Most of the new connections will be made by LOT Polish Airlines, which after a two-year holding period related to the use of the public aid, can resume expansion into new directions, as well as restore the flights on the routes closed in 2013 at the request of the European Commission. The airline has officially announced the opening of 18 new routes next year, according to the following schedule:
From January 1st, connection to Düsseldorf (11 flights a week), Yerevan (3 once a week), Zurich (10 flights per week).
From January 2nd, connections to Barcelona (4 times a week), Belgrade (3 times weekly), Chisinau (3 times weekly), Cluj-Napoca (4 times a week) and Zagreb (4 times a week).
From January 13th, connection to Tokyo (3 times per week).
From January 21st connection to Venice (3 times per week).
From March 1st, connections to Kharkiv (5 times a week) and Luxembourg (6 times a week)
From March 2nd, connections to Athens (3 times weekly) and Ljubljana (4 times a week).
From March 28th, connections to Palanga (6 times a week) and Kosice (6 times a week).
From March 30th, connections to Beirut (2 times per week) and Nice (4 times a week).
From April 30th, connections to Split (3 times a week) and Zadar (1 per week).
It is worth noting that from March 1st, LOT increases the frequency of flights on the route Warsaw – Szczecin: from 12 to 17 flights a week in high season in summer 2016 up to 19 flights per week on the route Warsaw – Kiev: from 12 to 14 flights per week. And on March 27th, the number of flights on the route Warsaw – Tel Aviv will increase from 5 to 7 flights per week.
The second largest carrier operating at Chopin Airport – Wizzair – has announced that from May it increases its base in Warsaw with a sixth aircraft and launches four new routes.
From May 13th, the Hungarian carrier will launch connections to Aberdeen (2 times a week), Bari (2 times a week), Bristol (2 times a week), Reykjavik (twice a week). Most likely, during the summer seasonal connections with resorts in Bulgaria, Greece and Italy will also return to the Wizzair’s network.
The carrier also plans to replace the two Airbus’ A320 with 180 seats based on Chopin Airport with larger models of Airbus A321 with 230 seats. This will increase the frequency of flights and offering on the routes that currently are the most popular among passengers traveling from Warsaw to: London Luton 26 from 23, Stockholm Skavsta 7 from 6 Budapest 7 from 6 Oslo Torp 7 from 5, Doncaster 4 from 3, Kutaisi 3 from 2, Birmingham 3 from 2, Catania 2 from 1.
A complement of the new routes network announced for 2016 is another transatlantic route Warsaw-Toronto, announced by Air Canada Rouge. From June 16th the carrier will launch this connection with a frequency of 4 times a week.
– Such a large number of new routes and connections gives reasonable hope for another record result of Chopin Airport. While in 2015 for the first time we have cross the 11 million level, in 2016 – unless anything unforeseen happens – we can serve about 12 million passengers. It makes Chopin Airport the first among Central and Eastern European airports and guarantees the passengers easy connections from the entire region to all over the world – says Michal Kaczmarzyk, director of Chopin Airport.
Currently, in the winter season of 2015/16 Chopin Airport handles direct scheduled flights to 82 destinations in 41 countries on three continents. At the airport 32 carriers operate offering scheduled services and 18 carriers offering passenger charter flights.
Source: Warsaw Chopin Airport
Photo © Bartosz Makowski