POLAND. Krakow Airport has opened an expanded terminal as it aims to modernise the airport, increase passenger capacity and provide improved services.
“The launch of the new passenger terminal in late September marks the completion of the first phase of the airport’s expansion,” Urszula Podraza, the airport’s spokesperson and head of its PR department, told The Moodie Report. “The remaining works will be completed in mid-2016, and, after this is done, the airport’s old and new parts will be integrated, providing a total of 56,000sq m, which is four times the surface that was available prior to the expansion works.”
In total, the investment is valued at PLN412 million (€96.5 million). The new section of the terminal, which comprises 33,000sq m, features Aelia Duty Free stores and a food court, totalling some 1,500sq m.
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The new terminal has boosted capacity at Krakow Airport |
“After the modernisation works at the airport are completed, there will be a new commercial area with a total surface area of over 3,600sq m. There will be ten food outlets and 15 stores there,” Podraza said.
Krakow Airport is the largest regional airport in Poland, located in the country’s southern Malopolskie region. The airport is located less than 11km from Krakow, Poland’s second largest city with a population of more than 760,000. In total, there are about 7.9 million people living within a 100km radius of the airport.
The launch of the latest development follows the release of improved results. In September, Krakow Airport handled 407,365 passengers, an increase of about +9% compared with the same month last year. This marked the best September in the airport’s history, as well as its 11th consecutive month of increased passenger volume.
In the first nine months of this year, the airport was used by close to 3.23 million passengers, up +9% compared with the January-September 2014 period.
With the project’s completion, Krakow Airport is aiming to increase its passenger capacity to about 6.5 million passengers per year, with the possibility to further increase this to up to 8 million passengers per year.
Some of the Polish airport’s most-used connections include flights to Malta, UK, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
The airport is operated by local firm MPL Kraków-Balice which was set up in 1996 and is jointly owned by Poland’s state-owned airport management company PP Porty Lotnicze, the regional authorities of Malopolska, and the municipal authorities of Krakow and Zabierzow.
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The terminal features more modern facilities for passengers and expanded commercial space |
