Poland approves plans to build central hub airport

Polish government have recommended building a new centrally located hub airport. The facility would be situated between Warsaw and Łódź, and is expected to cost PLN 20-30 billion and would service some 50 million passengers per year. The airport should be operational “within a decade from now,” according to the Minister of Infrastructure Andrzej Adamczyk. According to Adamczyk such investment will most likely have to be build without EU funds. “First of all, such investment would be possible after 2020, in the next EU financial perspective. Second of all, the European Commission is not keen on expanding the air transport infrastructure.” The Central Polish Airport idea was recently supported by the leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, Jarosław Kaczyński, “Poland should have a new, centralized airport with global connections, “so Poland won't become a province,” he said, hoping that such facility would become a hub for the CEE region. The idea was also promoted by the state-owned airline LOT. “The construction of a central airport is a must from the point of view of developing the Polish market and economic development,” airline's Rafał Milczarski told Reuters last year. There are currently three passenger airports located near Warsaw and Łódź servicing some 16 million passengers per year combined.