Warsaw Radom Airport

Airport construction started in May 1929 to serve as a training facility for the first Polish civilian pilot training school. In April 1932, it was handed over to the Ministry of Military Affairs (the equivalent of the Polish Ministry of National Defence at the time), which expanded the facility by buying more land; building hangars, barracks and a shooting range; and started training military pilots and paratroopers. Training continued until World War II.

During the War's first days, German forces bombed the airport, destroying aircraft and hangars and causing the personnel to evacuate. During the occupation of Poland, the Luftwaffe used it for training and preparation of German pilots for battle on the Eastern Front. By the end of the war, the airport was mined and heavily damaged. The Polish military returned to Sadków in March 1945 and since then pilot training has continued until today.[3][4]

On 30 June 2006,[5] Gmina Radom established Port Lotniczy Radom S.A. with a 22 million zloty budget to prepare Radom-Sadków for civilian operations. It became the airport operator on 24 January 2007.[6] At the end of January 2011, a free-lease agreement for a 125 hectares (310 acres; 0.48 sq mi) civilian and military joint use airport area was signed.[7] In September that year, the Polish Civil Aviation Office issued a permit for civilian operations after fulfilling Chicago Convention requirements.[8] In January 2012, works on an airport lighting project commenced.[9]

Boeing 737 PLL LOT On the airport parking plate

Interior of the Warsaw-Radom airport terminal in Radom just before the official opening

Interior of the Warsaw-Radom airport terminal in Radom just before the official opening

Interior of the Warsaw-Radom airport terminal in Radom just before the official opening

In July 2012, the airport has acquired the former Terminal 2 building of Łódź Airport together with all its equipment for 2 mln zł.[10] Its re-assembly started in January 2013 and was completed in March 2014.[11] It is able to serve two Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 class aircraft at the same time.

Radom city council adapted the military airport in Sadków to serve domestic and international flights and was issued with a civilian airport certificate by the Civil Aviation Office in May 2014.[12]

The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency installed a DVOR/DME navigation system at the airport in December 2014.

In May 2015, one year after the certification, AirBaltic was the first airline to announce scheduled flights from Radom. The Latvian carrier scheduled three weekly flights to its home base in Riga with Bombardier Q400, starting on September 1.[13]

Czech Airlines was the second carrier to announce flights out of Radom in July 2015. The airline filed three-weekly flights from Radom to its hub in Prague using ATR 42 aircraft starting on 18 September.

Both carriers commenced the flights as planned. Loads were very low. Overall, the airport handled some 220 passengers in September, equal to six travelers on each flight.[14] Czech Airlines decided to discontinue its flights from and to Radom with effect of late October, that had an average load of three passengers. The suspension was officially caused by the lack of de-icing equipment.[15]
airBaltic followed and announced on short notice to cancel its services and end its co-operation with the airport from November 18 onwards. According to Wyborcza, flights to Riga even got surpassed by flights on the Prague route in terms of success.[16]
airBaltic hereby left the airport without any scheduled flights less than just three months after they had begun.

On 11 December 2015, Polish press informed that flights to Prague out of Radom would already resume on 20 December. Initially, the carrier would offer one rotation on Saturdays, before adding a second rotation on Fridays from 8 January. On 1 February, thrice-weekly frequency on Mondays were started.[17] Flights were chartered through Radom and were due to operate with an ATR 42 and 72.[18] Instead of a direct flight, the connection was operated as an add-on to Czech Airline's existing services to Ostrava, meaning that the plane would make a brief stop in Ostrava on both directions. The distance between Radom an Ostrava is 180 miles while the route from Ostrava and Prague is 174 miles, adding up to 354 miles. In comparison, the direct line between Radom and Prague is 317 miles long.[19] Flights between Ostrava and Radom alone were not put on sale.[17]

Operations commenced as scheduled. The first service saw an occupation of the passengers to Radom while there were no travelers on the return flight. The agreement only was valid until 22 February with an extension possible in case of success. No extension was made.[20]

The airport was thereby left again without any scheduled flights by 22 February 2016.

