Chopin Airport passenger numbers fall 6% in August

Chopin Airport handled over 917,000 passengers in August 2012, more than 6% less than in the corresponding period last year.

August marked the first drop in the airport’s passenger figures after 32 months of virtually uninterrupted growth, with the exception of April 2010, when a volcano erupted in Iceland, and September 2010, which saw work on the runway intersection at Chopin Airport.

“We were expecting this fall, so it doesn’t come as a surprise. It is undoubtedly a result of Wizz Air’s decision to move its operations from Warsaw and cancellation of all flights by OLT Express. But, given the number of services the two airlines operated at our airport, the fall in August is much less than anticipated,” said Michał Marzec, director of Warsaw Chopin Airport.

The number of aircraft movements also fell (-9.3%) and stood at 11,900. In total, the airport welcomed over 6.7 million passengers from January to August 2012 (+8.1% on 2011), including 5.6 million travelling on international flights (+1.7%) and 1.1 million domestically (+59.2%).

Chopin Airport is the biggest airport in Poland, handling scheduled, charter, cargo and general aviation traffic. In 2011, the airport welcomed over 9.3 million passengers, nearly 43% of Poland’s total passenger traffic.