An artist’s impression of the new Lublin Airport in Poland.
Poland Real GDP
Source: Eurostat.
stimulated air travel through lower fares and new destinations, and seen their scheduled traffi c grow by 194% since 2005, LOT’s traffi c volumes have only increased by 25%.
A dynamic market
With such rapid growth has come a dramatic change in the structure of aviation in Poland. Some of the established players have struggled to keep pace with the new market dynamics, while new entrants have eagerly sought out the opportunities. The most striking difference since 2004 is the shift towards a market that is comfortable with low-cost carriers (LCCs). In 2005, LCCs carried just 33% of all scheduled traffi c but now they carry 56%. Together, Ryanair and Wizz handle nearly 50% of all traffi c in Poland and now both carriers rival LOT in size. In contrast, LOT has seen its market share fall to 23%. Where LCCs have
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Alongside this shift towards LCCs has been the strengthening of regional airports as they have worked with the carriers to meet the needs of the new market environment. Traffi c levels at Warsaw have hardly changed, while regional airports have competed to attract new entrants to the market. Airports such as Bydgoszcz, Gdansk, Lodz, Poznan, Rzeszow and Wroclaw have all seen passenger volumes grow by more than 200% since 2004, and in some cases by much more as Ryanair, Wizz and easyJet sought to make their mark.
Main Polish market segments Just as the market shares of different types of carrier and the distribution of traffi c by airport has changed since accession, so too has the profi le of passengers. With economic growth
comes higher disposable incomes and a population more at ease with the habit of taking holidays abroad. In 2010, the fastest-growing scheduled markets from Poland were Russia, Turkey and Morocco, although the UK, Spain, Germany and Italy remain the largest markets.
In the years immediately after accession, the countries which permitted Polish migrant workers – the UK, Ireland and Sweden – saw large labour fl ows, and LCCs responded by meeting the needs of these budget travellers with air services to those countries. As other labour markets have opened and as the Polish traveller has gained a taste for travel, the focus of LCCs has again been shifting.
New airports
It is against this backdrop of rising demand for air travel, public acceptance of regional airports and a constrained Warsaw Airport, that the environment is right for new airport development. The two new airports are scheduled to open
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