WARSAW (dpa-AFX) - Poland wants to build a new central airport near Warsaw. The airport is to go into operation in 2032 and will be designed for up to 34 million passengers a year, said Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw on Wednesday. The costs for the airport and the expansion of the infrastructure are estimated at 30 billion euros. There are also plans to expand the Polish airline Lot.

The construction of a "Central Transport Hub" (CPK) was one of the controversial prestige projects of the now voted out national-conservative PiS government, which ruled the country from 2015 to 2023. Tusk's liberal-conservative government, which has been in office since December, is sticking to the construction of the major airport but, according to Tusk, wants to significantly modify the project and adapt it to the country's needs. "Ultimately, someone has to build it, but it has to be based on realistic assumptions," said Tusk.

According to the PiS government's original plans, the new major airport in Baranow, 60 kilometers west of Warsaw, was not only intended to replace the capital's existing airport, but also to provide a new air hub for Central and Eastern Europe. The then Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki enthused about 100 million passengers a year. Critics warned that these expectations were unrealistic. By way of comparison: BER in Berlin recorded 23 million passengers last year, compared to 59.4 million in Frankfurt.

Expansion plans for airline Lot

However, not only the coronavirus pandemic, but also Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine have changed the reality in Poland and the region. Construction, which the PiS wanted to complete by 2027, has not yet begun. Tusk has now emphasized that Poland needs a modern airport for the future, but he wants to decouple the project from "political propaganda and ideology."

This also includes the government burying the plans of its predecessors to build a central rail hub in Baranow next to the airport, which was to be connected to all parts of the country by new lines, so-called spokes. Instead, Tusk said, work is underway to better connect Polish cities by expanding the existing routes for high-speed trains.

In connection with the construction of the new central airport, the Polish airline Lot is to expand. According to Tusk, it should become "not quite as big as Lufthansa, but of a similar size". The aircraft fleet is to be expanded from the current 76 to 135 by 2032. The plan is for Lot to operate around 60 percent of connections from the new major airport./dhe/DP/jha