Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport
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Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (, formerly , ) is an international
airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...
located northwest of
Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...
, Poland, not far from the city centres of the Tricity
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
: Gdańsk (),
Sopot Sopot (; or ) is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomerania Province and has the City with powiat ri ...
() and
Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...
(). Since 2004, the airport has been named after
Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...
, the former
president of Poland The president of Poland ( ), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. His or her prerogatives and duties are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president jointly exercises the executive ...
from 1990 to 1995. With more than 6.7 million passengers served in 2024, it is the 3rd busiest airport in Poland in terms of passenger traffic, behind Warsaw Chopin Airport and
Kraków John Paul II International Airport Kraków John Paul II International Airport ( since 4 September 2007; earlier in ) is an international airport located near Kraków, in the village of Balice, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Balice, west of the city centre, in southern Poland. The a ...
. It is also the 82nd busiest airport in Europe.


History


Early years (1910s–1950s)

The first passenger flights in Gdańsk were operated in the year 1919 from an airfield in the Langfuhr district of the
Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (; ) was a city-state under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrou ...
(now the Wrzeszcz district of Gdańsk). It was possible thanks to a transformation of that military location into a civilian facility. The airport was at that time additionally used for airmail services and by the police. In the next years, the airport continued acquisitions of further areas which allowed it to expand and invest in modern infrastructure. The technical development of Gdansk Wrzeszcz Airport (Danzig-Langfuhr Airport) was followed by the launching of regular routes to
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
,
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
,
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
,
Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...
and other important cities of the region. The flights were operated by numerous international aviation companies. The first Polish route was served between Gdańsk, Warsaw and
Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
by Aerolloyd beginning in September 1922. The company initially used Junkers F.13 aircraft on that route. This domestic service was the beginning of the company which later became
LOT Polish Airlines LOT Polish Airlines, legally Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A. (, ''flight''), is the flag carrier of Poland. A founding member of IATA, it is one of the world's oldest airlines. With a fleet of 87 aircraft as of June 2025, LOT is Europe's 16th ...
, which is still Poland's national carrier.


New location since 1970s

As the airport facilities became outdated at the end of the 1960s (including runway lights which forced airport authorities to impose a ban on overnight flights), a new location near the village of Rębiechowo was chosen. The airport had to be built somewhere else also because of further
urban development Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of peop ...
. New areas were needed in order to make it possible for the public investors to construct new buildings for the growing population of Gdańsk. Furthermore, a new, longer runway was necessary in order to allow larger
jet airliner A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have twinjet, two or quadjet, four jet engines; trijet, three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Air ...
s to take off and land safely as the era of modern jet aircraft began. The old airport in Wrzeszcz was officially closed on 1 May 1974, and a large
housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision (land), subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to count ...
was built on its grounds. Nowadays, only a few remaining elements of the old Wrzeszcz airport infrastructure can be found, including remnants of its main north–south oriented runway in what is now the Zaspa district. After the closure of the old airport, the new one was built, and it opened in 1974 near the village of Rębiechowo (on westernmost land incorporated into the Gdańsk borough of Matarnia in 1973). The airport acquired its current name in 2004. There was some controversy as to whether the name should be spelled ''Lech Walesa'' (without diacritics, but better recognisable in the world) or ''Lech Wałęsa'' (with Polish letters, but difficult to write and pronounce for foreigners, the closest English phonetic approximation being "Vawensa"). Since 1993, Gdańsk Airport has been owned 31.45% by the authorities of
Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship ( ; ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk Voivo ...
, 29.45% by the city of Gdańsk, 1.14% by the city of
Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...
, 0.35% by the city of
Sopot Sopot (; or ) is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomerania Province and has the City with powiat ri ...
and 37.61% by Polish Airports State Enterprise. In 2006, the airport served for the first time in its history more than 1 million passengers per year. In 2010, the passengers numbers exceeded 2 million. After the construction of a new modern passenger terminal with extended capacities (the opening took place in April 2012 ahead of the
UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...
football championships), the airport continued its development and it served for the first time over 3 million passengers in a single year in 2014. In summer 2015, airlines flying to and from the airport served over 50 regular routes as well as charter and cargo flights.


Airport infrastructure


Airside facilities

Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport has a single asphalt-concrete runway in the direction of 11/29. The runway is long and equipped with a modern ILS CAT IIIb allowing aircraft to land in foggy weather. The
decision height In aviation, an instrument approach or instrument approach procedure (IAP) is a series of predetermined maneuvers for the orderly transfer of an aircraft operating under instrument flight rules from the beginning of the initial approach to a lan ...
established for the approach system in Gdańsk is , whereas the visibility minimum for pilots varies from to , the higher value being required in the initial one-third of the runway's length. In addition, the navigation facilities at the airport are supplemented with a modern wide area multilateration system. The runway as well as taxiways are equipped with light aids system using
LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...
technology. The lighting of the runway can be remotely controlled from the flight control tower. The runway has eight exit taxiways leading to five parking aprons where up to 18 middle-sized aircraft (e.g.
Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...
or
Airbus A321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body, commercial passenger Twinjet, twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was ...
) can be parked. The airport also has an extra apron used in winter for de-icing of aircraft. The deicing pad has been constructed in a way which allows keeping up ecological standards.


