At the speed of sound

Polish airports are to receive EUR 720 mln by 2012 in the form of government and EU subsidies, but airports will be investing much more in expansion. The pie to be divided is already in the oven and giving off a rather delicious aroma

The current airport investment boom started several years ago with a surge in the growth of budget airlines, while another injection of energy and capital was given when the decision was taken to award Poland the right to organize the 2012 European football championships. Estimates suggest Poland will have invested as much as EUR 19 bln on the entire transport network by 2012 (roads, railways and airports) with state and EU finance, though the reconstruction of the largest airports will alone cost the small (in terms of percentage) sum of EUR 720 mln. Smaller airports are already sensing a wind change in their favour, although they cannot count on financing from Euro 2012 resources but will also hitch on to the boom bandwagon, that is if they keep their eyes open.

Mariusz Rutz, architect and partner of the JSK Architekci studio which designed the new terminals in Wrocław and Gdańsk, remarks that: “Aviation investments are only just beginning to gain momentum. Polish regional airports constructed 10 to 15 years ago were designed for an annual traffic of 100,000 to 500,000 passengers which makes it quite impossible for them to cope with several millions today. The only solution is to enlarge.”

Chopin plays lower key

Civilian Aviation Office data shows that Polish airports served almost 8.6 mln passengers in the first half of this year, 17 pct more than in the first half of 2006. Although almost half of all travellers passed through Warsaw Airport, regional airports steadily increased their presence in servicing passenger traffic, from less than 28 pct in the first quarter of 2004 to more than 51 pct in the second quarter of 2007.

Kraków airport in Balice continues to be the undisputed second as regards passengers numbers (more than 1.4 mln from January to June 2007). The airports in Katowice, Gdańsk, Wrocław and Poznań competed strongly for third place on the ranking list, with these four airports serving almost 46 pct of total traffic in the first half of 2007 from 26.5 pct in the first half of 2004. The airports in Rzeszów, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz, Łódź and Zielona Góra are also making impressive efforts to woo passengers.

Not always deserving to be leader

The first official opening date of Warsaw’s Chopin Airport new terminal was to be December 2005. It would be hard to list all the later deadlines promised in the two years which followed. At the moment only the arrivals hall is operative, the departures section can only come into service once the fire protection service is convinced that the new, almost ready, section can be approved for use. At the time this issue was published, such approval was still not forthcoming. The latest negative decision was issued on September 1st this year, due to the faulty functioning of the hall’s tannoy system, which may prevent alerts being heard throughout the building. The general contractor – a consortium of Ferrovial Budimex Lamela and the ‘Polish Airports’ State Enterprise (PPL) claim that when consent is given to start using the new departures hall, charter flights will begin in a matter of a few days, with the whole building taking over regular flights in another 2 to 3 weeks.

The old terminal – constructed in the late 1990s – was designed to service around 1.5 mln passengers annually, but the total number in 2006 was double that.

The reconstruction of Modlin airport some 25 km outside Warsaw has been postponed yet again. This is intended to take over the handling of budget airlines and was to have been up and running in mid-2005, but the whole project has been put on hold due to the still unfinished report on the airport’s effect on the nearby area, which is included in the Natura 2000 environment protection programme. Yet another planned date for the publication of the report has been and gone without any sign of the document. The authorities of Mazovia province, which governs the location, have now lost their campaign for additional central government financing of the project and will not receive any of the PLN 120 mln for constructing and upgrading local airports. But the Mazovian local government was successful in obtaining a EU subsidy of around PLN 85 mln, covering half the investment costs. The first planes will take off from Modlin airport probably in 2010, until when budget airlines passengers will have to find their way through the packed Etiuda terminal of Warsaw Chopin Airport, which has been disdainfully referred to as a barrack. PPL intends to start enlarging the building this autumn to eliminate the queues of passengers at check-in that often build up outside the existing building.

Winging it to the sea

Rębiechowo airport in a suburb of Gdańsk is putting into action a five-year investment plan of PLN 400 mln, in which the construction of a new terminal is the most important item. The competition for the design of this project was decided upon this July, but the details of the winning plans have yet to be revealed. The reason, according to Elżbieta Stangret, assistant in the airport management, was a protest submitted by one of the unsuccessful participants, which means the results will be published only when the public orders office resolves the dispute. According to leaked information, the new terminal will cost around PLN 135 mln and will be built alongside the existing terminal. The initial plan is for a tender to decide on the general contractor to be held early next year, with construction to begin in June 2008 and end in June 2010 (the first stage of the investment). The problem is that the arbitration will take an undefined time, which means the dates given are still on the vague side. Until all the formalities are finished, work at Rębiechowo is proceeding on five other unrelated projects.

Michał Kordel of the Economic Analyses and Marketing Department of Gdańsk airport, reveals that: “One of these is the extension of the parking apron, which will cost us PLN 8 mln and last until this November. The construction of a new office building will also finish shortly, – an investment of more than PLN 5 mln and providing companies operating within the airport with almost 1,800 sqm of space.”

The TriCity may also soon have another airport, this time in Gdynia, which is to be built on the foundation of the present defunct Babie Doły airfield. According to one of several reviewed possibilities, the new airport would be managed by Gdańsk airport and would be for budget airlines, while acting as a reserve airport for Gdańsk. The cost of adapting the small Babie Doły post-military airfield for civilian aviation has been put at an estimated PLN 100 mln.

Euro plus Expo

Work on extending Wrocław airport will soon be complete, with this facility being enlarged by 1,900 sqm by this autumn, thereby increasing the airport’s throughput to an annual 1,200,000 passengers. The construction of new terminals is to start in early 2008, and the first stage of the investment is to be finished by 2010. The first new building will initially have a capacity of 2 mln passengers, which is to increase to 4.5 mln passengers annually in 2012.

