Busiest ever July for Chopin Airport

Chopin Airport welcomed nearly 1.2 million passengers in July 2013, an almost 9% increase year-on-year and yet another record month for the airport.

The airport’s previous all-time high was recorded in July 2012, when 1.084 million passengers were handled. This July, with 1,178,700 travellers, it topped the figure by 8.7%.

“The record passenger numbers are largely thanks to low-cost airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air, which carry nearly one-fourth of all our passengers,” said Michał Marzec, director of Chopin Airport. “The fact that we had to accommodate these two important airlines with our terminal area reduced by almost half and the main runway closed made it all the more of a challenge to us,” he added.

Ryanair carried 145,500 passengers in July and Wizz Air – 98,500. The two airlines have been operating out of Chopin Airport since 22 December, when the runway at the Modlin airport was closed to passenger traffic. After the airport re-opened, Ryanair has informed it will return to Modlin not earlier than at the end of the summer season, while Wizz Air has announced it will remain at Chopin Airport for good.

Since the beginning of 2013, Chopin Airport has served over 6.2 million passengers, a 6.2% increase on the corresponding period of 2012, including more than 5.5 million travellers on international flights (+14.6%) and 638,000 domestically (-35%). Charter figures have reached 709,000, 9.4% less than in the first seven months of 2012.