Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport

Port lotniczy Gdańsk im. Lecha Wałęsy;
Characteristics
ICAO code	EPGD
IATA code	GDN
Coordinates	54 ° 22 '39 " N , 18 ° 27' 58" E Coordinates: 54 ° 22 '39 " N , 18 ° 27' 58" E
Height above MSL	149 m (489 ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	10 km west of Gdansk, ; 22 km southwest of Gdynia
Street
train	S-Bahn : ; Gdańsk Wrzeszcz – Gdańsk Osowa
Local transport	bus
Basic data
Passengers	4,611,714 (2017)
Air freight	5,500 t (2017)
Flight ; movements	43,422 (2017)
Start-and runway
11/29	2800 m × 45 m asphalt / concrete

The Lech Walesa Gdansk Airport ( IATA code: GDN , ICAO code: EPGD , Polish. Port lotniczy Gdańsk in Lecha Wałęsy. , English Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport ) is an international airport 10 kilometers west of the center of Danzig ( Gdańsk ). The third largest airport in Poland with 4,611,714 passengers (2017) is named after the former Polish President Lech Wałęsa .

Geographical location

The airport is located in Rębiechowo about ten kilometers from Gdansk and Sopot (Sopot) and about 23 km from Gdynia (Gdynia). The area of the airport is about 240 hectares . The eponymous place (German: Ramkau ) does not belong to the city of Danzig, but to the municipality of Żukowo .

Infrastructure

Gdansk Airport has a 2800 m long asphalt / concrete runway in the direction of 11/29. In autumn 2015 the runway was rehabilitated and the instrument landing system was expanded from category 1 (CAT I) to category 2 (CAT II) for 70 million zloty, which enables landings in poor visibility and fog. In April 2016, the instrument landing system had to be switched off in order to renew it after 15 years of operation. The renovation cost 4 million zloty and was completed in October 2016.

Airlines and Destinations

SAS , KLM , LOT , Lufthansa , Wizz Air , Norwegian , Ryanair , Air Baltic and Swiss flights to Germany and abroad are offered from Gdansk Airport . Destinations in Germany are Hamburg , Bremen , Dortmund , Cologne / Bonn , Frankfurt am Main and Munich .

history

The first Danzig airfield was built in 1910 in what was then Langfuhr - a suburb of Danzig, now Wrzeszcz . During the First World War , the facility was used for military purposes. Then the airfield fell to the city of Danzig and in 1922 finally to the Free State . From 1921 onwards, air traffic to and from Danzig increased steadily and made an expansion necessary. The first regular Polish flight operations began on September 5, 1922 with the start of flights to Warsaw .

The expanded airport was opened on June 17, 1923 in Danzig-Langfuhr and was the most important hub in the Scandinavian - Baltic region of Europe until 1939 . In addition to three Gdańsk and Polish airlines, it was also served by DERULUFT ( German-Russian Air Transport Company ). The airport was expanded several times between 1923 and 1936. The number of passengers during this period was around 1500 people a year.

After the Second World War , the concrete runway built during the war was extended to two kilometers. The airport was given the new name Gdańsk-Zaspa , named after the village of Zaspa (formerly German: Saspe ). The inner-city location made further expansion for jet planes impossible. With the opening of today's airport, Gdańsk-Zaspa was closed in 1974 and a housing estate was built over it.

Traffic figures

year	Passenger volume	Flight movements	Freight (tons)
2000	0270,000	11,600	1552
2001	0319,000	14,000	1950
2002	0318,000	13,500	2210
2003	0365,000	14,300	2686
2004	0467,000	17,500	3100
2005	0672,000	19,000	3458
2006	01,256,000	24,200	4037
2007	1,715,000	28,200	4757
2008	1,954,000	31,000	4610
2009	01,911,000	30,000	4016
2010	02,231,610	31,726	4,487
2011	02,463,222	34,364	4,944
2012	02,976,227	39,346	4,849
2013	02,833,997	42,041	4,922
2014	03,288,435	39,872	5,827
2015	03,706,180	40,259	5.163
2016	04,004,081	41,079	4,863
2017	04,611,714	43,422	5,500
^{Source: Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport website}

Surname

New terminal building

After 1945, regular civil flight operations began again, both for domestic destinations and - to a lesser extent - internationally. Due to the strengthening of flight operations and the associated need for expansion , a new airport was built outside the city center, near Rębiechowo . This was opened on May 2, 1974. In 1991 about 78,000 passengers were handled.

On April 30, 1993, the previously state-owned airport operations were formally transferred to a private company, which began operations one year later. In 2003 the name of the airport was changed to Lech Wałęsa . This year 365,036 passengers were handled.

The building in June 2015

today

The passenger terminal has a maximum capacity of seven million passengers a year. The old terminal is also still in operation. There is also a cargo terminal. The airport will u. a. served by the Polish airline LOT , SAS , Lufthansa and low-cost airlines such as Wizz Air , Ryanair or Norwegian Air Shuttle . The airport is to be expanded by building a new cargo terminal. In the period between 2004 and 2014, the number of passengers increased sevenfold thanks to the increased number of low-cost airlines.

Public transport network

Train connection to the airport

Since September 1, 2015, the airport has been linked by the Gdynia – Gdańsk Port Lotniczy – Wrzeszcz railway. The diesel multiple units run every 20 minutes from Gdynia to Wrzeszcz . There is a direct transfer to all Intercity and TLK trains on the Gdańsk – Stargard line . You can also easily reach all SKM destinations from Wejherowo via Gdynia to Gdansk and Tczew by changing trains .

The following bus lines exist:

to Gdańsk-Orunia (Danzig-Ohra): line 210 (old line B); via Gdańsk Piecki-Migowo (Danzig Pietzkendorf-Müggau), Gdańsk Dworzec Główny (Danzig Central Station), Old Town.
to Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz (Danzig-Langfuhr): line 110; to Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz PKP (Danzig-Langfuhr station).
to Sopot: line 122;
to Gdańsk-Osowa PKP (Danzig-Espenkrug train station): line 210.

In the night bus service, the N3 line runs every hour to Gdańsk Dworzec Główny (Gdansk Central Station) and Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz PKP (Gdansk-Langfuhr Station).