Anna Midera, president and CEO of Łódź Airport Central Poland, explains how big data is helping the airport to rebuild its network and discusses what needs to happen across Europe to restore demand.
An announcement last month that LOT Polish Airlines will return its direct long-haul service between Kraków and Chicago from July 2017 after a seven year absence provides a fitting end to what will certainly be remembered as one of the most successful years in the airport’s history.
It was believed that Air China, one of the ‘Big Three’ in the country, was considering taking a considerable minority stake in LOT Polish Airlines. The Eastern European carrier has now denied this, claiming that any link with the Chinese carrier would be “simply commercial cooperation.”
The host of this year’s Routes Europe, Kraków’s John Paul II International Airport, has gained from Poland’s accession to the European Union and is now firmly established as the country’s second largest gateway.
The aviation sector in Poland plays an important role in the country’s economy and its network connectivity is unrecognisable today to that when the country joined the European Union in 2004, around 15 years after the end of communist rule. Routesonline investigates how point-to-point connectivity has helped put the country’s developing regional cities on the network map.
The Polish market has contributed significantly to Wizz Air's success with around 40 per cent of its phenomenal growth linked to Polish customers and visitors in and out of the country. Next year it will again play host to Routes Europe.
