Copernicus Airport Wrocław

Copernicus Airport Wrocław
Port Lotniczy Wrocław
im. Mikołaja Kopernika
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Wrocław Airport Company
Serves Wrocław, Poland
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL 123 m / 404 ft
Coordinates 51°06′34″N 016°52′49″E / 51.10944°N 16.88028°E / 51.10944; 16.88028Coordinates: 51°06′34″N 016°52′49″E / 51.10944°N 16.88028°E / 51.10944; 16.88028
Website airport.wroclaw.pl
Map
EPWR
Location in Poland
EPWR
EPWR (Poland)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
11/29 2,500 8,202 Concrete/Asphalt
Statistics (2017)
Number of Passengers 2,855,071 Increase
Aircraft Movements 27,737 Increase
Source: polish AIP at EUROCONTROL[1]

Copernicus Airport Wrocław (Polish: Port Lotniczy Wrocław im. Mikołaja Kopernika (IATA: WRO, ICAO: EPWR) is an international commercial airport in Wrocław in southwestern Poland. The airport is located 10 km (6.2 mi) southwest of the city centre. It has one runway, one passenger terminal and one cargo terminal.

History

The airport was built in 1938 as Flugplatz Breslau-Schöngarten Airport for German military purposes before World War II, when the city was still part of Germany.[2] It was the site of a military aviation school, the Luftkriegsschule Breslau-Schöngarten, later renamed Luftkriegsschule 5. Among the Luftwaffe units stationed here just before the war were the Sturzkampfgeschwader 77, Kampfgeschwader 76, and Kampfgeschwader 1 "Hindenburg".

It was operated briefly by Soviet forces following the war before being used for civilian purposes in 1945. Services were operated to Warsaw, Łódź, Poznań and Katowice. By 1992 destinations also included Kraków, Rzeszów, Gdańsk, Szczecin and Koszalin.

'Port Lotniczy Wrocław S. A.' was established as a company in January 1992 and Wrocław airport assets operated by the state owned Polish Airports authority were transferred to the company in January 1993.

The first international flights were inaugurated in January 1993, serving Frankfurt, Germany. Significant airport improvements have been completed in the late twentieth century. A new international departures terminal was opened in May 1997 followed by a new domestic terminal in November 1998. A cargo terminal, international arrivals hall, and installation of a new meteorological system were completed in 1999; new fire station and apron extensions in 2000.

New air traffic control tower and duty-free area in 2001.

On December 6, 2005 the airport was renamed after the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (in Polish: Mikołaj Kopernik), who in Wrocław studied and received a scholarship, and in the years 1503-1538 was a scholaster of the Wrocław Collegiate Holy Cross and St. Bartholomew on the Cathedral Island. The airport's new name is Copernicus Airport Wrocław (Port Lotniczy Wrocław im. Mikołaja Kopernika). Terminal extensions were officially opened on the same day, increasing the airport's capacity to 750,000 passengers per year. This capacity was quickly exceeded by several hundred thousand (in the first 9 months of 2007 the airport served 972,505 passengers) so the existing terminal space was expanded by 1,900 m2 (20,451 sq ft) to alleviate some of the congestion, but more importantly make the terminal facilities conform to the requirements of the Schengen Agreement, which was implemented at Poland's airports on 31 March 2008.

On 19 July 2006, the architectural firm JSK was chosen to design a significant airport expansion. This includes plans for a new passenger terminal (eventually, after several stages of expansion, the airport will be able to handle 7 million passengers yearly) and assorted taxiway, apron and navigation equipment improvements (ILS). Also, car parking will be expanded to 1,000 spaces. The first stage, increasing the passenger capacity to 3,5 million yearly, officially opened on February 29, 2012. However, the new terminal opened to passengers on Sunday March 11, 2012. in 2015 Ryanair announced that it has selected Copernicus Airport Wrocław (Port Lotniczy Wrocław im. Mikołaja Kopernika) for its aircraft maintenance base. The construction of the hangar to fit 2 C-type aircraft (Boeing 737) was finished in June 2017[3]. The airport has upgraded to ILS system from category I to category II in April 2016.

Awards

Wrocław Airport was ranked 23rd among all European airports, and 3rd among European regional airports in 2016.[4]

