Winter 2021/2022 at Katowice Airport: 62 routes to 56 airports in 28 countries

On 31 October 2021 (Sunday), the winter schedule for passenger flights will become available at Katowice Wojciech Korfanty Airport; it is going to remain in force until 26 March 2022 (Saturday). Air carriers and travel agencies will offer 62 regular and charter flights from Katowice Airport to 56 airports in 28 countries.

STABLE SCHEDULED FLIGHTS NETWORK

During the “Winter 2021/2022” schedule, Wizz Air, Ryanair, LOT Polish Airlines and Lufthansa will offer regular flights to and from Katowice Airport. Together, they will handle 40 routes to 37 airports in 16 countries.

Most routes (22) will be handled by Wizz Air. The Hungarian carrier’s aircraft will fly to 13 countries: to the United Kingdom (Bristol, Doncaster-Sheffield, Liverpool – available until 7 November 2021, afterwards no flights until 16 December 2021, London-Luton), Spain (Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Tenerife), Ukraine (Kyiv-?uliany, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv – from 17 December 2021), Germany (Dortmund, Cologne-Bonn), the United Arab Emirates (Dubai), Italy (Milan-Bergamo, Rome-Ciampino – from 16 December 2021), Georgia (Kutaisi), Sweden (Stockholm-Skavsta – available until 14 November 2021, afterwards no flights until 29 March 2022), Norway (Oslo-Torp), the Netherlands (Eindhoven), Iceland (Keflavik), Cyprus (Larnaca) and Malta.

During “Winter 2021/2022”, Ryanair will handle 16 routes to 8 countries. The Irish carrier will offer flights to the United Kingdom (Birmingham, Edinburgh, London-Stansted, Manchester), Italy (Alghero, Bologna, Catania, Milan-Bergamo), Germany (Dortmund, Cologne-Bonn), Ukraine (Kyiv-Borispol, Odessa), Greece (Athens), Ireland (Dublin), Norway (Oslo-Gardermoen) and Cyprus (Paphos).

Lufthansa will handle one route (Frankfurt in Germany), and so will LOT Polish Airlines; the national Polish carrier will fly to Warsaw.

“The aviation industry continuously deals with the biggest crisis in its history. This year’s summer gave us a little breathing space; passenger traffic rebuilt itself to 70 per cent of the pre-pandemic summer 2019. We hope that winter will pass without any major problems, and that air travel will not be affected by any considerable restrictions due to the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Air carriers are cautious but optimistic; for instance, LOT Polish Airlines will increase the number of flights between Katowice Airport and Warsaw Chopin Airport to 19 weekly. Similarly, Lufthansa will offer more flights between our airport and Frankfurt in winter than it did during summer. Wizz Air and Ryanair, the biggest low-cost carriers at Katowice Airport, will maintain a rich offer of available routes during winter. We currently forecast that in the last two months of 2021, approximately 400 thousand passengers will fly to/from Katowice Airport; we will conclude this difficult year with 2.4 million passengers handled, the same result as in 2010. A stable winter season may be a good starting point for a post-pandemic reconstruction of passenger traffic which will, hopefully, take place next year,” said Artur Tomasik, President of the Management Board of the Upper Silesian Aviation Group (GTL SA), the company managing Katowice Airport.

RICHEST WINTER CHARTER OFFER IN THE HISTORY OF KATOWICE AIRPORT

During “Winter 2021/2022,” air carriers will offer charter flights for travel agencies from Katowice Airport to 22 destinations in 14 countries. Most routes – four – will be available to Egypt (Hurghada, Marsa Alam, Sharm El Sheikh, Taba) and Spain (Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Tenerife). Two flights will be handled to the Dominican Republic (Punta Cana, Puerto Plata) and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Fujairah – launches on 12 January 2022). One route will be available to Turkey (Antalya), Portugal (Madeira), Cape Verde (Amilcar Cabral), Oman (Salalah), Tanzania (Zanzibar), Thailand (Bangkok – launches on 22 November 2021), Mexico (Cancun), Kenya (Mombasa), Morocco and Cuba (Varadero – launches on 27 November 2021).

“As a result of our consistent cooperation with travel agencies, as well as proper infrastructure which allows charter airlines to maintain big bases and operate at Katowice Airport, we have established ourselves as a leader among Polish airports in the area of flights handled for travel agencies. After nine months of 2021, charters constitute 65 per cent of passenger traffic at Katowice Airport. The charter network during “Winter 2021/2022” is the best offer at that time of the year in the history of Katowice Airport. The pandemic has proven that there is potential at Katowice Airport when it comes to handling direct long-haul charter flights. We were aware of that, and that’s why we decided to build, among others, a new 3,200 m runway while developing our infrastructure projects. As a result of a modern infrastructure, handling long-haul flights from Katowice Airport is not a problem from an operational point of view. At the turn of March, direct flights to the Dominican Republic and Mexico became available at Katowice Airport; LOT Polish Airlines’ wide-body Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner handles both destinations for Rainbow. Because both destinations were very popular among passengers, they are also going to be handled during “Winter 2021/2022.” Also, the list of long-haul routes available at Katowice Airport during winter will be joined by Cuba and Thailand,” said Artur Tomasik.

Katowice Airport is the biggest regional cargo airport in Poland. In 2019, record breaking 4.84 million passengers flew via its network; 2 million of them travelled on charter flights. The forecast for 2020 assumed that 5.5 million travellers would be handled. Ultimately, due to the coronavirus pandemic, 1.44 million passengers travelled to/from Katowice Airport last year. The airport is the country leader in the area of charter traffic and the regional leader in the area of cargo traffic.

Pyrzowice, 29 October 2021