LOT Polish Airlines has added new routes from Warsaw Chopin over the past 18 months.
HONG KONG—As record traffic pushes Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW) toward its limits, new links to the Gulf, Africa and North America are reshaping the hub’s long-haul network while infrastructure upgrades move ahead to bridge the gap until Poland’s new central airport comes online.
Anna Dermont, spokesperson at Polish Airports and Warsaw Chopin Airport, says that demand in Poland’s capital continues to surge. WAW handled a record 21.3 million passengers in 2024, and traffic is about 13% up year on year during the first eight months of 2025.
Growth is being boosted by a wave of new international services over the past 18 months. LOT Polish Airlines added Reykjavik, Valletta and Thessaloniki, while in June 2024 it launched a route to Riyadh. Air Arabia also entered with Sharjah flights in December 2024, and Ethiopian Airlines linked Warsaw with Addis Ababa last July. Additionally, a major milestone this summer was the arrival of Etihad Airways, which began flying 4X-weekly to Abu Dhabi with Boeing 787s.
Looking ahead, Dermont said the priority growth corridors are “the Middle East and Asia, where we see strong premium, transfer and leisure demand.” She emphasizes that the addition of Abu Dhabi, alongside Dubai, Doha, Riyadh and Sharjah, strengthens Warsaw’s access to Gulf super-connectors and positions the hub for further Asian expansion. European connectivity also remains a focus, balancing “tier-one business cities and high-yield leisure markets.”
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Airport operator PPL Group is also leveraging nearby Warsaw Radom Airport to relieve pressure on WAW. The secondary airport is attracting charters and leisure-focused low-cost services, offering “attractive terms, night operations … and unconstrained capacity” for markets like Spain, Greece, Italy, Turkey and Cyprus.
But challenges remain. WAW infrastructure is nearing capacity, with modernization efforts underway to lift throughput to more than 30 million passengers annually by 2029. Investments include upgraded security, self-boarding gates and expanded baggage systems.
“The imperative is clear—provide operational capacity until the Centralny Port Komunikacyjny [CPK] opens,” Dermont says. Located between Warsaw and Lodz, CPK is envisioned as the largest airport in Central and Eastern Europe and one of the top 15 hubs in Europe. PPL will be a shareholder and an operating partner.
The project combines two parallel runways, a high-capacity rail hub and extensive road links, serving a catchment area of 21 million people. CPK forecasts more than 32 million passengers in its first year, with up to 40% transferring through the hub.
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