John Paul II International Airport Kraków–Balice

"Balice" redirects here. For other uses, see Balice (disambiguation).
John Paul II International Airport Kraków–Balice
Międzynarodowy Port Lotniczy im. Jana Pawła II Kraków–Balice
IATA: KRK – ICAO: EPKK
Summary
Airport type Military/Public
Operator LHC/KRK Airport Services
Serves Kraków
Location Balice, Poland
Hub for Ryanair
Elevation AMSL 241 m / 791 ft
Coordinates 50°04′40″N 019°47′05″E / 50.07778°N 19.78472°ECoordinates: 50°04′40″N 019°47′05″E / 50.07778°N 19.78472°E
Website krakowairport.pl
Map
EPKK

Location in Poland

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
07/25 2,550 8,366 Concrete
07L/25R (emergency) 2,550 8,366 Grass
Statistics (2014)
Passenger Volume 3,817,792

John Paul II International Airport Kraków–Balice (Polish: Kraków Airport im. Jana Pawła II since 4 September 2007; earlier in Polish: Międzynarodowy Port Lotniczy im. Jana Pawła II Kraków–Balice) (IATA: KRK, ICAO: EPKK) is an international airport located near Kraków, in the village of Balice, 11 km (6.8 mi) west[1] of the city centre, in southern Poland.

History

Early years

The airport opened for civil aviation in 1964. The Balice airport was a military site until 28 February 1968. Four years later the first passenger terminal was built there.

In 1988 the authorities decided to build a new terminal that was opened for public use in 1993. In 1995, the entire apron was modernized.

In 1995 the airport's name was changed from Kraków–Balice Airport to John Paul II International Airport Kraków–Balice, to honor Pope John Paul II, who spent many years of his life in Kraków and had served as Archbishop of Kraków from 1963 until his elevation to the Papacy in 1978. For marketing reasons, the official name was further "streamlined" on 4 September 2007 as Kraków Airport im. Jana Pawła II.

Development since the 2000s

The airport was modernized once more in 2002, and since then new international connections have been established.

In 2003, when Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair became interested in starting a service from the John Paul II International Airport, the airport authorities refused to reduce the landing fees. In response, the regional authorities of Kraków and Lesser Poland Voivodeship decided to build a new airport near the existing one, using the infrastructure of the military airbase adjacent to the shared runway. Finally an agreement was reached, and the existing airport was opened to Ryanair and other low-cost carriers such as Germanwings, EasyJet, and Centralwings.

On 1 March 2007, a separate domestic terminal (T2) was opened. At that time, plans were underway to begin construction of a new terminal.

A seven story parking garage opposite T1 became fully operational in May 2010.[2]

On 12 December 2012, Irish low cost carrier Ryanair announced they would be opening their second Polish base in Kraków basing two Boeing 737-800 aircraft at the airport from 31 March 2013, which allows the carrier to increase the number of the routes from Kraków to 31. As of September 2013, a new hotel is being built in the nearest area of the airport terminal.[3]

Kraków Airport is the second busiest airport in the country after Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport. The airport has good growth prospects, as almost 8 million people live within 100 km (62 mi) of it. The airport also has a favorable location on the network of existing and planned motorways in this region of Poland, but it faces stiff competition from the nearby Katowice International Airport in Pyrzowice, as well as other Polish airports.

Facilities

Terminal

Visual of new terminal currently being built at Kraków Airport

11 April 2013 saw the beginning of construction works of a new airport terminal, which would be adjacent to the existing old terminal building. The new terminal is planned to be finished in June 2015. The terminal will serve all-year-round, 24 hours a day, both domestic as well as international flights. The expected maximum capacity of the terminal is up to 8 million passengers handled in a year (over twice as much as the airport served in 2012). It will also be possible to handle transfer passengers irrespective of the routes (Schengen/Non-Schengen destinations). Due to works at the airport, all arrivals are handled at terminal 2 until 30 June 2015.[4]

Runway

The airport has one concrete runway, number 07/25, 2,550 m × 60 m (8,366 ft × 197 ft).

Apart from the main terminal building, other elements of the airport infrastructure are planned to be built or rebuilt, such as a new luggage handling system or a roofed footbridge connecting the terminal building to a new hotel (opened November 2014), multi-level parking lot and the rail station, with direct railway link to Kraków Główny by Koleje Małopolskie from September 2015.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations Terminal
Air Berlin Berlin–Tegel1
Alitalia Rome–Fiumicino1
Austrian Airlines Vienna1
British Airways London–Heathrow1
Brussels Airlines Brussels1
easyJet Belfast–International, Bristol, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Liverpool, London–Gatwick, Lyon, Paris–Charles de Gaulle1
easyJet Switzerland Basel/Mulhouse[5]1
Finnair Helsinki 1
Germanwings Seasonal: Stuttgart1
Jet2.com Newcastle Upon Tyne1
KLM
operated by KLM Cityhopper 		Amsterdam (begins 18 May 2015)[6] 1
LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw-Chopin, Gdańsk 1
Lufthansa Frankfurt, Munich1
Lufthansa Regional
operated by Lufthansa CityLine 		Munich 1
Norwegian Air Shuttle Bergen, Copenhagen, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stavanger, Stockholm–Arlanda, Trondheim1
Ryanair Alicante, Beauvais, Bergamo, Birmingham, Bologna, Charleroi, Dortmund, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Gdańsk, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London-Stansted, Madrid, Malta, Manchester, Moss, Rome-Ciampino, Shannon, Stockholm-Skavsta
Seasonal: Cagliari, Girona, Kos, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Pisa, Trapani 		1
Swiss International Air Lines
operated by Swiss Global Air Lines 		Zürich1
Vueling Seasonal: Barcelona 1

