Wrocław Nicolaus Copernicus Airport

Wrocław Nicolaus Copernicus Airport serves the city of Wrocław - The airfield, known as Strachowice, was built in 1938 for German military purposes leading up to World War II. It was taken over in February 1945 and operated by Soviet forces following the war before being converted for civilian purposes in June 1945.

There was a circular air-link between Warsaw - Lódz - Poznan - Wroclaw - Katowice - Lódz - Warsaw. In the spring of 1946 the civil airport was transferred from Strachowice to Gadów Maly and in around 1948/50 flights between Wroclaw and Katowice were launched.

During 1952/1953 the old military airfield at Wroclaw, Strachowice was enlarged and modernised with a new concrete runway built and in 1958 passenger flights returned from Gadów Maly to Strachowice. Between 1958 and 1992 there were scheduled air-links from Wroclaw to Warsaw, Cracow and Rzeszów as well as seasonal services to Gdansk, Szczecin and Koszalin.

‘Port Lotniczy Wrocław S. A.' was established as a company in January 1992 and Wrocław airport assets operated by the state owned Polish Airports authority were transferred to the company in January 1993. In the August of 1992 a new arrivals Terminal was opened.

The first international flights were inaugurated in January 1993, serving Frankfurt, Germany. Significant airport improvements have been completed in recent years. A new international departures terminal was opened in May 1997 followed by a new domestic terminal in November 1998.

A cargo terminal, international arrivals hall, and installation of a new meteorological system (VAISALA) were completed in 1999; with a new fire station and apron extensions in 2000; a new air traffic control tower and duty free area in the International Departures Hall was added in 2001. In March 2005 a new air-link, Wroclaw to London was launched.

On December 6, 2005 the airport was renamed after the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (in Polish: Mikołaj Kopernik). The airport's new name is Copernicus Airport Wrocław (Port Lotniczy Wrocław im. Mikołaja Kopernika). Terminal extensions were officially opened on the same day, increasing the airport's capacity to 750,000 passengers per year.

This capacity was quickly exceeded by several hundred thousand, in the first 9 months of 2007 the airport served 972,505 passengers, so the existing terminal space was expanded by 1,900 m² to alleviate some of the congestion, but at the same time would make the terminal facilities conform to the requirements of the Schengen Agreement, which was implemented at Poland's airports on 31 March 2008.

Wrocław Nicolaus Copernicus Airport, Wroclaw now has flights to 29 international destinations as well as charter flights and commercial freight operations.

 

Wrocław Nicolaus Copernicus Airport - David's Travel Guides
David's Travel Guides