The Civil Aviation Authority (ULC) announced that in 2021, airports in Poland handled over 19.6 million passengers, 35% more than in 2020 and 60% less than in 2019. Most passengers travelled from the Chopin Airport in Warsaw and from the ports of Kraków and Katowice.

The most popular carriers were Ryanair (5.7 million passengers), LOT Polish Airlines (4.4 million) and Wizz Air (3.3 million). ULC believes that 2021 was a difficult year for aviation due to the recurring waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite travel restrictions, the improvement was noticeable, especially in the second half of the year. In 2021, over 19.6 million passengers were handled (+35% by 2020 and -60% by 2019) and almost 191,000 air operations (+23%A by 2020 and -52% by 2019) were performed.

Among the airports, the most passengers were handled by: Chopin Airport in Warsaw (7.4 million people, an increase by 2 million compared to 2020 and a decrease by 11.4 million compared to 2019); Kraków-Balice Airport (3.1 million passengers – an increase by 477 thousand by 2020 and a decrease by 5.3 million by 2019) and Katowice Airport in Pyrzowice (2.3 million passengers – an increase by 874 thousand compared to 2020 and a decrease of 2.5 million by 2019).

The most passengers during this time were handled by: Ryanair – 5.7 million, i.e. 1.8 million more than in 2020 and 6.3 million less than in 2019; LOT Polish Airlines – 4.8 million people, i.e. 1 million more than in 2020 and 7.3 million less than in 2019, and Wizz Air – 3.3 million passengers, 45 thousand less than in 2020 and 6.2 million less than in 2019.

15.2 million passengers used international regular services which is 3.2 million more than in 2020 and 24.7 million less compared to 2019. Over 2.9 million charter passengers were handled at Polish airports (+ 152% by 2020 and -43% by 2019). The most passengers travelled to Turkey, Greece and Egypt carried by: Enter Air (915 thousand), Buzz (549 thousand) and Smartwings (391 thousand).

Arkadiusz Słomczyński