Lublin Airport
Lublin Airport Port Lotniczy Lublin | |||||||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
Serves | Lublin, Poland | ||||||||||||||
Location | Świdnik | ||||||||||||||
Opened | December 17, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 193 m / 633 ft | ||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 51°14′25.00″N 022°42′49.00″E / 51.2402778°N 22.7136111°ECoordinates: 51°14′25.00″N 022°42′49.00″E / 51.2402778°N 22.7136111°E | ||||||||||||||
Website | airport.lublin.pl | ||||||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||||||
LUZ Location of the airport in Poland | |||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||
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Statistics (2017) | |||||||||||||||
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Lublin Airport (Port Lotniczy Lublin) (IATA: LUZ, ICAO: EPLB) is an airport in Poland serving Lublin and the surrounding region. The site is located about 10 km (6.2 miles) east of central Lublin, adjacent to the town of Świdnik. The airport has a 2520 × (45 + 2 × 7.5) m runway (8,270 × 200 ft), and the terminal facilities are capable of handling 4 Boeing 737-800 class aircraft simultaneously.[3] Construction began in the fall of 2010[4] and the official opening took place on December 17, 2012.[5][6] The new airport replaced the grass airstrip (1,200 × 50 m or 1,312 × 55 yd), which had served the PZL-Świdnik helicopter factory, and was known as Świdnik Airport with the ICAO identifier EPSW.
History
Early years
The construction of the Świdnik airfield began in 1935 and it was officially opened on June 4, 1939.[7] It was to serve as a training centre with a pilot school, and was built by the Airborne and Antigas Defence League, a mass organisation propagating aviation among the general public. During World War II, it was used by the Luftwaffe after Poland was occupied in September 1939, and then by the Soviet Air Force once Lublin was captured by the Red Army in July, 1944. The Germans destroyed the airfield's buildings before withdrawing.
After World War II
The airport opened for passenger traffic on 30 November 1945. A domestic service was opened with flight number 1/2 that flew the route Warsaw – Łódź – Kraków – Rzeszów – Lublin – Warsaw. There is little literature on the early domestic services from Lublin airport. The route was later discontinued and Lublin lost all domestic services. In 1949, the Polish government made a decision to build an aviation factory in Świdnik, located next to the airfield.[8] It assembled its first helicopters in 1956, with full-scale production beginning in 1957.[9]
The factory employed some staff from the pre-war Lubelska Wytwórnia Samolotów, an airplane manufacturer in Lublin that functioned from 1936 to 1939, being itself the successor of Plage i Laśkiewicz factory which functioned between 1920 and 1935. That factory had its own airfield within the Lublin city limits,[10][11] but it was closed and built over after the war. One of the streets running through the area where the airfield used to be is named Lotnicza (Aviation Street).
Current facilities
The need for an air terminus in Lublin, the 9th biggest city in Poland, has been felt for the better half of 20th century. In 2008, the project received €84.1 million financing backing from the European Union.[12] Subsequently, the airport design competition was won by a Polish-Spanish consortium of SENER Ingeniería y Sistemas (engineering & master plan) and Warsaw-based architectural firm ARÉ (architecture).[13] The architectural design was well received by the design community; however the fit and finish of the completed terminal building fell short of the winning proposal.[14] The contract to build the runway was signed in August, 2011, with completion in late 2012.[4] Operations commenced on December 17, 2012 with a Category I instrument landing system.[4]
A Reuters special report in December 2014 highlighted Lublin Airport (along with Łódź and Rzeszów airports) as a target of inefficient EU subsidies with disappointing passenger numbers.[15]
In July 2016, Lufthansa announced to terminate its route from Frankfurt Airport to Lublin due to low demand by 29 October 2016 after only two years of service.[16]
In September 2015 WizzAir opened it's base at Lublin Airport with one Airbus A320 Aircraft. In November 2017 the company announced that they will close it's base in Lublin that resulted in terminating services to Doncaster Sheffield, Liverpool and Tel-Aviv in June 2018, decreasing frequency on the route to Oslo and further termination of service to Kiev Zhulyany and Stockholm Skvasta in late October 2018.
