Record Year 2007 at Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport

Yet it turned out that 2007, with the number of passengers served higher by over 36% than in the previous record year of 2006, proved to be the best year in the history of Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport. The number of operations increased by 16.8%, and the mass of cargos served, by 17.8%.

In 2007, Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport served 1,715,758 passengers (an increase of 36.6% in relation to 2006). Such a high number of passengers resulted from both the increase in the number of connections on offer, with 11 added in 2007, and the increase in traffic intensity in all directions (the average passenger seat use coefficient in cruise planes departing from Gdansk in 2007 was as much as 76.6%).

Passenger traffic in 1991-2007

The number of take-offs and landings equalled 28,216 operations, an increase of 16.8% in relation to 2006. The eleven new connections from Gdansk which appeared in the past year included the routes to Dublin (Ryanair), Helsinki (Finnair), Malme-Sturup (WizzAir), Doncaster-Sheffield (WizzAir), Ronneby-Karlskrone (FlyBlekinge), and Roma (Centralwings).
Air operations in 1991-2007

Cargo transport in successive years has been growing constantly and systematically. In 2007 Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport served 17.8% more cargo transports than in the previous year (4.76 thousand tons in 2007 in comparison to 4.04 thousand tons in 2006).

Cargo transports in 1991-2007

Increasing turnovers resulted in higher net profit by 78% (in relation to 2006), at the level of 11,650,912 PLN. The good financial results of the company make it possible not only to finance investments, but also to support regional sport. Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport is one of the main sponsors of the football club Cartusia, the volleyball team Trefl Gdańsk and the Gdansk Motorcycle Speedway Club Wybrzeże.

Net financial results in 1994-2007

The dynamic growth in passenger traffic and the development of Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport give rise to the need to make investments to increase the airport’s throughput.

The most important investments in 2007 included the expansion of parking aprons (at a cost of 8.31 million PLN), the extension of the passenger terminal (consisting mostly of the extension of the departure and arrival halls – a cost of 8,3 million PLN) and the extension of the luggage room (3 million PLN).

A modern office building for companies operating in the vicinity of Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport (at a cost of 5.04 million PLN) was commissioned at the end of 2007.

Now, in 2008, the air traffic at Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport is continuously increasing at a dynamic rate. Data for the first three months of 2008 show an increase in the number of passengers by 43% in relation to the corresponding period of 2007. The number of air operations is also rising, and in the period of January-March 2008, this increased by more than 27% in comparison to January-March 2007.

The most current forecasts concerning passenger traffic in Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport in 2008 predict an increase in the number of passengers served by 31.9%.

Forecast of passenger traffic in Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport till 2020.

In the summer of 2008, we will be able to fly from Gdansk to 9 European countries on 36 routes.

The connections served so far include the routes to Bournemouth, Cork, Coventry, Dortmund, Doncaster-Sheffield, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Frankfurt Hahn, Glasgow-Prestwick, Goeteborg, Hamburg, Hamburg–Lubeka, Helsinki, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, Liverpool, London Luton and Stansted, Malme–Strup, Munich, Oslo, Oslo Torp, Ronneby–Karlskrone, Rome, Stockholm–Skavsta and Warsaw.

The summer schedule also includes such new additions as flights to Frankfurt (Lufthansa lines), Oslo (SAS), Cardiff (BMIbaby), East Midlands (BMIbaby), Turku (WizzAir), sunny Barcelona-Girona (WizzAir) and Birmingham (Ryanair).

Chart showing connections from Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport

2008 also brings the consequent realisation of a long-term investment program.

The extension of the non-Schengen departures zone was completed in the first months of 2008, enabling more effective inspection of passengers moving beyond the Schengen zone.

The City Terminal located in the centre of Gdansk will be opened this summer, enabling passengers both to buy plane tickets and to undergo ticket and luggage clearance.

A new company selling plane fuel – the Lotos Group – will construct its fuel base in the area of Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport this year. The introduction of a second fuel agent plays an important role in increasing competitiveness, and as a result, in increasing price attractiveness of the fuel offered to carriers.

The construction design of a new passenger terminal is currently being devised.

In view of the number of passengers to be served in 2009 approaching the value of maximum throughput specified for the present terminal, it is necessary to construct another building. The throughput of the new terminal in stage I will be 5 million passengers (7 million in total with the present terminal), thus ensuring the ability to clear the numbers of passengers forecasted for successive years, with an annual throughput of 5 million passengers. The planned construction cost of the second terminal is 204,400,000 PLN. The first passengers will be cleared from the new terminal as early as 2011.

New passenger terminal

The growing number of operations results in the need to increase the throughput and capacity of the airport infrastructure. Further investments will be realised within the framework of the modernisation of Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport infrastructure. The most important ones are: construction of a parking apron in front of the second passenger terminal, construction of taxiing roads and a patrol and technical road. These will allow planes to leave and enter the runway faster, and also to be maintained faster. For the purpose of increasing the airport throughput by faster and more effective maintenance of planes, it is also necessary to construct a plane de-icing station. For the proper functioning of the entire infrastructure of Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport, it is also necessary to construct a system for rainwater removal.

Conception of infrastructure extension at Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport for 2012

The year 2012:

• runway: 2,800 m x 45 m, 45 air operations per hour,
• two passenger terminals: 7,260 m2 + 25,000 m2 of usable area, throughput of 2,000,000 + 5,000,000 passengers,
• parking aprons: max. 25.8 h.

Air traffic: 3.5 million passengers and 38.8 thousand air operations.

„Development of Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport does not mean only the growing number of passengers served” – says the President of the Management Board of Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport – „Apart from constantly encouraging air carriers to open new connections, we are successively realising the long-term plan for increasing the throughput of our airport, thus ensuring the effective serving of dynamically growing traffic.”

Due to the mentioned key investments, in 2012 Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport will be capable of achieving a throughput of 45 air operations per hour, and of serving 7,000,000 passengers per year.