Warsaw
carriers, like Wizz Air, have a tremendous opportunity to expand faster and, as a result, are launching new routes.” Nalej explains that LCCs fl ying from the airport in the summer included Wizz and Norwegian Air Shuttle which, at the time, both had fl eets based at Chopin. Norwegian has since, moved its base to Stockholm Arlanda. Germanwings, Iceland Express and Blue Air were also present during the summer season. The most signifi cant LCC at Warsaw is easy to identify, however.
“The largest and fastest growing budget airline at Fryderyk Chopin Airport is Wizz Air, with a 14% growth in passenger traffi c comparing January-July 2009 to the fi rst six months of this year,” states Nalej.
Polish fl ight home
Some of the drop-off in LCC traffi c is due to the recession and Polish emigrants decision to return home from countries like Britain, Ireland and Sweden. “The decline in passenger traffi c began in early 2008. We felt it most severely at the end of 2009 when passenger traffi c fell by more than 12%. One of the most important factors was fewer Polish migrants travelling to and from Poland regularly,” says Nalej. The charter market at Warsaw, however, appears to be bucking the trend when it comes to passenger declines in Europe – partly thanks to the marketing support the airport offers charter operators. “In 2009, charter traffi c grew by more than 10% compared to 2008. One of the most important projects we started this year was a marketing cooperation programme with tour operators. We promote tourist traffi c to and from Warsaw by fi nancially supporting marketing and advertising campaigns by tour operators. In the fi rst year, seven tour
38 Piotr Nalej, the airport’s commercial bureau director.
operators took advantage of this, some of them more than once,” explains Nalej.
CIS growth markets
Like other European airports, Warsaw has identifi ed Eastern Europe and CIS as clear growth markets. “The CIS markets served from Fryderyk Chopin Airport recorded 0.2% overall year-on-year growth in the January–July period in 2010, compared with the same time in 2009. In terms of passengers travelling to and from CIS countries with local carriers, the year-on-year growth in the fi rst six months of last year to the same time this year was 46.1%. In terms of new routes to CIS cities, LOT Polish Airlines launched services to Kaliningrad and Yerevan this summer. We hope to attract more airlines, but as for Ukraine, Russia and other CIS countries, we are limited by bilateral agreements. We see great passenger demand on the route to Almaty in Kazakhstan, so we will make
efforts to add this service to our network,” says Nalej. Traditional markets – especially Germany – remain important for the gateway. “Our key markets are mainly in Europe. In terms of the number of connections to a specifi c country, Germany is our most signifi cant market – there are eight German airports in our network. Other important markets include Britain, Sweden and Italy, with fi ve airports each in Chopin’s network. Domestic routes are important to us too,” he notes.
Plus, sports fans from these traditionally strong markets are expected to fl ock to Poland and Ukraine for the UEFA European Football Championships in 2012. This is a major event and Warsaw Fryderyk Chopin Airport will continue to work hard to ensuring a standing ovation from these fans, as well as all its other passengers – and of course, its airlines too.
RN
www.routes-news.com
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