Facilities

The airport operates modern domestic, international and cargo terminals. The international terminal contains a duty free area in the international departures hall. The cargo terminal, located beside the fire station and air traffic control tower, west of the passenger terminals, has a storage area of 3,300 m2 (36,000 sq ft), a bonded warehouse, freezer and radioactive materials warehouse.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
Aegean Airlines Seasonal charter: Corfu[5][6]
Air France Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Air Mediterranean Seasonal charter: Heraklion[5]
AlMasria Universal Airlines Seasonal charter: Hurghada[7]
Bulgarian Air Charter Seasonal charter: Burgas,[8] Varna[8]
Brussels Airlines Brussels (begins 25 February 2019)[9]
Corendon Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya[7]
Enter Air Charter: Antalya,[10] Fuerteventura,[10] Hurghada[10]
Seasonal charter: Bodrum,[6] Burgas,[10] Djerba (begins 6 June 2019),[10] Faro,[10] Funchal,[10] Heraklion,[10] Kos,[6] Marsa Alam,[10] Palma de Mallorca,[10] Ras Al Khaimah (begins 23 December 2018),[10] Rhodes,[6] Varna,[10] Zakynthos[10]
Eurowings Düsseldorf, Stuttgart
LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw–Chopin, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion
Lufthansa Frankfurt, Munich
Nouvelair Seasonal charter: Monastir[5]
Onur Air Seasonal charter: Antalya,[5][7] Bodrum (begins 25 April 2019)[7]
Ryanair Beauvais, Belfast–International, Bergamo, Bologna, Bristol, Charleroi, Cork, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Gdańsk, Glasgow, Kiev-Boryspil (begins 30 October 2018), Leeds/Bradford, Lisbon, Liverpool, London–Stansted, Madrid, Málaga, Malta, Manchester, Naples, Newcastle, Palermo, Rome–Ciampino, Sandefjord, Shannon, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion, Tenerife–South
Seasonal: Alicante, Athens, Chania, Faro, Girona, Palma de Mallorca, Podgorica
Ryanair Sun Seasonal charter: Barcelona,[10] Chania,[5] Corfu,[5] Rhodes,[5] Zakynthos[5]
Scandinavian Airlines Copenhagen
Small Planet Airlines Poland Seasonal charter: Kos[10]
SunExpress Seasonal charter: Izmir (begins 7 June 2019)[10]
Swiss International Air Lines Zürich
Travel Service Polska Seasonal charter: Chania,[6] Fuerteventura,[10] Heraklion,[10] Kos,[6] Palma de Mallorca,[10] Thessaloniki[5]
Wizz Air Basel/Mulhouse (ends 27 October 2018),[11] Birmingham, Doncaster/Sheffield, Dortmund, Eindhoven, Kharkiv (begins 28 October 2018), Kiev–Zhuliany, Kutaisi, London–Luton, Lviv, Reykjavík–Keflavík, Sandefjord, Skavsta
Seasonal: Bari, Gothenburg, Porto

Statistics

Interior of Terminal T2
Terminal T1 for passengers and crews of private planes

Following are the official airport annual traffic figures.[12]

Year Passengers Cargo (tonnes)[13] Movements
1998 174 202 871 9 558
1999 191 502 628 10 333
2000 210 873 2 548 11 858
2001 237 705 1 172 7 430
2002 236 151 1 571 6 594
2003 284 334 1 183 12 384
2004 355 431 823 18 509
2005 454 047 1 378 20 556
2006 857 931 1 510 25 002
2007 1 270 825 1 458 26 948
2008 1 486 442 1 462 32 000
2009 1 365 456 1 031 25 472
2010 1 654 439 946 23 627
2011 1 657 472 957 25 339
2012 1 996 552 928 27 960
2013 1 920 179 910 24 958
2014 2 085 638 463 24 970
2015 2 320 000 391 24 510
2016 2 419 561 2 549 25 486
2017 2 855 071 1 025 27 737

Ground transportation

Buses: a city bus operated by MPK runs between the airport and the centre of Wrocław (Dworcowa street). Line 106 (day) or 206 (night). The ticket will cost 3,40 PLN (~ 0,80 €).

From December 6, 2017 Polbus-PKS started an express bus called "WRO Airport Express" connecting the airport with the central bus station, which is located in the basement of the shopping mall "Wroclavia". The route is serviced by the comfortable Mercedes Benz Tourino with free Wi-Fi. Coaches run every 50 minutes. The first bus from the Wrocław bus station leaves at 03:20 and the last at 23:30. From the airport, the first cruise at 4:10, the last at 1:00. The journey takes 23–44 minutes. A single ticket costs 10 PLN (~ 2,50 €).

The airport also serves taxi corporations, Uber and iTaxi.

The airport offers 3000 parking spaces. There are car rentals at the airport. Travelers using vehicles from the Vozilla City Electric Car Rental can park for free in the VIP car park, located closest to the terminal.

There is also a bike path that leads to the airport.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "EAD Basic - Error Page". www.ead.eurocontrol.int.
  2. ↑ "latamy z WROclawia » Maintenance Mode". latamyzwroclawia.pl.
  3. ↑ "Ryanair zakłada własną klasę w szkole we Wrocławiu. Absolwent może zarabiać nawet do 25 tys. PLN miesięcznie - Fly4free.pl - tanie loty i sposoby na tanie bilety lotnicze". Fly4free.pl - tanie loty i sposoby na tanie bilety lotnicze (in Polish). Retrieved 2018-09-07.
  4. ↑ "Wrocławskie lotnisko otrzymało prestiżową nagrodę". 23 March 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Charter flights". charterflights.r.pl. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "air and charter tickets". itaka.pl. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Coral Travel". coraltravel.pl.
  8. 1 2 "Destinations". Bulgarian Air Charter.
  9. ↑ http://www.pasazer.com/news/39377/brussels,airlines,opozniaja,start,lotow,z,wroclawia.html
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "Charter flights". Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  11. ↑ "Winter season at Wizz Air. Liquidated, suspended and new routes". pasazer.com. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  12. ↑ "Annual statistics", ulc.gov.pl. Link accessed 2012-05-28.
  13. ↑ "Cargo - Port Lotniczy Wrocław". airport.wroclaw.pl.
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