Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport

Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport
Port Lotniczy Gdańsk im. Lecha Wałęsy
Passenger terminal façade with airport logo incorporating Lech Wałęsa's signature
IATA: GDNICAO: EPGD
Gdańsk
Location of airport in Poland
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner/Operator Port Lotniczy Gdańsk Spółka z.o.o.
Location Gdańsk, Poland
Hub for Wizz Air

OLT Jetair

Elevation AMSL 149 m / 489 ft
Website www.airport.gdansk.pl
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
11/29 2,800 9,186 Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2010)
Number of Passengers 2 232 590
Aircraft Movements 32 000
Source: Polish AIP at EUROCONTROL[1]
Statistics: Airport site[2] and the Office of Civil Aviation[3]

Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport (Polish: Port Lotniczy Gdańsk im. Lecha Wałęsy, formerly Polish: Port Lotniczy Gdańsk-Rębiechowo) (IATA: GDNICAO: EPGD) is an international airport located 12 km (7.5 mi) west northwest[1] of Gdańsk, Poland, not far from the city centres of the Tricity metropolitan area: Gdańsk (12 km (7.5 mi)), Sopot (10 km (6.2 mi)) and Gdynia (23 km (14 mi)).

The airport is named after Lech Wałęsa, the former Polish president. On the outside wall of the terminal building one can see the logo of the airport, which is Lech Wałęsa's actual signature, a stylized "W".

Contents

History

The airport opened in 1974 near the village of Rębiechowo (on westernmost land incorporated into the Gdańsk borough of Matarnia in 1973), to replace the previous airport located closer to the city centre in the suburb of Wrzeszcz. The airport acquired its current name in 2004. There was some controversy as to whether the name should be spelled Lech Walesa (without diacritics, but better recognizable in the world) or Lech Wałęsa (with Polish letters, but difficult to write and pronounce for foreigners, the closest English phonetic approximation being "Vawensa").

In 2006 it served 1,249,780 passengers (an increase of 84% over the previous year). Half of this number were international passengers.

Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport has operated as a private company since 1993. A new terminal was opened in 1997.

Gdańsk Airport can be used as a diversionary airport for Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport in the event of poor weather or emergencies.

There are currently ongoing works to enlarge the airport and build a new Terminal ahead of Euro 2012.

Traffic statistics

Year Passengers Cargo (t) Flight operations
1999 249 913 1472 10 512
2000 269 960 1552 11 586
2001 319 174 1953 14 052
2002 318 033 2211 13 450
2003 365 036 2686 14 346
2004 463 840 2742 17 500
2005 677 946 3433 19 000
2006 1 249 780 4037 24 200
2007 1 708 739 4757 28 200
2008 1 954 166 4610 31 000
2009 1 890 925 4 067 30 000
2010 2 232 590 4 487 32 000

Airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations
airBaltic Seasonal: Riga
Air Berlin Berlin-Brandenburg [starts 1 May 2012]
Enter Air Seasonal: Antalya, Chania, Dubrovnik, Girona, Kos, Palma de Mallorca, Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Zakynthos
EuroLOT Kraków, Poprad-Tatry, Wrocław
Flybe operated by Flybe Nordic Helsinki
OLT Jetair Berlin-Tegel, Bremen, Brussels, Hamburg, Katowice, Prague, Rzeszów, Warsaw
LOT Polish Airlines Frankfurt, Munich, Warsaw
LOT Polish Airlines operated by EuroLOT Warsaw
Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine Frankfurt, Munich
Norwegian Air Shuttle Oslo-Gardermoen
Ryanair Alicante, Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Leeds/Bradford, London-Stansted, Oslo-Rygge
Scandinavian Airlines Copenhagen, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda
Wizz Air Barcelona, Paris-Beauvais, Bergen, Cologne/Bonn, Cork, Doncaster/Sheffield, Dortmund, Eindhoven, Glasgow-Prestwick, Gothenburg-City, Haugesund, Liverpool, London-Luton, Lübeck, Malmö, Milan-Orio al Serio, Rome-Fiumicino, Oslo-Torp, Stockholm-Skavsta, Stavanger, Trondheim, Turku

Cargo airlines

Airlines Destinations
DHL Aviation operated by Exin Leipzig/Halle
Sprint Air Warsaw
TNT Airways Liege

Wizz Air is the largest airline at the airport. It has 3 Airbus 320 aircraft based there and they serve 21 routes. Ryanair has a large presence at the airport as well.

Public transport

The following city bus lines connect the airport:

References

External links