Over 2 million passengers at Gdansk Airport in 2021

Tomasz Kloskowski, the President of Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport at the press conference on 21st January 2022 summarized the number of passengers travelling through the Gdansk Airport in 2021, the number of take-offs and landings, the weight of air freight and the financial results of the company. 

In 2021 we welcomed to Gdansk 2,154,563 passengers, 25.9% more than in the also pandemic-stricken year 2020, still 59.9% short of the record year 2019 when we had almost 5.4 million passengers. 

"2021 was another very challenging year for us. The airline industry is still experiencing the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic. New mutations of the virus are emerging, entailing increases in infections, illnesses and deaths. There are frequent changes to the Covid regulations, which are not clear to passengers. Some travellers are still afraid to fly. Fortunately, there is a sizeable group that travels and thanks to them we can see improving results in 2021 at our Airport. Passenger traffic has increased, but also the interest in air transport of goods has grown, courier companies are developing and making money in the pandemic" - summed up Tomasz Kloskowski, the President of Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport. 

In 2021, the largest number of people travelled from Gdansk Airport in the months of July to October, while the smallest number were in February. The most popular destinations chosen by travellers were Oslo, London and Amsterdam. Further destinations included: Stockholm, Warsaw, Kiev and Cracow.

The summer 2021 network consists of 93 connections to 23 countries, to 77 airports, including 6 airports in Poland, operated by 10 carriers: Wizz Air, Ryanair, LOT, SAS, KLM, Lufthansa, Eurowings, Finnair, SWISS and Norwegian. The winter network, announced at the end of October 2021, included 69 routes.
Despite another difficult pandemic year, airlines launched many new routes from Gdansk in 2021. Wizz Air launched to Narvik in December and in the summer they flew to Malaga, Split, Burgas and to Santorini, Crete and Mykonos. Ryanair launched new destinations such as Zadar, Crete, Corfu and Santorini during the summer holiday and inaugurated flights to Valencia in the autumn. Since last year, Ryanair planes have been flying to the capital of Sweden, to Stockholm-Arlanda airport, to Paris-Beauvais and to Billund. Polish Airlines LOT have opened a new connection from Gdansk to Lublin and in the summer they were flying to Kos.

"We are pleased with the continued interest of airlines in connections to Gdansk. The appearance of completely new destinations in 2021 proves that we are a good tourist and business market as a region and a reliable contractor as an airport. We hope that airlines will continue to develop the network of connections from Gdansk and the suspended destinations will return soon. We believe that the increase in fees imposed on carriers by the Polish government will not discourage them to operate in Poland, and the ticket prices for passengers will not grow dramatically" - said Tomasz Kloskowski.

In charter flights operated from Gdansk in 2021 ordered by tour operators and travel agencies, most passengers travelled to Turkey, Greece and Egypt. Less frequently, but they also chose Bulgaria, Albania and Spain.

The year 2021 was 14.6% better than 2020 in the total number of take-offs and landings in Gdansk. We recorded 29,298 flight operations (40.1% less than in 2019).

The results of cargo are better by 30% than in 2020 and also the best in the history of Gdansk Airport. 9,171 tonnes of goods and mail and postal consignments were transported through Gdansk Airport in 2021. The increase is a leap, because previously the results in cargo were improving from a few to several percent per year.

The net loss for the year 2021 initially amounted to PLN -2,701,000. For comparison, in 2020 we had a loss of PLN -19,000, and in the record year 2019 we recorded a profit of as much as PLN 48,047,639.

For 2021, we have a loss on sales of PLN -14,544,000. In 2020 it was higher, amounting to PLN -28,164,000, and in our good year 2019 we had a profit on sales of PLN 50,749,192.

"Unfortunately, in economic and financial terms, 2021 was even worse than the pandemic year 2020. This is due to the fact that in the pandemic year 2020 we all benefited from the government's shields, which at least partially compensated for the suffered losses. In 2021, as we all know, there were no more shields. All airports in Poland and around the world and all airlines are making losses. The industry is still in a deep crisis." - Tomasz Kloskowski concludes.

Gdansk Airport's revenues from the Airport Premium zone increased in 2021. We earned as much as over 100% more in the VIP lounge, where passengers, among others, benefit from fast check-in and security control and wait for their flight in comfortable conditions in the "all inclusive" formula.

Passengers in 2021 (decrease or increase compared to particular months of 2020): 
January 2021 
Passengers 43,654 (-88.3%)
February 2021 
Passengers 26,477 (-92.8%)
March 2021 
Passengers 34,964 (-75.9%)
April 2021 
Passengers 45,524 (+3946.6%)
May 2021 
Passengers 82,937 (+6498%) 
June 2021 
Passengers 155,290 (752.0%)
July 2021 
Passengers 310,165 (+101.4%)
August 2021 
Passengers 362,983 (+55.6%)
September 2021 
Passengers 316,116 (+77.6%) 
October 2021 
Passengers 307 278 (+161.0%)
November 2021 
Passengers 240,310 (+345.5%)
December 2021 
Passengers 228,865 (+243.3%)