Poland‘s Infrastructure Ministry has approved the general plan for for the foundation and construction of the Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK), a new airport to be built 40km outside of Warsaw. The approved General Plan is a necessary condition for applying for the Promise of Permission to Found the Airport, which CPK will apply to the Civil Aviation Authority (ULC) in the coming days. The promise will be one of the attachments to the application for a location decision, which follows the environmental decision, and precedes the application for a construction permit.
CPK’s General Plan 2022-2060 had already been consulted with the authorities of 13 municipalities in the investment’s surroundings, given a positive opinion by the President of the Civil Aviation Authority (ULC) and agreed with the Ministers of National Défense (MON) and Funds and Regional Policy (MFiPR). “The approval is a confirmation of the fundamental assumptions of the CPK project,” said Marcin Horała, Deputy Minister of Funds and Regional Policy. “This is very good news in the context of the already advanced process of selecting a financial partner who can take a minority stake in the company operating the airport.”
The approved CPK airport General Plan for 2022-2060 is in line with Poland’s transport policy. The concept included in the Plan is consistent with the Strategy for Responsible Development until 2020 (with an outlook to 2030) and the Strategy for Sustainable Transport Development until 2030. The Plan covers the area of 13 municipalities in the vicinity of the investment, located in the Mazowieckie and Łódzkie provinces.
We have met the standards required for the construction of a new airport.
Mikołaj Wild, CEO of CPK
The document sets out the next steps in the development of the airport until the end of 2060, the time horizon of aviation forecasts for Poland from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The first phase of the General Plan covers the period starting in 2028, the expected year in which the airport will be operational. The plan assumes that the airport will at that time have two parallel runways, infrastructure for approximately 330,000 aircraft operations (take-offs and landings) per year and a terminal suitable to serve 40 million passengers per year.
During this phase, the airport is to cover around 2,150 hectares, for which the company is intensively buying up the required land. The Voluntary Acquisition Program has already enrolled 80% of the developed property. The signed purchase contracts cover an area of almost 450 hectares, about 100 hectares are awaiting notarial deeds while about 1,100 hectares are in advanced negotiations.
Further infrastructure development is spread over a number of phases and stages, and is dependent on the forecasts. The second phase covers the period up to 2060, by which time the airport may already have three parallel runways, infrastructure for around 450,000 aircraft operations per year and a terminal suitable for a passenger handling capacity of around 65 million per year. During this period, the size of the airport could be up to 3,900 hectares.
The second phase is a long-term plan for the development of CPK, which has been set out to plan future areas for airport development. The entire area covered by the General Plan, in accordance with the Aviation Law, will be included in planning documents at the provincial, county and municipal levels.
The development restrictions apply from the date of approval of the General Plan until 2060, and should be taken into account in the land development of the airport surroundings. The idea is to ensure that newly constructed buildings do not become obstacles to the safety of flight operations in the future or interfere with the operation of the airport ground facilities.
On the area of the planned airport, in addition to the progressive purchase of properties within the Voluntary Acquisition Program, CPK-funded relocation and deconstruction works are also underway. The scope of work will increase once CPK has received the environmental decision. This application is currently being reviewed by the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection (RDOŚ) in Warsaw.
At the same time, advanced design work is being carried out by, among others, the British design consortium Foster+Partners (Master Architect) and the Lebanese design company Dar Al-Handasah (Master Civil Engineer). As part of the framework agreement for the design of associated facilities, which has been signed with 13 companies – including a number of Polish ones – a tender is underway for the design of the air traffic control tower.
