Zielona Góra Airport

Zielona Góra Airport (Polish: Port Lotniczy Zielona Góra-Babimost) (IATA: IEG, ICAO: EPZG) is a regional airport in the Zielona Góra urban area (the Lubusian Tri-city) in western Poland. The airport is 10 km (6.2 mi) from Sulechów, 35 km (22 mi) northeast[1] of the Zielona Góra city centre, in the village of Kramsko, near the town of Babimost, 95 km (59 mi) west of Poznań, 90 km (56 mi) east of the German border, and 170 km (110 mi) from Berlin. Its catchment area consists of the three million inhabitants of Lubusz Land (Ziemia Lubuska) and the west of Greater Poland (Wielkopolska).

Zielona Góra Airport

Port Lotniczy Zielona Góra
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorPrzedsiębiorstwo Państwowe "Porty Lotnicze" (PPL)
ServesZielona Góra, Poland
Elevation AMSL59 m / 194 ft
Coordinates52°08′19″N 015°47′55″E
Websiteairport.lubuskie.pl
Map
IEG is located in Poland
IEG
IEG
Location in Poland
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
06/24 2,500 8,202 Concrete
Statistics (2022)
Passengers41,443 Increase 101.7%
Operations781 Increase 51.6%

The airport is Poland's 14th-busiest, in last place among current airports with scheduled traffic. It has been taken over from the Polish Army by regional authorities and is run by the state-owned Porty Lotnicze (PPL), which also operates Warsaw Chopin Airport. Discussion exists about whether a company created by regional authorities should assume management of the unprofitable airport.

History

Construction of Zielona Góra Airport (a former military base) began in 1954,[2] and it entered service on 10 October 1957. A MiG-15 is parked adjacent to the terminal, commemorating the airport's military origin.[3][4]

Although the first passenger terminal opened in 1977,[5] at least one passenger flight had already operated from the airport (on 21 July 1961, bringing Yuri Gagarin to Zielona Góra).[2] The airport began service to and from Warsaw and Gdańsk in 1977; the first scheduled flights were twice weekly to Warsaw, and the Gdańsk route operated during the 1970s. It hosted twice-daily passenger service to Warsaw until September 2004, when state-owned LOT Polish Airlines discontinued the route after ownership changes at the airport. The army stopped using it as a military base, and dismantled some of its equipment.

The airport was rented to regional authorities in 2005, so its new owner could begin developing the airport. Shifts in the Polish airline market caused financial problems for LOT, and service to Warsaw was suspended because the airline could not obtain suitable mid-sized aircraft for the route.

At the end of 2005, two daily flights to Warsaw were operated by Jet Air;[6] this was later reduced to one. The airport has had short-lived scheduled routes to Gdańsk, Kraków, and Dresden, and service to Warsaw operated via Poznań or Bydgoszcz. It operated charter service to southern Europe and Ukraine during the mid-2010s. In January 2017, it was announced that the airport's only scheduled route (to Warsaw Chopin Airport) would be transferred from SprintAir to LOT.[7]

In December 2022 renderings of a new terminal building were published by an architect studio that won public tendering for the project.[8]

Infrastructure

Runway

Zielona Góra Airport has a single asphalt-concrete 06/24 runway. The 2,500-metre-long (8,200 ft), 60-metre-wide (200 ft) runway is equipped with an ILS CAT I, allowing aircraft to land in foggy weather.[9] The airport's elevation is 59 metres (194 ft).[10] Its runway has two taxiways leading to two aprons, where up to 10 mid-sized aircraft (such as Boeing 737s or Airbus 321s) may be parked; an additional apron is used in winter for the de-icing of aircraft.

Terminals

The airport has two passenger terminals (T1 and T2); only T2 is fully functional. T1, built in 1977, has an annual capacity of 150,000 and is used for departures. T2 (built in 2015) is used for arrivals and charter service, and has no check-in or other services. T1 has two check-in desks, basic luggage transport, and a medium-sized departure area with one or two gates. After the completion of the new arrival area, the airport's annual capacity was estimated at 360,000 passengers.[11] A small cargo terminal is next to T1.[12]

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines have regular scheduled and charter services to and from Zielona Góra:[13]

AirlinesDestinations
LOT Polish Airlines[14] Warsaw–Chopin
Seasonal: Gdańsk, Kraków, Zadar[15]
Pegasus Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya

The nearest international airport is Poznań–Ławica Airport, about 95 kilometres (59 mi) east.

