The number of passengers at Polish airports was likely to exceed 50 million, which would be the best result ever. In the first three quarters of 2023, the number of passengers served in domestic and international traffic amounted to 40.2 million, so a result above 50 million for the whole year can be expected.

So far, the best year for Polish aviation was 2019 with a result of 49 million passengers served. Warsaw’s Chopin Airport remains the largest airport, which will achieve a result like 2019’s record 18.5 million passengers.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the largest number of passengers in January-September 2023 were handled by Warsaw Chopin Airport with 14.1 million passengers, John Paul II Krakow-Balice International Airport with 7.1 million passengers and Lech Wałęsa Gdansk Airport with 4.5 million passengers.

The largest increases in passenger service compared to the same period in 2019 were achieved by Jan Paweł II Kraków-Balice International Airport (+863.9 thousand passengers), Wojciech Korfanty Katowice International Airport in Pyrzowice (+554.8 thousand), Lech Wałęsa Gdańsk Airport (+395.1 thousand).

Among the carriers, the largest number of passengers in the first three quarters of 2023 was handled by: Ryanair – 12.2 million passengers, PLL LOT – 8.9 million passengers, Wizz Air – 7.9 million passengers.

The airlines with the largest increases in passenger traffic compared to the first three quarters of 2019 were Ryanair (+3.2 million passengers), Wizz Air (+716.3 thousand), Enter Air (+494.9 thousand), and compared to the same period of 2022: Wizz Air (+2.3 million), Ryanair (+2.2 million passengers) and PLL LOT (+2.1 million).

In scheduled international and domestic traffic, a total of 34.2 million passengers were carried between January and September 2023 (+3.3 % compared to 2019). Most passengers travelled to the UK (5.8 million passengers), Italy (2.9 million) and Germany (2.9 million). The remaining 6 million were carried by charter traffic.

Adrian Andrzejewski