Intensive work is underway on projects for the terminal and operational part of the new central airport. The CPK company is also focusing on acquiring land and implementing a voluntary purchases program. By the end of the year, they expect to receive a siting decision for the airport, and if everything goes smoothly, construction could begin in 2026. As emphasised by the president of the Central Communication Port, Dr. Filip Czernicki, managing such significant investments – relating to the construction of the airport itself, high-speed railways and access roads – all at the same time will be a significant challenge, particularly related to staffing and personnel. The condition of the main carrier, LOT, will also be crucial to the success of the port.
“Currently, we are focusing on acquiring real estate and the necessary land. The priority is for as many people as possible who wish to voluntarily sell their real estate, to be able to participate in the voluntary acquisition programme. The entire company is focused on this, to acquire as much real estate as possible for the needs of the airport. That’s the task for the next half year. By the end of this year, we should have secured a siting decision, which will move us into the next stage of this investment,” assesses Dr Filip Czernicki in a conversation with Newseria Biznes agency.
The Voluntary Acquisition Programme, the programme for acquiring land for CPK, is based on the principle of voluntariness on both sides of the transaction. The value of each property is determined by independent appraisers based on valuation reports. As part of the programme, the company buys properties from the area located west of Warsaw, between Żyrardów, Grodzisk Mazowiecki, and Sochaczew. It is surrounded by the A2 motorway to the south, national road no. 50 to the west, Szymanów village and the Pisia river to the north, and the Pisia Tuczna and Baranów rivers to the east.
“Parallel to this, very intensive design work is underway, both on the side of the architectural firm Foster + Partners and Buro Happold, which are designing the terminal, as well as on the side of the master civil architect, the Dar company, which is designing the entire airside part: parking stands, taxiways, utilities,” says the president of CPK during the Aviation Market Congress.
The contract with the consortium of Foster + Partners and Buro Happold Limited was signed in 2022. The main tasks of the consortium include the design of the passenger terminal building, railway station and transport hub. Meanwhile, the most important tasks of the Dar Al-Handasah company will be to prepare multidisciplinary technical infrastructure project documentation, including for runways and taxiways, parking stands, airport systems, and networks and connections, along with engineering constructions.
“These activities should be completed next year, so we will then apply for a building permit and if everything goes smoothly, construction could start in 2026. In 2031, we should start the airport certification process, to hand it over for use in the second half, probably at the end of 2032,” announces Dr Filip Czernicki.
Public consultations have also begun for the assumptions of the Horizontal Timetable project. The subject of the consultations is the transport offer, including the frequency of train services, their connections, and the rules for designating stations at which they will stop. The consultations will last until October 13th and aim to develop the final shape of the rail connections for the years 2031-2040.
HRJ is a modern tool for planning the train timetable across Poland. The project assumes the coordination of inter-voivodeship and international connections, taking into account both public and commercial transport. By mid-September, more than 150 applications were received from residents, local government bodies, social and industry organisations.
“We would like the railway component of the CPK project to develop the best and professionally organised timetable for all of Poland. This is done in cooperation with PKP Intercity, but also with regional carriers. We want this project to be modern, developed to the highest world standards, which will allow us to offer passengers a superior product. We will be able to plan train timetables around Poland with predictable, repeatable, logical consistency,” explains the president of CPK.
According to announcements, Sieradz and Kalisz, which are located on the planned “Y” line connecting Warsaw with Poznań and Wrocław, will gain connections with the High-Speed Railway. Trains on this route are expected to reach speeds of 300-320 km/h. The ultimate organisation of movement is to ensure optimal use of the potential of the High-Speed Railway – the fastest trains without stops will serve the largest number of passengers, but some trains will also be able to enter smaller, but important centres. Such a solution is typical for modern railway systems in Europe, including Spanish Zaragoza, French Lyon, Le Mans, Tours, Poitiers or Cologne-Bonn airport in Germany.
Recently, the CPK company has signed a contract for the design of the first stage of the railway junction. The scope of work includes the section of the KDP Warsaw – Łódź line (line no. 85), which will pass under the airport.
In 2032, after the completion of works, the journey between these cities will last 40 minutes, and three years later it will be possible to reach Wrocław from Warsaw in 1 hour 40 minutes. The “Y” line is also expected to shorten the travel time in other connections, such as Wrocław – Lublin and Warsaw – Szczecin. After the modernisation of the railway, trains in Poland are expected to serve around 500 million passengers per year. A total of about 80 billion zlotys will be spent on these investments.
“CPK is the largest infrastructure investment of its type in Europe. It is a project not only in terms of deployed assets but also in terms of innovative and most modern technologies. With this scale of investment employment will be provided not only by Polish companies, but also by companies from around the world, although with regards to the airport, it is primarily a hub for Central and Eastern Europe, without competition. In turn, in terms of the ‘Y’ CPK, it connects the transport corridors of Central and Eastern Europe also with the Baltic Republics, so it will be key for integration,” says Dr. Filip Czernicki.
However, such a large undertaking brings a number of challenges. The primary challenge is the simultaneous accumulation of such large infrastructure investments. The construction of the airport itself is accompanied by the expansion of the A2 motorway between Warsaw and Łódź and the addition of more traffic lanes there. The tender for the implementation of the investment is to be announced in 2025.
“The scale of investment that is accumulating at the same time will engage all companies and all resources in this country, in terms of materials, human resources, even delivery roads for these materials and railway sidings. This is also connected with a personnel component. To be able to operationally launch the airport in 2032, we need to have trained several thousand new staff by that time,” indicates the president of CPK. “The current staff of Chopin Airport will, of course, constitute the basic resource of the future airport, but we must remember that these people retire, not everyone will want to move to the new location. And here it will be completely new infrastructure, we need completely new staff, so training these specialists will take a lot of time.”
In his assessment, the condition of Polish Airlines will be crucial for the functioning of the new airport. The new LOT strategy for 2024-2028 assumes that by the end of this period, the company will own 110 aircraft, carry 16.9 million passengers and generate 17 billion zlotys in revenue. Ultimately, for the needs of CPK, the fleet is to be expanded to 135 aircraft, twice as much as currently.
“In order for the hub airport project to succeed, a strong carrier is needed who will ensure the development of transfer traffic. Without a strong LOT, this project has serious problems in terms of its structure and scale of this investment, and LOT must at least double both the size of the fleet and its operations,” emphasises Dr. Filip Czernicki.
