Wrocław Airport expands

In mid-July the company managing Wrocław Airport will choose one of 23 companies preparing plans for the expansion of the city's hub through the construction of another terminal. "The new terminal should be ready by 2008 and it will be able to serve two million passengers annually," the airport's vice-president, Leszek Karwowski, said.

The current terminal is not big enough to handle the growing traffic at Wrocław Airport. In 2005 the airport serviced 454,000 passengers and this year it plans to increase the number by about 50 percent. "We can handle this year's expectations, we can handle 800,000 passengers, but the terminal is too small for larger numbers of passengers," Karwowski said.

"Another important reason for the investment is the fact that the present terminal can't be expanded," he added.

The new terminal will be built 1.5 kilometers from the present one and its costs are estimated at between zł.100-120 million. The investment will be co-financed by two of the shareholders in the company managing the airport - the Lower Silesia voivodship and the city of Wrocław. Apart from the terminal, additional airport infrastructure will also be built, at a cost of around zł.400-500 million, although Karwowski underlines that the airport will only finance investments directly related to the hub, such as parking lots, a fuel station or the extension of the runway. "This should cost us around zł.100 million," he estimates.