Popular in Poland

Richard Maslen March 04, 2010

2009 has been the most successful year to date for Rzeszow Airport for passenger volumes, which were up to 383,184. This is a remarkable achievement, given the challenging economic climate and is in stark contrast to other Polish airports that have seen their passenger numbers shrink in the same time period.

Last year Rzeszow welcomed new routes to Liverpool and East Midlands in the UK with Ryanair as well as the launch of a new Lufthansa service to Frankfurt.

2010 is set to be another successful year. In response to high passenger demand, Lufthansa will increase its Frankfurt service to a daily frequency from March. Maria Kowalewska, general director of Lufthansa, Poland commented: "We have noticed that the Rzeszow-Frankfurt connection has attracted more and more passengers since its opening in April 2009."

Alongside commitments from other tour operators to add charter capacity, Polish tour operator Itaka will also expand its programme to include Heraklion in Greece. The charter market experienced a positive S09, as traffic numbers rose by 40% compared with 2008 to 30,000 passengers.

Consistent Growth:

Catchment

Rzeszow is the second largest city in southeast Poland, with a population of 170,000 people. The airport's catchment encompasses 2.1 million residents in the Podkarpackie region, all of whom live within a two-hour drive of the airport.

The catchment area can also potentially be extended to include the bordering countries of Ukraine and Slovakia, as each is 100km from the city. Rzeszow is in the vicinity of the A4 highway due to open in 2012, which will extend to the border with Ukraine and improve access to the airport.

Data from the Central Statistics Office suggests that between 4.5 million and 5 million people cross Poland and the Ukraine each year in each direction, while the Slovakian border crossing records over 5 million departures and more than 3 million arrivals each year.

Business Investment

The region benefits from the Podkarpackie Science and Technology Park AEROPOLIS and other newly created technology and science parks. The region has a cluster of aerospace companies, which are located in the so-called “Aviation Valley”.

The Aviation Valley Association of Aerospace Industry Manufacturers has been promoting the aviation sector in Poland and abroad. At present it has over 70 members and 65 companies, which employ 22,000 people and reflects the substantial presence of aerospace related firms operating in the area such as United Technologies, Sikorsky, Hispano-Suiza.

Tourism Traffic

As well as the beautiful city of Rzeszow, there are many other tourist attractions in the region and many of these are based around the Bieszczady Mountains region located near the city. Activities include hiking, cycling, skiing, visiting lakes and boating and a range of other outdoor activities including extreme sports In addition there are numerous historic buildings to visit.

Facilities

In October 2009 Rzeszow Airport celebrated its 60th anniversary with the official opening of a terminal extension, which has doubled passenger-handling capacity from 120 pax/hr to 250 pax/hr. Also, two new commercial passages were opened, with new shops and restaurants.

The airport is open 365 days a year and benefits from 24-hour unrestricted operations. It has modern lighting and NAVAIDS and is able to provide facilities for Schengen and Non-Schengen destinations.

In April 2009 the European Commission approved the use of public funding to further develop the airport. Over 400 million Polish Zlotys will be used to make further improvements, including a new apron area and taxiways.

Rzeszow's runway was modernised in 2004–2005 and is now one of the longest in Poland (3,200 metres). The runway navigational aids enable reception of every aircraft, including wide-body B747s.

The recent expansion of the passenger terminal has led to the following enhancements: