Passengers are handled at Katowice airport since 1966
On 20 April 2022, Katowice Wojciech Korfanty International Airport in Pyrzowice, Poland, handled the 50 millionth passenger in its history.
From 1948 to the mid-60s, the airport in Pyrzowice was used exclusively by the Polish Army; the 39th Fighter Regiment was based at the airport.
Due to the lack of other airports capable of handling commercial air traffic in the region, the airport in Pyrzowice started serving passenger traffic. Since November 1957, the Katowice Voivodeship did not have an air route to Warsaw; due to progressing and unstoppable mining damage, LOT Polish Airlines had to suspend flights from Katowice-Muchowiec Airport to the capital of Poland. Following numerous interventions, the Polish Army agreed to provide a small area in Pyrzowice dedicated to handling civil traffic. The first regular passenger flight from Pyrzowice took place on 6 October 1966. On this day, LOT Polish Airlines handled a regular flight to Warsaw. The first flight was handled with an Ilyushin Il-14 (SP-LNC); Cpt. Szczepan Sidorczuk was in charge of the aircrew. 24 passengers arrived at Pyrzowice from Warsaw; 23 travellers flew on the flight back to the capital.
3 837 passengers were handled in 1966. In 1967, during the airport’s first full year, 42 735 travellers were served. During the times of the Polish People’s Republic, i.e. until the end of 1989, 1.56 million travellers were handled at the airport in Pyrzowice. During the first thirteen years of the Third Polish Republic, 1.49 million passengers were handled.
A true breakthrough took place after Poland joined the European Union in May 2004. Passenger traffic grew considerably. Low-cost air carriers appeared in Pyrzowice; they revolutionised flying and made it much more accessible. Wizz Air and Ryanair were the first to appear at Katowice Airport; the former in 2004, the latter three years later. In the meantime, charter traffic kept dynamically growing.
The development of passenger traffic at Katowice Wojciech Korfanty Airport is well illustrated by statistics. Counting from October 1966, the 10 millionth passenger was handled in September 2008, i.e. after over 42 years of handling civil flights. The 20 millionth passenger travelled to/from the airport in September 2012, the 30 millionth – in June 2016, and the 40 millionth – in October 2018. During over 55 years of handling passenger traffic, 2019 proved to be the best year – 4 843 889 travellers were served. When it comes to the best month, it was July 2018 (694 thousand passengers); the busiest day was 28 June 2018 (25 476 passengers).
“Since Poland joined the European Union, nearly 47 million passengers travelled to/from Katowice Airport. Handling so many passengers would not be possible without a dynamic and consequently carried out the development of infrastructure. Since 2007, when the biggest investment programme in the history of the airport commenced, we have invested over one billion PLN in the expansion of Katowice Airport,” said Artur Tomasik, President of the Board of the Upper Silesian Aviation Group (GTL SA), the company managing Katowice Airport.