In October 2018, EasyJet has terminated it's only route from Lublin to Milan Malpensa.
Airlines and destinations
Airlines | Destinations |
---|---|
Bravo Airways | Seasonal charter: Kherson[17] |
easyJet | Milan–Malpensa[18] (ends 26 October 2018) |
flybmi | Munich |
LOT Polish Airlines | Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion,[19] Warsaw–Chopin[20] |
Ryanair | London–Stansted Seasonal: Dublin |
Wizz Air | Eindhoven, Kiev–Zhuliany (ends 24 October 2018),[21] London–Luton, Sandefjord, Stockholm–Skavsta (ends 26 October 2018) |
Passenger statistics
Passengers | Change | Movements | |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | 5,702 | 50 | |
2013 | 189,699 | 2,246 | |
2014 | 187,595 | 3,254 | |
2015 | 265,111 | 3,732 | |
2016 | 377,606 | 4,234 | |
2017 | 430,346 | 4,980 | |
Ground transportation
Train
Lublin Airport is accessible by rail, with a train station inside the airport terminal. The connection to Lublin's main railway station is provided by modern EMU (Electric Multiple Unit), EN57AL series 3000. The journey takes approximately 15 minutes from Lublin Central Station.[23] Ticket costs 5,3 PLN (~€1,3).[24]
Bus
There is a dedicated bus service to the airport, with a flexible schedule, which starts its run to the airport 2 hours before each flight departure, and leaves the airport 25 minutes after flight arrival.[25]
Car
See also
References
- ↑ Airport information for LUZ at Great Circle Mapper.
- ↑ Airport information for Lublin Airport at Search (for) Travel website.
- ↑ Data from official website
- 1 2 3 "Lotnisko w Świdniku: Rusza budowa pasa startowego". Kurier Lubelski (in Polish). August 8, 2011.
- ↑ "Airport. Wielka przeprowadzka lotniska na... lotnisko". gazeta.pl. November 20, 2012.
- ↑ "Lublin Airport: Polecimy nad morze, na Wyspy i do Egiptu". Dziennik Wschodni. March 10, 2012.
- ↑ Wielki dzień Lublina! - article from www.historia.swidnik.net
- ↑ 1978 map of Świdnik, showing the factory and adjacent helicopter landing pads. The airfield itself (not marked as such) is in the empty area to the west of the factory buildings
- ↑ Powstanie WSK article from www.historia.swidnik.net
- ↑ "1932 map with the old Lublin airfield marked".
- ↑ "German military map with old Lublin airfield highlighted".
- ↑ "European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - Commission gives go-ahead for finance packages for airports at Lublin and Gdańsk". europa.eu. line feed character in
|title=
at position 94 (help) - ↑ article from bustler.net, the sister site to the leading architecture platform, Archinect
- ↑ article from dezeen.com, an online architecture and design magazine
- ↑ Lowe, Christian. "Special Report: EU funds help Poland build 'ghost' airports".
- ↑ pasazer.com - Lufthansa kasuje loty z Lublina (Polish) 10 July 2016
- ↑ "freight monitor". online.joinup.ua. 9 July 2018.
- ↑ "Nowa trasa easyJet! Polecimy z Lublina do Mediolanu - Fly4free.pl - tanie loty i sposoby na tanie bilety lotnicze".
- ↑ "pasazer.com". Warsaw Chopin Airport.
- ↑ "Pasazer.com: LOT: Z Lublina do Warszawy". Pasazer.com.
- ↑ "Winter season at Wizz Air. Liquidated, suspended and new routes". pasazer.com. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
- ↑ "Figures and Statistics. Lublin Airport". Lublin Airport. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
- ↑ Lublin Airport
- ↑ Wyszukiwarka połączeń kolejowych rozkład jazdy pkp.pl
- ↑ "Bus timetable per link from official site".
External links
- Official website of Lublin Airport (in Polish)
- Official website of Lublin Airport (in English)