The Poznań - Ławica Airport, Sp. z o.o.

The beginnings of an airport in the capital of Wielkopolska can be traced back to 1911. It was then that the Prussian authorities during the partitions built a military airport in the then small township of Ławica near Poznań. In the aftermath of the uprising of 6th January 1919, Ławica became a Polish airport. Under the Treaty of Versailles the Treasury came into possession of the airport.

Today, the Poznań - Ławica Sp. z o.o. is a dynamically developing airport of international recognition. This development results mainly from a fast and steady increase in the number of passengers, scheduled and discretionary airplanes as well as scheduled flights.

Political and economic changes that affected Poland in the last decade have been conducive to the development of the Poznań airport.

Since 1991 Ławica has recorded a drastic increase in the passenger traffic. In 1999 the number of fliers, transit passengers included, amounted to 206 367.

Compared to 1991 the number of passengers rose by over 1000 %, and the number of takeoffs and landings by over 300 %. We estimate that in the year 2000 over 250 000 passengers are bound to take advantage of the services offered by the Ławica airport.

At present, the Poznań-Ławica airport services weekly 37 international connections to German cities including Nuremberg, Dusseldorf, Hanover and the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen. These services are rendered by 4 carriers: the Polish Airlines "LOT" S.A., Eurolot, Scandinavian Airlines System SAS and Eurowings. Moreover, Poznań has 33 regular domestic connections with Warsaw and one with Szczecin.

A very dynamic development has been also witnessed in the charter traffic. In 1999 it boasted 340 flights carrying 27 714 passengers to the destinations in the Mediterranean Sea Basin (i.e. Antalya, Salonica, Palma de Majorca, Monastyr and Heraklion). It is estimated that this year the number of charter flights will be comparable to that of last year and that the offer will be enlarged to include such destinations as Chania and Rhodos.

The discretionary airplane traffic is also of great importance for the Poznań airport. In 1999 Ławica saw 5 324 operations (arrivals and departures) of General Aviation airplanes. This figure stems from a considerable number of foreign capital companies located in Wielkopolska and the servicing of widely understood business.

A steady increase in the number of serviced passengers and the desire to render luxury services were the major factors that triggered the decision of the company board to build a modern Passenger Terminal that would meet European standards. The area of the terminal under construction is scheduled to total approximately 10 000 sqm, including the whole infrastructure, i.e. a taxiway, parking lots and access roads.