yet another failed fire inspection, the airport operator, PPL, cancelled the contract outright with the builder, Budimex-Ferrovial-Lamela, and the workers left the premises with the building left in an unfinished state, while the matter is expected to end up in court. Since the builder is also the architect, it became unclear, who and when will finish up the construction (the North concourse, and the other two: the Central and South concourses) and make the vacant completed Departures Hall comply with the current fire code.[3]

Currently, departing passengers check in at Terminal 1, which is likely to be redeployed as a low-cost or domestic terminal in the future, upon the completion of Terminal 2. Currently, all arriving flights use Terminal 2 (including the airlines using Etiuda Terminal for departures).

Future second airport

Warsaw may see its second passenger airport in 2009. A former military airfield is awaiting transformation into a low-cost scheduled and charter flights airport (with cargo capabilities to be added later) in order to off-load Frederic Chopin Airport. The new airport is located 40 km north of Warsaw centre, in Modlin, and the first aircraft operation is expected in the winter of 2009 at the earliest. This airport has been talked about for many years, with its projected completion date slipping repeatedly. Modlin airport will serve 2-3 million passengers annually.

Terminal 1

International Terminal

All International Departing Flights depart from Terminal 1.

Domestic Terminal

The domestic terminal is located within Terminal 1.

  • LOT Polish Airlines (Gdańsk, Katowice, Kraków, Rzeszów, Wrocław [begins 12 February 2008])
    • LOT Polish Airlines operated by Eurolot (Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Katowice, Kraków, Poznań, Rzeszów, Szczecin, Wrocław, Zielona Góra [begins 7 November 2007])
    • LOT Polish Airlines operated by Jet Air (Bydgoszcz, Łódź, Katowice, Kraków, Zielona Góra) [all end 7 November 2007]

Terminal 2

All International Arrivals

Etiuda Terminal

Low cost carriers (recently including some Centralwings flights) use the Etiuda terminal. It is smaller and its facilities are rudimentary, and accordingly, its airport taxes are lower. Flights using Etiuda terminal depart from there and arrive at terminal 2.

  • Air Italy (Verona)
  • bmi
    • bmibaby (Cardiff [begins 10 February 2008], East Midlands [begins 10 February 2008])
  • easyJet (Bristol, London-Luton)
  • Germanwings (Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart)
  • Norwegian Air Shuttle (Alicante, Athens, Bergen, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Malaga, Munich, Oslo-Gardermoen, Paris-Orly, Rygge [begins 14 March 2008], Rome-Fiumicino, Salzburg [begins 29 December 2007], Stavanger, Stockholm-Arlanda)
  • Ryanair (Dublin)
  • Sky Europe (Vienna)
  • Wizz Air (Belfast-International, Brussels-Charleroi, Budapest, Dortmund, Durham-Tees Valley, Glasgow-Prestwick, Gothenburg-City, Grenoble [begins 1 December 2007], Liverpool, London-Luton, Malmö, Milan-Bergamo [begins 8 December 2007], Oslo-Torp, Paris-Beauvais, Stockholm-Skavsta)

Cargo Airlines

Runways

Satellite picture

The airport has two intersecting runways, RWY 11/29 2800 x 50 meters and RWY 15/33 3690 x 60 meters. Their configuration and available taxiways permit 34 passenger operations (takeoffs or landings) per hour.

Preferential runways

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

Arrivals:

  1. . Rwy 33,
  2. . RWY 11,
  3. . RWY 15,
  4. . RWY 29.

Departures:

  1. . RWY 29,
  2. . RWY 15,
  3. . RWY 33,
  4. . RWY 11.

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

Accidents and Incidents

  • On March 14 1980 and May 9 1987 two LOT Polish Airlines Ilyushin Il-62 aircraft crashed on approach (the latter returning to the airport) due to catastrophic contagious engine failure caused by engine design and manufacturing faults. All people on board died, 87 and 183, respectively.
  • On May 4 2007 Wizz Air Flight 441 on its approach to Warsaw Okęcie Airport was reported by the airport manager as having flames shooting out of its engine number 2. Passengers and crew were evacuated from the aircraft with no casualties. After undergoing inspection, the aircraft was allowed to depart on its next scheduled flight.

See also

References

  1. ^ Data from Poland's Office of Civil Aviation (Urząd Lotnictwa Cywilnego): [1] Template:Pl icon
  2. ^ Warsaw Airport's website, section: News, item: "New Terminal 2 will be opened in November" [2] (accessed 24 October 2006)
  3. ^ Krzysztof Śmietana, "Wykonawca wyrzucony z terminalu Okęcie", (Builder thrown out of the Okęcie Airport) Gazeta Wyborcza, Warszawa section, 12 October 2007. Link accessed 2007-10-13. Template:Pl icon

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Okęcie Airport.


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