Katowice International Airport (KTW) bets on cargo and promotes its newest project – the Cargo City. Apart from a new cargo terminal, creation of a logistics and industrial zone is also taken into consideration by the Upper Silesian Aviation Group (GTL), which manages the airport.
The new cargo terminal with all necessary infrastructure will be opened in 2015. The infrastructure would be located in the Eastern part of the airport covering 9 700 sq. meters with an estimated budget amounting to approximately PLN 40 million. Administrative procedures to choose a prime contractor of construction works are to be issued in the first half of 2014.
GTL has launched a promotional website where the Cargo City project is presented in a brief (www.cargocity.katowice-airport.com). It shows the concept design of creating the logistics and industrial zone at the new cargo base including warehouses and office facilities supported by new road infrastructure.
GTL points out the assets of the airport as the location and economy of the region. Katowice Airport’s runway is 303 meters above sea level making it the highest-altitude runway in Poland where the number of low visibility days is the fewest of all of Poland’s airports and others in the region. Also, we can read at the website that „there is attractively-priced land in the vicinity for airport development. It is a significant distance from inhabited areas thus enabling the growth and development of a cargo base with the possibility of round-the-clock operations.”
According to the airport’s authorities, potential cargo investors should be also attracted by the largest investment undertakings being currently carried out at KTW, which are, among others: the construction of a new runway to be delivered in the second quarter of 2015 and the construction of an apron and modernization of taxiways D, E1 and E2 completed in July 2013.
At present, there are six cargo transport companies which operate regularly at KTW: DHL Aviation (Leipzig and Kiev), Farnair (Cologne/Bonn), Sprintair (Warsaw), TNT (Liege), Air Contractors on agreement with FedEx (Katowice-Paris-Stuttgart-Katowice). The existing infrastructure of the Katowice Airport enables to handle such freight aircrafts as Boeing 777, Boeing 747, An124 „Ruslan” and other similarly-sized aircrafts.