Passenger terminals


Terminal 1

Terminal T1 was inaugurated in 1997 and has primarily served passengers flying to countries outside the
Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) encompasses European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) policy of the European Union (EU), it ...
in recent years. The facility covers an area of 9,662 square meters. Terminal 1 is currently not operational for passenger services and it is planned to be demolished as soon as the Terminal 2 expansion works begin in the next years.


Terminal 2

The first part of passenger terminal T2 was constructed in 2012, ahead of the
UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...
held in Poland and Ukraine. At that time, Terminal T2 had a usable area of 39,433 square metres, catering mainly to departing passengers to Schengen countries. The new terminal was built to the west of the existing terminal T1, parallel to the proposed access road and the existing runway. This building was designed as a hall housing two functional zones - those related to the airport apron (airside) - baggage sorting and waiting areas, as well as zones related to the city side (landside) - ticket and baggage check-in halls (departures), airline offices, dining facilities, and services. The terminal has three above-ground floors and one underground floor. The terminals are connected by a connector at the first-floor level. The terminal was designed in such a way that it could be modularly expanded in subsequent stages, if necessary. An intermediate floor - a corridor for arrivals - had been planned on the aircraft parking apron side. On the apron side, four external staircases were designed on the forecourt of the terminal. The implementation of this project doubled the passenger capacity of Gdańsk Airport, from 2.5 to 5 million passengers annually. From 2014 to 2015, Terminal T2 underwent expansion, increasing its total area by 5,512 square meters and its usable area by 15,537 square meters. The new part housed the arrivals zone. Between 2019 and 2022, Gdańsk Airport expanded Terminal T2 with a new western pier,https://www.airport.gdansk.pl/airport/investments/west-pier-i11.html adding 16,000 square meters of usable space. Functionally, it extends Terminal T2 by an additional 180 meters and is 46 meters wide. Structurally, it is a completely separate facility. On the ground floor of the pier, an expanded baggage claim hall has been implemented, where ultimately nine baggage system belts can be installed, along with an extended area for arrival baggage handling, a passport control zone equipped with six document control points for arriving passengers from Non-Schengen and third countries, and communication space to gates for Schengen, Non-Schengen, and third-country flights, along with accompanying facilities: service rooms, airport service areas, technical rooms, and restrooms. On the northern side of the pier, a driveway for buses to two bus gates has been constructed, allowing direct access from the airport apron to the first-floor level. On the first floor, a departure hall with three dual jet bridges for non-Schengen flights and one for Schengen flights was constructed. Rooms for the Border Guard, Customs Office, and airport services were established. The spatial layout of the hall serves as an extension of the existing terminal T2 hall. The distinctive multi-level roofing structure and steel framework, constituting a unique feature and recognizable symbol of the Gdańsk Airport, serve as the primary reference point for the design of the new western pier. The airport offers nine
jet bridges A jet bridge is an enclosed connector which most commonly extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane, and in some instances from a port to a boat or ship, allowing passengers to board and disembark without heading outside and being exp ...
, which directly connect passengers to airplanes. As of 2024, these are the only passenger boarding bridges in Poland that are also compatible with
turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...
aircraft such as the Bombardier Q400. Upon arrival in Gdańsk, rental cars are available from several car rental companies. From Terminal T2, passengers can directly access the platforms of the Pomeranian Metropolitan Railway.


Airlines and destinations


Passenger


Cargo


Statistics


Routes


Traffic


Airlines


Ground transportation


Rail

Pomorska Kolej Metropolitalna (PKM, the 'Pomeranian Metropolitan Railway) connects Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport with Wrzeszcz, Gdynia Główna railway station and downtown Gdańsk. It connects to the Fast Urban Railway.


Bus

The airport has bus connections with Gdańsk-Centre, Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz railway station, Gdańsk-Łostowice and Sopot – Kamienny Potok railway station.


See also

* List of airports in Poland *
Air ambulances in Poland The Polish Medical Air Rescue (, ) is an Air ambulance services, air ambulance service providing Poland with helicopter emergency medical services within the Emergency medical services in Poland, State Medical Rescue, publicly funded system ...


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport Airports in Poland Buildings and structures in Gdańsk Transport in Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airports established in 1974 1974 establishments in Poland