Zbigniew Sałek, vice president for development and investment of the board of Wrocław Airport, comments that: “The decision over where to situate the Expo exhibition is to be taken this November. Should it be in favour of Wrocław, the construction of a second terminal will have to be given priority and be completed by 2011.”

Poznań Ławica gains momentum

Poznań’s Ławica airport is also expanding, under a 2007-2011 investment programme which has more than PLN 200 mln earmarked for such projects as extending the existing parking apron and constructing a new one, lengthening the runway, repairing the taxi-track and enlarging the passenger terminal to reach a capacity of 3 mlnpassengers annually.

According to Hanna Surma, head of the management board of Ławica airport: “With an eye on preparations for the Euro 2012 football championships, we discussed with the airport’s owners the acceleration of the investments which we had originally planned to finish after the championships – that is, a second terminal, and a hotel with conference and training facilities, as well as an extension of the technical and cargo facilities.”

Silesian express

The further extension of Katowice International Airport in Pyrzowice is to cost around PLN 500 mln and is to achieve a passenger handling capacity of as many as 9 mln by Euro 2012, with this year’s figure to exceed 2 mln passengers and 3 mln in 2009. The new passenger terminal opened this July at a cost of around PLN 80 mln should satisfy Katowice’s requirements for 3 to 4 years. As a result of this investment, the terminal’s overall space increased threefold while the airport’s capacity more than doubled.

Airport press spokesperson Cezary Orzech comments however, that: “The potential needs are greater, which is why the intial work on building a new terminal with an annual capacity of around 5 mln passengers will begin next year. But apart from the construction of another terminal, in the next 5 years we are also planning to extend airplane parking aprons and taxi-ways, construct a second runway and new hangars, as well as multi-storey car parks. These investments will be principally financed by the EU, as well as by loans and the airports own means.”

Katowice International is one of Poland’s most rapidly developing regional ports, with the increase in the number of handled passengers being among the greatest in Europe. It is second only to Warsaw’s Chopin airport as regards the amount of carried cargo and the number of charter flights.

Enter the

Kraków dragon

A study carried out several years ago envisaged that Kraków-Balice airport would serve around 3-5 mln passengers by 2015, but it now seems that this number of travellers will be recorded this year. Luckily, fundamental upgrading of the terminal began in 2003, with the first stage completed in September 2005 with the opening of departures halls to non-Schengen countries with an area of almost 2,000 sqm. The second stage of the work with a net value of PLN 36 mln concluded two months ago – the finished section being for passengers flying to EU countries, resulting in the international terminal becoming more than 3,000 sqm larger. The most modern fire station in Poland with an area of more than 2,600 sqm and net value of PLN 14 mln was also constructed this year, as well as an administrative-technical building (more than 7,000 sqm – net value PLN 36 mln).

These two investments were planned with the imminent expansion of the airport in mind. The competition for the architectural and functional concept of enlarging the airport was decided this July, with the jury awarding prizes to three projects out of which the airport management will choose the winner.

Piotr Pietrzak, the spokesperson for Kraków airport, stresses that: “The existing passenger terminal will be reconstructed into a departure terminal, with the ultimate result of the planned investment process being an integrated passengers arrival and departure terminal (the existing building together with the planned facility), as well as car parks, a hotel and a rail-bus station situated on the opposite side. Work is expected to end by 2001.”

In July this year, the provincial authorities, as well as the central government transport departments, also signed an accord to develop the road and railway infrastructure around the airport at a cost of PLN 600 mln, for which the deadline set is also 2011.

Rail access to Łódź airport

Łódź Airport’s international traffic terminal is also being enlarged, with a new passengers departure hall for those flying to Schengen countries, the envisaged cost being around PLN 2.5 mln. Construction of new parking apron is to begin and finish this year, although problems have arisen over a contract for work valued at PLN 29 mln. The tender specification has been appealed against by a potential contractor, which has accused the airport management of setting conditions which cannot be technically fulfilled. Even worse, the government has allotted half of that amount – but only if it is invested by the end of the year, otherwise the subsidy will be forfeited.

Miłosz Wika, the airport’s press spokesperson, informs us that: “’The construction of a car park for 130 vehicles is to start this year, while the architectural project for a new terminal is also ready, with the investment cost estimated at more than PLN 100 mln, and this is to begin in early 2008. The route of a new railbus is also being designed to link the city centre with the international terminal.”

Łódź airport is also making the initial moves to develop an aircraft technical facilities backup at a cost of PLN 50 mln, including fuel storage, railway sidings, a hangar and parking apron. The Polish Air Navigation Agency is to build a new flight control tower in Łódź in 2009 using its own finances, for which the project is ready while the process of choosing the contractor is already under way.

Never-ending airport investments story

Contemporary airports are very similar to living organisms which keep on growing. And that is why designing them is also a specific field in which facilities must meet the very highest technological and safety requirements, but also must be simple enough to expand, adapt or connect with other buildings in the future.

Mariusz Rutz of the JSK Architekci studio, comments that: “Construction work continues non-stop here. When one new terminal is finished and the last worker clocks off, he meets a friend in the changing room who is starting work on the next phase. Our company has designed projects for the expansion of large German airports – in Berlin, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt/Maine – which had to enlarged to be able them to cope with handling the rising number of travellers. And you must remember that the number is rising by 2 to 3 pct annually in West Europe, while in Poland it is almost 30 pct.”

Tomasz Cudowski