Statistics

Annual traffic
Annual passenger traffic at IEG airport. See Wikidata query.
Year Passengers Cargo (kg) Flights
1999 198 0 100
2000 207 0 36
2001 5,624 0 615
2002 7,598 0 681
2003 7,813 0 1,237
2004[16] 3,949 0 400
2005[16] 427 0 163
2006[16] 8,316 0 1,107
2007[16] 6,739 0 714
2008 5,237 0 614
2009 2,955 3,929 642
2010 3,637 5,205 668
2011 6,940 1,591 328
2012 12,276 234
2013 12,568 345
2014 10,682 632
2015 15,550 1,299
2016 8,745 1,147
2017 17,128 1,114
2018 21,269 1,295
2019 33,078 1,778
2020 19,266 0 1,965
2021 20,596 0 1,658
2022 41,543 0
Source: Civil Aviation Authority,[17][18] Zielona Góra Airport[19][20]

Ground transportation

Road

The airport is located close to a junction between motorway A2 (Berlin-Warsaw) and expressway S3.[21] Buses operate between Zielona Góra and the airport, according to flight departure and arrival times to and from Warsaw, from the main bus station (Dworzec PKS).[22]

Rail

The nearest railway station to the airport is located in the town of Babimost some 6 km (3.7 mi) from the airport, which itself does not have a station. A section of Zielona Góra to Poznań line is currently undergoing renovation and a temporary bus service is in place until the end of the modernisation, which is expected at the end of 2022.[23]

See also

References
  1. "EAD Basic - Error Page". www.ead.eurocontrol.int.
  2. Placha-Hetman, Karol (10 September 2009). "Lotnisko w Babimoście. 2009r". www.polot.net (in Polish). Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  3. "Street View Image". Google Maps. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  4. "Multimedia Image – Lotnisko Zielona Góra/Babimost". airport.lubuskie.pl. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  5. Bakselerowicz, Piotr (29 September 2017). "Hala z taniej płyty, porwanie samolotu... Oto krótka historia lotniska w Babimoście". zielonagora.wyborcza.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  6. "Znów będzie można latać z Warszawy do Łodzi i Zielonej Góry". TUR-INFO.PL (in Polish). 1 June 2005. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  7. Pachowicz, Mirosław (20 January 2017). "LOT wygrał przetarg na rejsy do Zielonej Góry". Pasazer.com (in Polish). Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  8. Patyk, Agnieszka (30 December 2022). "Lotnisko Zielona Góra-Babimost zostanie rozbudowane. Powstanie nowy terminal". Obserwator logistyczny (in Polish). Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  9. "EPZG/Zielona Gora Babimost General Airport Information". acukwik.com. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  10. "Zielona Góra Babimost". ch-aviation.com. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  11. "Specification and infrastructure, border checkpoint and customs service – Lotnisko Zielona Góra/Babimost". airport.lubuskie.pl. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  12. "Cargo – Lotnisko Zielona Góra/Babimost". airport.lubuskie.pl. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  13. "Passenger guide – Lotnisko Zielona Góra/Babimost". airport.lubuskie.pl. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  14. "Flights to Europe". LOT.com. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  15. https://www.lot.com/de/de/flight-status
  16. "Liczba obslużonych pasażerów i przesyłek oraz wykonanych operacji lotniczych w ruchu regularnym oraz czarterowym w polskich portach lotniczych w latach 2004 - 2007" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority (in Polish). April 2008. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  17. "Statistics by origin airports - FPR". www.ulc.gov.pl. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  18. "Statystyki wg portów lotniczych - ULC". www.ulc.gov.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  19. "Statistics – Lotnisko Zielona Góra/Babimost". airport.lubuskie.pl. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  20. "Statystyki – Lotnisko Zielona Góra/Babimost". airport.lubuskie.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  21. "By car – Lotnisko Zielona Góra/Babimost". airport.lubuskie.pl. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  22. "By bus – Lotnisko Zielona Góra/Babimost". airport.lubuskie.pl. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  23. Kalinowski, Leszek (9 February 2022). "Pociągiem z Zielonej Góry do Poznania. Kiedy skończą się nerwy pasażerów? Zobacz stan prac". Zielona Góra Nasze Miasto (in Polish). Retrieved 10 September 2022.

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