Just about half a million

Press release        

Passenger traffic volumes carried by individual airlines indicate that despite growing competition from low-fare carriers, there are no fewer passengers still willing to fly with traditional national airlines. A connection to Frankfurt saw a 17 per cent rise in the number of passengers in comparison with the same three quarters of last year. Also international flights to Munich and Copenhagen and domestic flights to Warsaw showed greater passenger volumes. For the record, the total number of passengers that used the most popular low-cost service from Gdańsk to London Luton is lower than the number of people travelling to and from Copenhagen airport. However, the number of people travelling from Gdańsk to the airport in Dortmund is growing fast. In November 2004, when the route was launched, just over 1800 passengers were carried.  In September 2005 alone, this figure was nearly 5,000.
A rise in the number of alternative flight connections has not affected the load factor. This ratio, considered one of the indicators of flight service profitability, after nine months of 2005 stands at a very high level of 69.4% versus 51.4 % at the end of 2000.  The load factor continues to be the highest for the onward connections to London Luton - 92.9%.

During the nine month period, nearly 150,000 passengers chose the service to Warsaw, with onward connections to Copenhagen attracting over 91,000 passengers, and connections to London - over 85,000 people.  This summer holiday season also generated a significant, nearly 70 per cent, growth of non-scheduled services, being mostly charter tourist flights to holiday destinations in Southern Europe, as well as in Turkey and North Africa. As regards non-scheduled services, during the nine months the airport accommodated a total of 32,500 passengers.

"The results achieved over the nine-month period could have been even better if it hadn't been for a difference in interpretation of passenger check-in rules on the Stockholm-Gdańsk-Katowice route, which was to have been launched by the Hungarian carrier Wizz Air," says Włodzimierz Machczyński, President of the Management Board of Port Lotniczy Gdańsk company. "In the end, we missed an opportunity for an attractive connection for passengers and tourists from the Pomeranian region. It is with genuine pleasure and hope that we are looking forward to the launch of new services to London (Ryanair), Stockholm (Wizz Air), Oslo (Norwegian Air) and Frankfurt Hahn (Ryanair) planned for autumn, which should significantly affect ticket prices and the number of travelling passengers. New routes to Cologne/Bonn starting in spring 2006 have been announced by Germanwings."

During the nine months of 2005 Gdańsk airport handled 2,577 tons of cargo, a 9 per cent increase over the corresponding period of 2004.

For further information, please contact:
Adam Skonieczny, Head of Economic and Market Analyses Department of Gdańsk Lech Walesa Airport tel. (58) 348-11-45