On 26 February 2016, Polish regional airline SprintAir announced it would commence operations from Radom in collaboration with the airport. From 18 April, the carrier based one Saab 340 aircraft at Radom Airport for flights to Berlin Tegel, Gdańsk, Prague and Wroclaw. All routes were being served twice-weekly with the exception of Gdansk which had one rotation a week. Fares on domestic flights started at 99 PLN per direction, and 149 PLN on international routes.[21] The contract was extended on 25 May to also cover flights from 20 June on with a changed schedule. All four destinations were kept, although Prague operations were reduced to once per week.[22] From 23 June, there were two flights per week to Lviv airport.[23]

All remaining SprintAir flights were terminated on 30 October 2017, after the two parties could not agree on a further extension of their agreement. Thereby, the airport again was left without any scheduled flights. The airport stated it was in talks with other airlines and the airport would be left open.[24] However, the local airport never again saw scheduled passenger operations.

On 1 January 2019, Radom airport closed for good in order to allow for the construction of the new Warsaw-Radom airport.[25] Demolition of existing terminal and other facilities started in May 2019, as the area would be used for the new airport. Thereby, the local airport ceased to exist after only a very few years of existence. Over the time, the local government had poured substantial budget into both developing and operating the loss-making facility as well to fund short-lived scheduled flight connections that were commercially unviable.[26]

Despite the failed establishment a successful regional airport, the premises soon saw an integral redevelopment as government-owned Polish Airports State Enterprise (PPL) decided to rebuild the airport as the new low-cost airport of Warsaw. It is important to note, that PPL did not hold any shares in the previous Radom regional airport despite owning and operating the largest airport in the country, Warsaw Chopin, and having substantial shares in all other civil passenger airports in Poland. The previous commercial passenger traffic attempts were entirely funded and by the regional government.

The development of the new low-cost airport included the demolishing of the previous terminal and passenger infrastructure as the entire site was redeveloped from scratch. Furthermore, the runway was rebuild together with further airport facilities. The airport demolition and rebuilding will provide the newly redone airport with the following infrastructure:

• One pier terminal without jetways with 11 aircraft stands
• Runway extension from the current 2000 meters to 2500 meters (6560 ft to 8202 ft)
• Upgrade of the parallel taxiway to be capable of handling commercial traffic

The city of Warsaw is served by two airports:

• Warsaw Chopin Airport; the main airport located within the city within densely populated area. Handles chiefly legacy airline traffic and freight.
• Warsaw Modlin Airport; the secondary airfield of Warsaw, almost exclusively used by Ryanair, is a former Cold War-era airbase converted into Warsaw's current low-cost/alternative airport.

In November 2017, the Polish government approved plans to replace Chopin Airport with an entirely new airport, the New Central Polish Airport. With an anticipated construction time of ten years and budgeted cost of USD 9.6bn, it is to become one of Europe’s largest airport sites. Its capacity is to reach up to 100 million passengers a year once fully developed.[27]

Roughly at the same time, PPL decided to develop the site of Radom as a relief airport for crowded Chopin Airport.[28]

The plan and following decision to establish the site as a future relief airport for Warsaw was heavily criticized by the airlines intended to use the facility.[29]

Construction of the new site started in May 2019. Initially, it was slated to open in late-2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[30] The construction of the terminal building officially ended in August 2022. The total cost of the new facilities is 800 million zloty.[31] Warsaw Radom Airport opened on April 27, 2023.

The airport's official name Lotnisko Warszawa-Radom im. Bohaterów Radomskiego Czerwca 1976 Roku (eng. Heroes of Radom's June 1976 Warsaw Radom Airport), in honor of June 1976 events,[32] was unveiled on May 7, 2019.[33]

The Airport is located about 4 km (2.5 mi) east of Radom's city center and can be accessed via Żeromskiego and Lubelska streets. The S7 expressway (part of European route E371), which offers the quickest connection to Warsaw, forms the western bypass of the Radom, with the airport being about 20 km (12 mi) from the Radom Pólnoc junction. Directly adjacent to the airport are the national roads: DK 9 (part of E371) and DK 12.

The airport is currently served by bus route 14 of Radom's public transit system, running at 20-30 minute intervals, stopping at the airport's terminal during operation times.

An unelectrified railway spur line connects Radom railway station to the adjoining Polish Air Force base (42. Baza Lotnictwa Szkolnego). Temporary passenger rail services have been operated for the Radom Air Show from Radom Główny railway station to the Radom Wschodni goods station. In 2019, PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe proposed the site of a new Radom Wschodni passenger station as part of the renovation of a road viaduct on ul. Żeromskiego in order to better serve Radom Airport,[41] which eventually started construction in summer 2023.[42]