Busiest ever June for Chopin Airport

Chopin Airport welcomed 1.077 million passengers in June, its busiest month on record and an all-time high in aircraft movements.

Passenger numbers increased by 17.2% year on year and 5.8% compared to the airport’s previous monthly record of 1.018 million set in July 2008, making June the third record-breaking month in a row for the airport.

The number of aircraft movements grew by 14.3%, reaching over 14,500 (7,277 arrivals and 7,265 departures). The busiest day was 28 June, with 630 aircraft movements, setting another all-time high for the airport. It was also the day when the largest number of aircraft parked at Chopin Airport’s apron at one time – 95.

Growth in aircraft movements was recorded in all traffic segments: international flights (+2.2%), domestic flights (+59.3%), low-cost airlines (+16.5%), traditional airlines (+11.6%), scheduled flights (+13.5%) and non-scheduled flights (+0.7%).

General aviation (private planes), too, saw record traffic levels, with 1,448 aircraft movements in June 2012, 68% more than in the corresponding period last year. The number of GA passengers at Chopin Airport rose by 241%, totalling 5,641.

Much of this growth was due to record high domestic traffic, which stood at over 201,000 in June, a 108% jump year on year. The airport also served more than 56,000 passengers in connection with the 2012 European football championships, handling 666 arriving and 676 departing planes with Euro 2012 fans in the period from 6 June to 1 July.

“We were expecting increased traffic and were well-prepared for it. Despite the huge number of planes and passengers, the quality of service was as high as always and there were no capacity problems. This shows that our airport has a lot of room for growth and could handle much more passengers causing no additional disruption to the residents of Warsaw,” said Michał Marzec, director of Chopin Airport.

Chopin Airport is Poland’s biggest airport, handling scheduled, charter, general aviation and cargo traffic. In 2011, the airport served about 9.3 million passengers (138,600 aircraft movements), i.e. nearly 43% of Poland’s total passenger traffic.