Statistics

Route statistics

Check-in area of Terminal 1
International terminal at Kraków
EasyJet Airbus A319-100 in Kraków
Top 10 city destinations (2013)[7]
Rank Airport Passengers Percent Change Carriers
1  United Kingdom, London 377,000 Increase 8% easyJet, Ryanair
2  Poland, Warsaw 245,000 Decrease 11% LOT Polish Airlines
3  Germany, Frankfurt 208,000 Increase 13% Lufthansa
4  Germany, Munich 198,000 Decrease 5% Lufthansa
5  Norway, Oslo 194,000 Increase 10% Norwegian, Ryanair
6  France, Paris 148,000 Decrease 14% easyJet, Ryanair
7  Germany, Berlin 131,000 Increase 120% Air Berlin
8  Ireland, Dublin 121,000 Decrease 22% Ryanair
9  United Kingdom, Edinburgh 113,000 Increase 2% easyJet, Ryanair
10  Italy, Milan 111,000 Increase 6% Ryanair

Passenger numbers

Year Passenger Count Percent Change
2003 593,214
2004 841,123 Increase 42%
2005 1,586,130 Increase 89%
2006 2,367,257 Increase 49%
2007 3,068,199 Increase 30%
2008 2,923,961 Decrease 5%
2009 2,680,322 Decrease 8%
2010 2,863,996 Increase 7%
2011 3,014,060 Increase 5%
2012 3,439,758 Increase 14%
2013 3,647,616 Increase 6%
2014 3,817,792 Increase 5%
2015 824,393 (Mar) Increase 11%

Ground transportation

In addition to road access by private car or taxi, other options are:

Train

"Balice Ekspres" train

The "Balice Express" which operated between Kraków Główny (Main railway station) and the Kraków–Balice Airport railway station is temporarily suspended. The service is planned to resume in September 2015. It will take about 20 minutes to get to the city centre.,[8] and further 20 minutes to Wieliczka (for Salt Mine). The railway line will ultimately reach the terminal building, rather than the previous temporary stop located 250 m (820 ft) from the terminal.[9] Since February 2014 the train connection is closed due to the construction of the new station (connected to the new terminal by a footbridge), and will reopen on 1 September 2015.

Bus

Public buses link the airport during the day (lines 208, hourly, and 292, every 20 minutes) and during the night (line 902) with the main railway station in Kraków (Kraków Główny) and the central bus station (Kraków Główny RDA). Normal city tariffs apply (2 zones) thus making it by far the cheapest public transport connection to the city centre, at 4.00 PLN. Public buses can be used after purchasing tickets from a ticket machine located at the bus stop (with cash or credit card) or from ticket machines that can be found in some of the buses (with coins only). All tickets have to be validated after getting on a bus. It is also possible to use private-owned bus and minibus services connecting the airport with the city center or other cities in Poland. Tickets require bookings in advance.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "EAD Basic". Ead.eurocontrol.int. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
  2. ↑ "Na lotnisku w Krakowie powstaje wielopoziomowy parking" (in Polish). www.2012.org.pl. 2009-12-18. Archived from the original on 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
  3. ↑ "Developing and restructuring the existing passenger terminal". Krakow Airport. Retrieved 2013-09-10.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ http://www.easyjet.com/en/cheap-flights/krakow/basel-mulhouse-freiburg
  6. ↑ http://www.klm.com/travel/nl_en/apps/ebt/calendar.htm?application=EBT7&country=NL&language=en&barsEnabled=true&fixedDatesOnly=false&canModify=ORIGIN%2CDESTINATION%2CTRAVELDATES%2CPAX%2CCABINCLASS&origin=KRK&originType=AIRPORT&destination=AMS&destinationType=AIRPORT&outboundDate=&itineraryType=RETURN&numberOfAdults=1&numberOfChildren=0&numberOfInfants=0&cabinClass=ECONOMY&inboundDate=&pos=PL
  7. ↑ "Destynacje".
  8. ↑ "By train". Krakow Airport. Retrieved 2013-09-10.
  9. ↑ "Train station". Krakow Airport. Retrieved 2013-09-10.

External links