Olsztyn-Mazury Regional Airport

Olsztyn-Mazury Airport
IATA: SZY – ICAO: EPSY
Summary
Airport type International
Operator Warmia i Mazury Sp. z o.o.
Location Szczytno
Elevation AMSL 463 ft / 141 m
Coordinates 53°28′55″N 20°56′16″E / 53.48194°N 20.93778°E / 53.48194; 20.93778Coordinates: 53°28′55″N 20°56′16″E / 53.48194°N 20.93778°E / 53.48194; 20.93778
Website www.mazuryairport.pl
Map
EPSY

Location in Poland

Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
09/20 6,560 2,000 Asphalt

Olsztyn-Mazury Airport (IATA: SZY, ICAO: EPSY) is a Polish regional airport located in the village Szymany, some 10 km from the centre of the city of Szczytno in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in the North of Poland. It is the only airport in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. The airport is located 59 km away from the regional capital Olsztyn. Scheduled operations began on 20 January 2016.

Location

Olsztyn (175,000, agglomeration 270,000 inhabitants), the capital of Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (with 1.5 million inhabitants), the nearest international airport in Szczytno-Szymany, began its operations on January 20, 2016 with the flight to Berlin, Germany. The airport has a runway 2000 meters long and 60 meters wide, a broken ILS system, and is located in Szymany in Mazury region. Its toponymic Szczytno–Szymany reflects largely obscure localities. The airport management has rebranded the airport to as "Olsztyn-Mazury”, that would better encapsulate the whole region of Mazury and its lakes, which is more well known.

The airport is situated 59 kilometres to the south of Olsztyn, at the border with more densely populated Mazowsze region. There are also other larger towns (50-60 thousand people) in the 60 kilometres distance of this airport, such as Mława, Ciechanów, Ostrołęka. This airport has in its catchment area a population of 2.7 million people in both voivodeships.

In order to provide easy access, it is planned to introduce a rail link to the airport, using a rail branch, and a tendering procedure for the upgrade of the rail line has been announced. A journey time to the centre of Olsztyn would amount to 45–50 minutes if the rail infrastructure to the airport was upgraded. Such an airport link is being prepared by the authorities. In the future, a rail link to Białystok through Ostrołęka, and another to Ełk could be organised by putting railcars on unused rail lines.

History

The first passenger airport in Olsztyn was Olsztyn- Dajtki airport that serwed flights to Bydgoszcz, Warszawa, Gdańsk and Berlin from 1926 until 1958. The airfield in Szymany was built in the 1950s for use by the military. It was important for being near to the intelligence facility in Stare Kiejkuty. In 1996 the airfield was declared surplus to military requirements and transferred to the agency responsible for selling off military property to civilians: (Agencja Mienia Wojskowego). The agency leased it to the company Porty Lotnicze "Mazury-Szczytno” which planned to turn it into a civilian airport.

Scheduled operations

Between 1996 and 2003, in the summer months, the airport had regular, weekly connections to Warsaw and cities in Germany. To serve these flights, small passenger terminal was opened and operated. The terminal was located at the western side of the airport and now it is a part of the control tower complex and it is no longer in use. The company came close to bankruptcy in 2004 and appeared to be deeply in debt. The concrete surface of the airport was sometimes rented out for various events. At present the new terminal, runway and control tower are being built, and the airport is scheduled to be completed by August in 2015. By January 21st of 2016, first scheduled flights to Kraków and Berlin will use the new passenger terminal that was built as a green- field investment by regional authorities.

On 20 January 2016, the first ever scheduled passenger flight took off from the airport with a SprintAir service to Berlin Tegel Airport.[1]

Involvement in the CIA Report

The airport gained attention in the press in 2005, when it was alleged to have a connection with a so-called black site involved in the CIA's network of extraordinary renditions. Terrorist suspects were to be secretly held, and even tortured, in violation of Polish law, by the CIA. Flight records show that an airplane leased by the CIA flying from Kabul to Guantanamo Bay made a stop in Szymany. Officials from the airport have confirmed that some of these flights bypassed normal customs-clearing procedures, and that during the time of these landings, the airport regularly received visits by cars bearing markings associated with the Stare Kiejkuty intelligence training school outside the nearby village of Stare Kiejkuty.

As recently as November, 2006, the European Parliament investigative commission led by Claudio Fava had been told, when asked for the flight logs of 11 specific flights observed to have transited through Szymany, that "[the records] have [not] been retained, have been faxed and destroyed, and finally said to have been saved in an unspecified place."[2] The commission report also quotes Szymany officials as confirming six occasions in 2002 and 2003 when Gulfstream jets bearing civilian registration numbers had landed at the airport, bypassing customs clearance. Airport officials had been directly ordered not to approach the aircraft, and vehicles bearing military registration numbers affiliated with the nearby base at Stare Kiejkuty awaited the arrival of each aircraft.

In June 2008 a New York Times article claimed, citing unnamed CIA officers, that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was held in a secret facility in Poland near Szymany Airport and it was there where he was interrogated and that waterboarding was applied before Khalid Sheikh Mohammed began to cooperate.[3]

In February 2010 Polish officials recanted previous denials, and admitted that at least six CIA flights passed through Szymany in 2003.[4]

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
SprintAir Berlin-Tegel, Kraków
Adria Airways Munich (Begins 27 March 2016)

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.airliners.de/aktuelle-streckenmeldungen-sprintair-niki/37682
  2. ↑ Brian Knowlton, "Report Rejects European Denial Of C.I.A. Prisons", New York Times, November 29, 2006.
  3. ↑ Inside a 9/11 Mastermind’s Interrogation
  4. ↑ Ian Treynor. Poland admits role in CIA rendition programme

External links

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