Creating Europe’s most ambitious airport: Centralny Port Komunikacyjny Airport

Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK) Airport, located 37km west of Warsaw in Poland, is one of the most ambitious airport infrastructure projects in Europe, costing £27bn.

What makes it so?

“Firstly, it is the first greenfield airport in Europe for many years and will be the largest airport in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE region). Secondly, CPK is in an area of Europe where an airport of this scale has been needed for many years. And thirdly, it will be a huge multi-modal transport hub which will connect not only cities in Poland, but also the neighbourhood countries in Eastern Europe,” says Deputy CEO, Dariusz Kuś.

Set to open by the end of 2032, the CPK project will combine an airport, underground railway and bus station all under one roof. The airport will open in parallel with the launch of the high-speed rail section between Warsaw and Łódź. The airport will be connected to Warsaw city centre by rail and will take only 20 minutes by train. With such strong transport links, up to half of all passengers will be expected to arrive by train. Passengers will also have access to the airport city, which will include a hotel, office, and retail space.

With such a prolific new airport opening just down the road from Warsaw Chopin Airport, the new CPK Airport will replace Chopin  as the country’s main international hub while Chopin undergoes much needed modernisation. For comparison, the CPK terminal will cover 450,000sqm compared to Warsaw Chopin’s 165,000sqm terminal – nearly three times the size.

Credit: CPK Airport.

The vision for CPK Airport

“The vision is to create a very modern, sophisticated, and passenger-friendly airport with short connecting times, and fantastic facilities with great retail and F&B. A place where our national carrier LOT Polish Airlines can develop for the future,” Kuś adds.

The airport will have phased construction with capacity starting at 34 million passengers in its first year, with two parallel runways (a third planned after 2045). The airport will be able to handle 1.5 passengers per second or 11,000 passengers per hour. By 2040, the airport will grow to 40 million pax, and the modular master plan will enable future expansion to over 60 million passengers per year. From the outset, the terminal will be built with a larger structural volume to accommodate the first planned expansion without major disruptions.

The central element of the CPK multimodal hub will be an atrium, which will combine the airport’s passenger transfer area, the underground railway station, and the bus station under one roof. The atrium will be located before security checkpoints, making it publicly accessible. Credit: CPK.

Current status of the project

CPK Airport has currently entered its next phase, having officially accepted the construction design for its passenger terminal and railway station. Construction is set to begin in 2026. The master architect consortium is led by Foster + Partners and Buro Happold.

Sustainability: net zero ready from day one

The goal for CPK is to operate wholly on renewables – both on-site and off-site – from the start of its operations, setting a benchmark for the net zero ready airport. Solar farms will supply the whole airport facility with energy, with the ability to store surplus energy in batteries. CPK will also use geothermal energy for heating and cooling, as well as harvesting rainwater and treating wastewater, following circular economy principles.

The site of the airport was chosen to minimise environmental disruption. It is located away from protected nature zones, reducing the impact on ecosystems and biodiversity. This also alleviates noise pollution for over 280,000 Warsaw residents affected by the current Chopin Airport.

Further to this, CPK is working towards having the airport facilities and infrastructure BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) certified. Through the certification process, CPK aims to ensure that all buildings and infrastructure meet the highest standards of sustainable construction. This will involve measures to reduce energy and water use, manage waste more effectively, and minimise the overall carbon footprint, delivering both environmental benefits and lower long-term operating costs.

The infrastructure itself will be designed to minimise noise and air pollution and will also be ready to accommodate zero-emission aircraft, including hydrogen-powered planes, with space reserved for future hydrogen infrastructure.

Credit: CPK.

Baggage as a key component of the passenger experience

Often referred to as the ‘heart’ of an airport, the baggage handling system at CPK will occupy approximately 80,000 square metres within the terminal building. The total estimated length of the conveyor belts for baggage transport is over 13 km. The BHS at CPK Airport will be based on ICS (Individual Carrier System) technology, which involves transporting luggage in trays. This system allows for easy, modular expansion in line with growing air traffic and the evolving needs of the terminal.

An inefficient baggage system is one of the major infrastructural bottlenecks at Chopin Airport, which is nearing the limit of its capacity. The long-term capacity of the terminal at Chopin Airport, constrained by limitations in the baggage sorting area, is only 1,800 departure and 2,200 arrival luggage items per hour – equivalent to the capacity of no more than seven wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

Credit: CPK.

The airport experience

So, what can we expect when the airport opens in 2032?

Put simply, “the best experience in Europe,” says Dariusz. “Passenger friendly with the best transit times, best efficiency in baggage handling, with a high level of connecting stands for aircraft so usage of passenger bridges will be over 90%. We will be profitable from day one which gives us the power to create solutions which are expensive but passenger friendly.”

Dariusz’s background before CPK was as CEO of Wrocław Airport in Southwest Poland. Wrocław underwent a major modernisation, going on to win Best Regional Airport in Poland four times in a row in the Business Traveller Awards. For Dariusz, it is a unique experience to be the Deputy CEO of an airport that doesn’t yet exist. With Wrocław, the benefits of investment were seen more or less immediately, but CPK Airport is a slow-burner and the results will only be realised in 2032, however the anticipation is what is driving him.

“My feeling is that we are doing something which is very important for the country, something that will make our life easier in Poland. It will have a huge impact on economy. I saw it on a micro-scale in Wrocław Airport, where the development of the airport brought so many investors, and brought so many tourists to the city. I’m 100% sure that what we do in CPK will do the same, but the scale will be 10 or 20 times larger.”

Project fact file

• Country: Poland
• Region: Between Warsaw and Łódź
• Modern greenfield hub for Central and Eastern Europe, replacing the congested inner-city Warsaw Chopin Airport and enabling unrestricted 24/7 operations.
• Construction start: Expected in 2026
• Operational launch: Targeted for 2032
• Sustainability hub designed to be net zero ready from day one, incorporating renewable energy systems, SAF-ready infrastructure, and fully integrated multimodal transport links.
• Rail hub: 480 km of new high-speed rail lines planned connecting four of Poland’s five most populated cities – Warsaw, Łódź, Poznań and Wrocław.
• Airport city will offer over 50 hectares of land for hotels, offices, retail, R&D and leisure. 
• Cargo and logistics capacity, addressing untapped market potential with a projected 300,000 tonnes of air cargo per year.
• Dual-use infrastructure to strengthen EU and NATO’s military readiness.

About the interviewee

Dariusz Kuś, Member of the Management Board of CPK.

As a President for 16 years (2007-2023), Dariusz Kuś managed Wroclaw Airport, one of the highest passenger-rated airports in Europe. He was responsible for design, finance, construction and the airport’s transfer to another location. He subsequently oversaw the implementation of investments aimed at developing and modernising infrastructure and enhancing the passenger experience. Wroclaw Airport has been awarded the title of the Best Regional Airport in Poland numerous times.

Dariusz graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Wroclaw University and Graduate School of Banking in Colorado. He has worked for investment houses as an investment director and served on the board of the Bank for European Cooperation. Previously, he was also director of the Corporate Banking Department at Kredyt Bank and the Treasury Department at Bank Zachodni WBK. Dariusz has been an intern in banks in London, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Copenhagen and the U.S. He has lectured at the Wroclaw Academy of Economy and Higher School of Banking.