Katowice International Airport, Silesia

Katowice International Airport is the third biggest airport in Poland in terms of its passenger flow. Image courtesy of Piotrus.

The airport handled 2.54 million passengers and recorded more than 29,259 aircraft movements in 2011. Image courtesy of Piotrus.

The expansion and modernisation of terminal A at the airport began in September 2011. Image courtesy of Adam Dziura.

The terminals have a total floor area of 21,300 square metres and a capacity to accommodate up to 3.6 million passengers in a year. Image courtesy of Wasielgallery.

Terminal B of Katowice International Airport is facilitated with a long airport observation deck. Image courtesy of Adam Dziura.

Katowice International Airport is the third biggest airport in Poland in terms of its passenger flow. It is located in Pyrzowice, a village which is 30km away from the city of Katowice in southern Poland, also known as the Silesia region. It was dedicated to the public in October 1966. Górnośląskie Towarzystwo Lotnicze (GTL) is the operator of the airport.

The airport handled 2.54 million passengers and recorded more than 29,259 aircraft movements in 2011. It handled more than 12,138t of cargo in that same year.

Expansions to Poland’s third biggest airport

Construction on a new apron was initiated at the airport in July 2011. It includes the addition of 110,000 square metres of apron area with 15 aircraft stands. Taxiways D, E1 and E2 are also being expanded. The expansions will add 9,200 square metres of new airfield surface.

The expansion and modernisation of terminal A at the airport began in September 2011. It includes addition of about 1,000 square metres of surface area to the terminal and construction of new elevation on the terminal car park side. Interiors of the terminal are also being modernised. The works were closer to completion as of May 2012. The cost of the project is estimated to be PLN80m ($23.17m).

GTL revamped the maintenance hangar at the airport in April 2011. The new, modernised hangar has a volume of 106,350 cubic metres and surface area of 7,912 square metres. It was funded by European Union funds to the tune of PLN26m ($7.53m).

Terminals A and B and passenger facilities available at IATA: KTW

The airport has two passenger terminals, namely A and B. The passenger terminal A handles all non-Schengen flights, while the passenger terminal B operates all other Schengen flights.

Terminal B was opened in July 2007. The combined floor area of the terminals is 21,300 square metres and the annual passenger capacity is 3.6 million.

Terminal A has two levels. Passenger facilities at the ground level include check-in counters, separate international arrivals with baggage carousels, a post office, a travel ticket office, an online rental car facility and an information counter. The first level is facilitated with restaurants, conference facilities and baby-care rooms.

Terminal B has three levels. The ground floor has a pharmacy, LOT Airlines office, GTL travel ticket office, currency exchange, baggage check-in and taxi booth. Level one hosts the departures area and has facilities including a hairdresser, duty-free shop, business lounge and passport control. Level two of the terminal includes a travel agency check-in facility, a conference room and a chapel. It is also facilitated with the longest airport observation deck.

Other facilities at the terminals include a bank, restaurants, cafeterias, bars, VIP lounge, newsagent, gift shop and car rental offices.

Contractors involved with Katowice International Airport

Max Bögl is the contractor for the extension of the apron and taxiways. The maintenance hangar was constructed by Skanska General Construction. It was planned and designed by the consortium of Polimex-Mostostal (Warsaw) and Coifer Impex. The construction contract for the expansion and modernisation was awarded to Skanska.

Runways and maintenance facilities at GTL’s Silesia-based airport

The airport has a single runway (9/27) which is 2,800m in length and paved with concrete. Fixed base operations (FBOs) at the airport are provided by Euro Jet, Excel Handling and Baltic Ground Services.

The airport has a warehouse with a storage space of 3,200 square metres. It also has aircraft maintenance, mechanical handling, refrigerated storage, X-ray equipment, air-starter unit and air-power units.

Ground transportation and parking spaces at Poland’s Katowice airport

The airport can be accessed by numerous modes of ground transportation facilities. In 2006 an express road between Podwarpie junction and the airport was opened. The airport is accessible to the A1 motorway, which was completed in October 2011.

Bus services from the airport to the city of Katowice are available every hour. The airport also has taxi and car rental facilities available. The airport has 340 short term and 1,065 long term parking spaces available.