Kraków John Paul II International Airport ( pl, Kraków Airport im. Jana Pawła II since 4 September 2007; earlier in pl, Międzynarodowy Port Lotniczy im. Jana Pawła II Kraków–Balice) is an international

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

located near

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

, in the village of Balice, west of the city centre, in southern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. It is the second busiest airport of the country in terms of the volume of passengers served annually. The airport is named after

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

History

Early years

The airport opened for civil aviation in 1964. The Balice airport was a military site until 28 February 1968. Four years later, the first passenger terminal was built there. In 1988, the authorities decided to build a new terminal that was opened for public use in 1993. In 1995, the entire apron was modernized. In 1995, the airport's name was changed from Kraków–Balice Airport to John Paul II International Airport Kraków–Balice, to honor

, who spent many years of his life in Kraków and had served as

Archbishop of Kraków The Archbishop of Kraków is the head of the archdiocese of Kraków. A bishop of Kraków first came into existence when the diocese was created in 1000; it was promoted to an archdiocese on 28 October 1925. Due to Kraków's role as Poland's politic ...

from 1963 until his elevation to the Papacy in 1978. For marketing reasons, the official name was further "streamlined" on 4 September 2007 as ''Kraków Airport im. Jana Pawła II''.

Development since the 2000s

The airport was modernized once more in 2002, and since then new international connections have been established. In 2003, when

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

low-cost carrier

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

became interested in starting a service from the John Paul II International Airport, the airport authorities refused to reduce the

landing fee A landing fee is a charge paid by an aircraft operator to an airport company for landing at a particular airport. Landing fees can vary greatly between airports, with congested airports, ones where most of the landing slots are held by airlines ...

s. In response, the regional authorities of Kraków and

Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship or Lesser Poland Province (in pl, województwo małopolskie ), also known as Małopolska, is a voivodeship (province), in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,404,863 (2019). It was created on 1 ...

decided to build a new airport near the existing one, using the infrastructure of the military airbase adjacent to the shared runway. Finally, an agreement was reached, and the existing airport was opened to Ryanair and other low-cost carriers such as

Germanwings Germanwings GmbH was a German low-cost airline wholly owned by Lufthansa which operated under the Eurowings brand. It was based in Cologne with hubs at Cologne Bonn Airport, Stuttgart Airport, Hamburg Airport, Berlin Tegel Airport, Munich Ai ...

EasyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...

, and

Centralwings Centralwings was a charter airline based in Warsaw, Poland. The airline operated as a low-cost airline and then became a charter-only operation in October 2008. It was a subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines, operating international services in Eur ...

. On 1 March 2007, a separate domestic terminal (T2) was opened. At that time, plans were underway to begin the construction of a new terminal. A seven-storey parking garage opposite T1 became fully operational in May 2010. On 12 December 2012, Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair announced it would be opening its second Polish base in Kraków basing two

Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boein ...

aircraft at the airport from 31 March 2013, which allows the carrier to increase the number of the routes from Kraków to 31. Kraków Airport is the second busiest airport in the country after

Warsaw Chopin Airport Warsaw Chopin Airport ( pl, Lotnisko Chopina w Warszawie, ) is an international airport in the Włochy district of Warsaw, Poland. It is Poland's busiest airport with 18.9 million passengers in 2019, thus handling approximately 40% of th ...

. The airport has good growth prospects, as almost 8 million people live within of it. The airport also has a favorable location on the network of existing and planned

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

s in this region of Poland.

Facilities

Terminal

11 April 2013 saw the beginning of construction works of a new airport terminal, which is adjacent to the existing old terminal building. The works on the new terminal were completed in December 2016. The terminal serves all-year-round, 24 hours a day, both domestic as well as international flights. The expected maximum capacity of the terminal is up to 8 million passengers handled in a year (over twice as much as the airport served in 2012). It is also possible to handle transfer passengers irrespective of the routes (

Schengen The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...

/Non-Schengen destinations). The terminal has a new luggage handling system and a roofed footbridge connecting the terminal to a hotel, a multi-level parking lot and the railway station, with direct railway link to

Kraków Główny Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

Koleje Małopolskie Koleje Małopolskie (Lesser Poland Railways) is a regional rail operator in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of Poland. History The company was founded on 2 December 2013 and is owned by the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, to handle local passenger traff ...

Runway

The airport has one concrete

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

, number 07/25, .

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Kraków Airport:

Statistics

Annual traffic

It was the 63rd busiest airport in Europe in 2019 and had the greatest increase in passengers in all of Europe in 2019 with a 24.2% passenger increase in 2019 compared to 2018.

Ground transportation

In addition to road access by private car or taxi, other options are:

Train

The SKA1 suburban line operates from the Airport to

(Main railway station) and further to

Wieliczka Wieliczka (German: ''Groß Salze'', Latin: ''Magnum Sal'') is a historic town in southern Poland, situated within the Kraków metropolitan area in Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999. The town was initially founded in 1290 by Premislaus II of P ...

. The service resumed in September 2015. It takes about 17 minutes to get to the city centre, and further 20 minutes to

(for Salt Mine).

Bus

Public buses link the airport during the day and during the night with the main railway and bus station in Kraków (

Kraków Główny railway station Kraków Główny, in English Kraków Main, is the largest and the most centrally located railway station in Kraków, Poland. The railway station was situated in a historical building, constructed between 1844 and 1847 by Rosenbaum, which lies pa ...

) and the ''ICE Congress Centre''.

References

External links

Airport website

John Paul II International Airport, Krakow, Poland
{{DEFAULTSORT:John Paul II International Airport Krakow-Balice Krakow-Balice, John Paul II International Airport Buildings and structures in Lesser Poland Voivodeship

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

Pope John Paul II