Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport

Airport maintenance facilities seen from the runway

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 just under 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

In 1924, when urban development around Warsaw's aerodrome at Pole Mokotowskie began effecting 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. While, domestic flights continued to operate from the facilities built on the site of the pre-war terminal. In 1992, a new Terminal, with capacity for an annual 3.5 million passengers, was built to replace the aging post-war terminal. In March 2001, Warsaw Airport was ceremoniously named after Frederic Chopin. At the end of March 2007, the Etiuda Terminal was for departing passengers on low-cost carriers.

Statistics

Statistics of passenger traffic 1995-2006 posted on the airport's official webpage:[2]

• 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

A Polish-Spanish consortium (Ferrovial Agroman SA, Budimex SA and Estudio Lamela S.L) began construction on Terminal 2 in March 2004, with to plans to open in 2006. Construction plans for Terminal 2 accommodate the entrance of Terminal 1 and include three (North, Middle, South) piers. Combined, Terminal 1 and 2 will give Warsaw F. Chopin Airport the capacity to accommodate 10-12 million passengers annually. However, as of December 2007, Terminal 2 is unfinished. Although, its Arrivals Hall was opened on December 1 2006, the terminal's piers and departure hall remain unfinished and closed, respectively. After Terminal 2 failed a fire inspection (caused by a leaky roof and in-audible safety announcements) In October 2007, PPL canceled the contract with the construction consortium. ^[2]. Terminal 2 is now planned to be fully operational by March 2008.

Modlin

This article or section contains information about a planned or expected new airport. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the construction and/or completion of the airport approaches, and as more information becomes available on it.

Approval of Warsaw's second international airport, in Modlin (village), is awaiting approval. Modlin, a formal military airfield, will service low-cost and charter carriers strictly, in order to off-load Frederic Chopin Airport's passenger congestion. Modlin airport will serve 2-3 million passengers annually.

Airlines and destinations

Terminal 1

• Adria Airways (Ljubljana)
• Aer Lingus (Cork [ends 9 February], Dublin)
• Aeroflot (Moscow-Sheremetyevo)
• Aerosvit Airlines (Kiev-Boryspil)
• Air China (Beijing [begins October 2008])
• Air Europa (Madrid)
• Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
• Alitalia (Rome-Fiumicino)
  • Alitalia operated by Alitalia Express (Milan-Malpensa)[Ends March 2008]
• Austrian Airlines
  • Austrian Airlines operated by Austrian Arrows (Vienna)
• Belavia (Minsk)
• Blue1 (Helsinki)
• British Airways (London-Heathrow [ends 26 March 2008], London-Gatwick [begins 27 March])
  • British Airways operated by BA CityFlyer (London-City [begins 6 May])
• Brussels Airlines (Brussels)
• Centralwings (Bologna, Cork, Dublin, Edinburgh, Grenoble, Lille, London-Gatwick, London-Stansted, Manchester, Shannon)
• Clickair (Barcelona)
• Czech Airlines (Prague)
• Dniproavia (Dnipropetrovsk)
• El Al (Tel Aviv)
• Finnair (Helsinki)
• Iberia (Madrid)
• Iceland Express (Reykjavík) [begins 15 May]
• KLM (Amsterdam)
  • KLM operated by KLM Cityhopper (Amsterdam)
• LOT Polish Airlines (Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Beijing [begins 30 March], Brussels, Bucharest-Otopeni, Budapest, Chicago-O'Hare, Copenhagen, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Hanover, Helsinki, Istanbul-Atatürk, Kiev-Boryspil, Larnaca, London-Heathrow, Lyon, Lviv, Madrid, Milan-Malpensa, Minsk, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Munich, New York-JFK, Newark, Nice, Odessa, Oslo, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Riga, Rome-Fiumicino, Sofia, St. Petersburg, Stockholm-Arlanda, Stuttgart, Tallinn, Tel Aviv, Toronto-Pearson, Venice, Vienna, Zürich)
  • LOT Polish Airlines operated by Eurolot (Berlin-Tegel, Kaliningrad, Prague, Vilnius)
• Lufthansa (Frankfurt, Munich)
  • Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine (Düsseldorf, Munich)
  • Lufthansa Regional operated by Eurowings (Düsseldorf)
• Malév Hungarian Airlines (Budapest)
• SAS Scandinavian Airlines (Copenhagen)
• Swiss International Air Lines (Basel/Mulhouse, Zürich)
• Turkish Airlines (Istanbul-Atatürk)

Domestic Terminal

The domestic terminal is located within Terminal 1.

