We need three years to make up for the losses in flying

The President of Gdansk Airport, Tomasz Kloskowski, claims that the coronavirus epidemic has withheld the aviation market by three years, and not by a dozen or so, as some people say.

“I estimate that passenger traffic, which at Gdansk Airport exceeded 5 million people in a record year 2019, will be achieved again in 2023. For three years we will be trying to regain what we have lost, provided that nothing comparable to the coronavirus hindering the economy will happen.  It started this spring and is still ongoing” - said the President of Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport.

Tomasz Kloskowski was the guest of the program People and Money in Radio Gdansk devoted to tourism and passenger movement. He was asked about the prospects for aviation, also in the context of the Ryanair’s recent announcement, that they were going to cancel 20 percent of their connections. “So far, the low-cost carriers have started 50% of pre-pandemic flights and the traditional  lines have operated around 20-25% of flights. The airlines are watching the travelers’ behaviour. We have very good reactions from the passengers flying to Scandinavia, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. These are mainly people traveling to work abroad. The tourist air traffic is coming back very slowly. This year is lost for international tourism. If there is a revival, it will be in next year at the earliest” - said Tomasz Kloskowski.

The Head of Gdansk Airport is convinced that business travel will return. “All meetings and conferences cannot be held remotely because one cannot function without direct human relations” - he added.