The Upper Silesian Aviation Group (GTL SA) has presented a 2024-2028 investment program for Katowice Airport in Poland, which includes the construction of a 49,000m2 central passenger terminal.
The new two-story terminal will be built to the east of the existing passenger terminals and will be equipped with jet bridges. On the ground floor will be the check-in area and the arrivals hall. The first floor will house the central security control area, passport control and the departures hall.
The new terminal will be connected with the Pyrzowice Lotnisko (Katowice Airport) railway station via a 270m-long tunnel. There will be a transfer center for buses between the central terminal and the railway station. In front of the central passenger terminal there will be a new road system, with new entrance and exit gates and a Kiss & Fly area.
In 2028, after the first part of the central passenger terminal has been put into service, the total surface area of the Katowice Airport terminal infrastructure will be 83,000m2, enabling it to handle approximately eight million passengers in a single year. GTL SA plans to continue the terminal’s expansion so that by 2032 the surface area of the terminal infrastructure will be 96,000m2, ensuring it can achieve a throughput of 10 million passengers annually. After 2032, if the need arises, the central terminal may be modularly expanded to the east, in the first phase reaching a throughput for the entire terminal infrastructure of 12 million passengers per year, and 15 million passengers in the second phase.
GTL SA plans to build approximately 8,000 new parking spaces – 6,500 of which will be in outdoor parking lots. A multi-story parking garage with 1,500 spaces will be created by 2028, connected to the central terminal via a glazed overpass.
The plan also covers the expansion of a second 10,000m2 cargo terminal, a multimodal goods and fuel delivery hub with railway siding connection, and a new 1,700m2 airport rescue and firefighting building.
Artur Tomasik, the president of the board of GTL SA, said, “We have prepared a complex program for the expansion of Katowice Airport’s infrastructure, as part of which we put emphasis on diversity of provided infrastructure. Our goal is to strengthen the airport in all areas of activities, i.e. passenger traffic, aircraft maintenance and air cargo. The new infrastructure also means more employees. We estimate that approximately 8,000 persons will work in companies and state institutions at the airport by 2030.”
Ireneusz Kołodziej, aviation business leader and advisory services leader for Arup in Poland and Serbia, added, “Katowice Airport needs a modern terminal, planned so that its functionality and flexibility allow it to handle the dynamically – and often unpredictably – changing traffic. Simultaneously, with sustainable development in mind, it is necessary to carefully manage resources. Therefore, the new terminal will be integrated with the revitalized tissue of Terminal B. Katowice Airport is an example of an airport that addresses in advance the needs of its corporate clients, air carriers, maintenance and cargo operators and, first and foremost, passengers.”
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