• Jet Air (Zielona Góra [ends 31 January 2008 ?])
• LOT Polish Airlines (Gdańsk, Katowice, Kraków, Rzeszów, Wrocław, Szczecin)
  • operated by Jet Air (Bydgoszcz) [ends 31 March 2008]
  • operated by Eurolot (Bydgoszcz [begins 1 April 2008], Gdańsk, Katowice, Kraków, Poznań, Rzeszów, Szczecin, Wrocław, Zielona Góra [begins 9 January 2008 ?] (WAW to IEG stops in Poznań))

Terminal 2

The new Terminal 2 handles all arrivals.

Etiuda Terminal

Low cost carriers (except Centralwings, as of 23 November 2007) use the Etiuda terminal for departures. It is smaller and its facilities are rudimentary, and accordingly, its airport taxes are lower. While flights depart from the Etiuda terminal, all arrivals are handled 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)
• FlyNordic (Stockholm-Arlanda) [begins 14 January 2008]
• Norwegian Air Shuttle (Alicante, Athens, Bergen, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Malaga, Munich, Oslo-Gardermoen, Paris-Orly, Rygge [begins 14 March 2008], Rome-Fiumicino, Salzburg, Stavanger, Stockholm-Arlanda)
• Ryanair (Dublin)
• Sky Europe (Vienna)
• Wizz Air (Belfast-International, Bourgas [begins June 10 2008], Brussels-Charleroi, Budapest [ends 11 January 2008], Corfu [begins June 14 2008], Doncaster/Sheffield [begins 1st April 2008], Dortmund, Durham-Tees Valley, Glasgow-Prestwick, Gothenburg-City, Grenoble, Liverpool, London-Luton, Malmö, Milan-Bergamo, Oslo-Torp, Paris-Beauvais, Stockholm-Skavsta)

Cargo

• DHL
• FedEx
• Sky Express
• TNT Airways
• UPS
• White Eagle Aviation

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 December 19 1962 a LOT Polish Airlines Vickers Viscount 804 crashed on approach, while attempting a go-around. All 33 passengers on board died.
• On March 14 1980 a LOT Polish Airlines, flight 007, Ilyushin Il-62 aircraft crashed on approach from New York JFK, when attempting a go-around. All 87 passengers on board died, including a Polish wrestling team and Polish singer, Anna Jantar.
• On May 9 1987 a LOT Polish Airlines, flight 5055, Ilyushin Il-62M took-off and returned to Okecie, after unexpected engine failure. During approach, The aircraft crashed in a heavily wooded-area, short of the runway. All 187 passengers on board died.
• On September 14 1993 a Lufthansa, flight 2904, Airbus A320 overran the runway and crashed into an embankment, after a flight from Frankfurt. Copilot and a passenger died, while the remaining 68 passengers and crew were injured.

See also

• List of airports in Poland

References

External links

• Official website of the Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport (English) (Polish)
• Airport information for EPWA at World Aero Data

•  • e Airports of Poland

Bydgoszcz Ignacy Jan Paderewski Airport (BZG) • Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN) • Katowice International Airport (KTW) • John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice (KRK) • Łódź Władysław Reymont Airport (LCJ) • Poznań-Ławica Airport (POZ) • Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport (RZE) • Szczecin-Goleniów "Solidarność" Airport (SZZ) • Szczytno-Szymany International Airport (SZY) • Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport (WAW) • Copernicus Airport Wrocław (WRO) • Zielona Góra Airport (IEG)