In July 2011, 338 019 passengers were handled at Katowice International Airport in Pyrzowice what represents a rise of 7,5% compared to the same month last year. The Airport broke the Polish record when come to the number of passengers handled in one month by a regional airport ever.
The number of charter passengers reached 166 694 to boost by 18% in comparison to July 2010. In total, 1 397 980 travelers were handled during the first seven months of this year. „Górnośląskie Towarzystwo Lotnicze S.A.” (GTL), which manages the Airport, expects that the this year’s number of passengers will exceed 2,5 million for the first time. Pyrzowice strengthened its position as a charter leader among regional airports in Poland. New connections with Morocco (Oujda), Canary Islands (Gran Canaria), Greece (Kos) Cyprus (Larnaka) and Izrael (Eljat) were opened in 2011.
To develop the Airport’s infrastructure and attract new carriers, GTL plans to start a modernization of the “A” terminal – an elevation will be changed and the usable area will be increased by approximately one thousand sq. meters to cover 8 600 sq. m. The works are to be commenced in October and finished in spring 2012.
Meanwhile, a consortium of Polimex-Mostostal SA (Warsaw) and Coifer Impex SRL (Bucharest) are building a new maintenance hangar for PLN 26 million (a smaller maintenance hangar was delivered in April this year and cost PLN 6 million). The almost 8 000 sq. meters facility will be adapted to service two Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 aircrafts simultaneously. The hangar will be also opened in spring 2012.
However the biggest investment at the Airport is a construction of a new apron to accommodate 13 parking positions and cover approximately 100 000 sq. meters. The works estimated at PLN 81 million were already started and will be concluded in 2013.
GTL plans to spend about PLN 550 million for investment by the end of 2015.