Stanislaw Wojtera, CEO at Polish Airports State Enterprise (PPL), speaks to Routes.

What are the major recent successes at your organisation?

Construction of a brand-new airport in Central Poland is definitely our latest biggest success. Lately, PPL has been struggling with congestion at Warsaw Chopin (WAW). Facing this challenge, there was no possibility to expand its infrastructure, and it was a big issue for the fast-developing market. The risk that demand will be higher than actual capabilities of the airport was there. To solve this, PPL built the Warsaw-Radom (RDO) in the vicinity of Warsaw, that gives airlines and service providers more room to operate, as well as more space and comfort to passengers travelling to and from central part of the country. The airport is almost ready and will be operating from April 2023. The facility is designed to carry mainly leisure and charter point-to point traffic, although its modern ergonomic infrastructure surely will attract business traffic too.

What are your main strategic ambitions in the short-, medium- and long-term?

PPL’s short-term aim is to successfully get Warsaw-Radom Airport up and running in April 2023 and build a wide and stable network connecting the airport with Europe’s most popular destinations. It will boost the growth potential in Central Poland and mainly in the Warsaw region.

Aside from sustainable growth, our mid-term goal is to diversify traffic between two central airports: developing point-to-point traffic in Warsaw-Radom, while long-haul and transfer traffic will remain in Warsaw Chopin. In the long run, PPL prepares the Polish aviation market for a big hub—Solidarity Transport Hub—which will replace congested Warsaw Chopin.

What is your main goal in attending Routes World 2022?

Polish aviation and tourism markets are improving fast and post-pandemic recovery is going better that expected. The growing economy, outstanding infrastructure and Polish business-oriented attitude creates great potential for the aviation industry to grow despite difficult geopolitical situation. PPL’s main goal is to increase the global market interest towards Poland as a destination, and get new direct connections for our airports, especially brand-new one Warsaw-Radom, which is our reaction to increasing traffic in Warsaw and Central Poland. Undoubtedly traffic will grow, and our mission is to lead the growth in the right direction and at the correct pace.