Zielona Góra Airport () is a regional airport in the
Zielona Góra
Zielona Góra is the largest city in Lubusz Voivodeship, located in western Poland, with 140,403 inhabitants (2021). Zielona Góra has a favourable geographical position, being close to the Polish-German border and on several international road ...
urban area (the Lubusian Tri-city) in western
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 ...
. The airport is from
Sulechów
Sulechów (pronounced , german: Züllichau) is a town located within the Zielona Góra County, in Lubusz Voivodeship, western Poland. It is the administrative seat of the Gmina Sulechów. Established in the Middle Ages, the town features many h ...
, northeast
of the Zielona Góra city centre, in the village of Kramsko, near the town of
Babimost
Babimost (german: Bomst) is a small town in western Poland in Zielona Góra County, Lubusz Voivodeship. It is the administrative seat of Gmina Babimost. As of December 2021, it has a population of 3,847.
Geography
The town is situated on the Len ...
, west of
Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
, east of the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
border, and from
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. Its
catchment area
In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
consists of the three million inhabitants of
Lubusz Land
Lubusz Land ( pl, Ziemia lubuska; german: Land Lebus) is a historical region and cultural landscape in Poland and Germany on both sides of the Oder river.
Originally the settlement area of the Lechites, the swampy area was located east of Margrav ...
(Ziemia Lubuska) and the west of
Greater Poland
Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed ...
(Wielkopolska).
The airport is Poland's 14th-busiest, in last place among current airports with scheduled traffic. It has been taken over from the Polish Army by regional authorities and is run by the state-owned Porty Lotnicze (PPL), which also operates
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 t ...
. Discussion exists about whether a company created by regional authorities should assume management of the unprofitable airport.
History
Construction of Zielona Góra Airport (a former military base) began in 1954,
and it entered service on 10 October 1957. A
MiG-15
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (russian: Микоя́н и Гуре́вич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of ...
is parked adjacent to the terminal, commemorating the airport's military origin.
Although the first passenger terminal opened in 1977, at least one passenger flight had already operated from the airport (on 21 July 1961, bringing
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. Tr ...
to Zielona Góra).
The airport began service to and from
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
and
Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
in 1977; the first scheduled flights were twice weekly to Warsaw, and the Gdańsk route operated during the 1970s. It hosted twice-daily passenger service to Warsaw until September 2004, when state-owned
LOT Polish Airlines
LOT Polish Airlines, legally incorporated as Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A. (, ''flight''), is the flag carrier of Poland. Established in 1928, LOT was a founding member of IATA and remains one of the world's oldest airlines in operation. Wit ...
discontinued the route after ownership changes at the airport. The army stopped using it as a military base, and dismantled some of its equipment.
The airport was rented to regional authorities in 2005, so its new owner could begin developing the airport. Shifts in the Polish airline market caused financial problems for LOT, and service to Warsaw was suspended because the airline could not obtain suitable mid-sized aircraft for the route.
At the end of 2005, two daily flights to Warsaw were operated by
Jet Air; this was later reduced to one. The airport has had short-lived scheduled routes to Gdańsk, Kraków, and Dresden, and service to Warsaw operated via Poznań or Bydgoszcz. It operated charter service to southern Europe and Ukraine during the mid-2010s. In January 2017, it was announced that the airport's only scheduled route (to
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 t ...
) would be transferred from
SprintAir to LOT.
In December 2022 renderings of a new terminal building were published by an architect studio that won public tendering for the project.
Infrastructure
Runway
Zielona Góra Airport has a single asphalt-concrete
06/24 runway. The , runway is equipped with an
ILS CAT I, allowing aircraft to land in foggy weather. The airport's elevation is . Its runway has two taxiways leading to two
aprons
An apron is a garment that is worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body. The word comes from old French ''napron'' meaning a small piece of cloth, however over time "a napron" became "an apron", through a linguistics process cal ...
, where up to 10 mid-sized aircraft (such as Boeing 737s or Airbus 321s) may be parked; an additional apron is used in winter for the de-icing of aircraft.
Terminals
The airport has two passenger terminals (T1 and T2); only T2 is fully functional. T1, built in 1977, has an annual capacity of 150,000 and is used for departures. T2 (built in 2015) is used for arrivals and charter service, and has no check-in or other services. T1 has two check-in desks, basic luggage transport, and a medium-sized departure area with one or two gates. After the completion of the new arrival area, the airport's annual capacity was estimated at 360,000 passengers. A small cargo terminal is next to T1.
Airlines and destinations
The following airlines have regular scheduled and charter services to and from Zielona Góra:
The nearest international airport is
Poznań–Ławica Airport
Poznań–Ławica Henryk Wieniawski Airport , built in 1913, is one of the oldest airports in Poland. It is located west of Poznań city centre. It takes its name from the neighborhood of Ławica, part of the city's Poznań–Grunwald, Grunwald d ...
, about east.
Statistics
Annual traffic
Ground transportation
Road
The airport is located close to a junction between motorway
A2 (Berlin-Warsaw) and expressway
S3.
Buses operate between Zielona Góra and the airport, according to flight departure and arrival times to and from Warsaw, from the main bus station (Dworzec PKS).
Rail
The nearest railway station to the airport is located in the town of
Babimost
Babimost (german: Bomst) is a small town in western Poland in Zielona Góra County, Lubusz Voivodeship. It is the administrative seat of Gmina Babimost. As of December 2021, it has a population of 3,847.
Geography
The town is situated on the Len ...
some from the airport, which itself does not have a station. A section of Zielona Góra to
Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
line is currently undergoing renovation and a temporary bus service is in place until the end of the modernisation, which is expected at the end of 2022.
See also
*
List of airports in Poland
This is a list of airports in Poland, sorted by location, IATA and ICAO airport codes, passenger traffic and runway surface.
Airports with commercial passenger service
Source:
Defunct passenger airports
Airports that served commercial passenger ...
References
External links
Official website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zielona Gora Airport
Airports in Poland
Zielona Góra County
Buildings and structures in Lubusz Voivodeship