There are a few mega airports across the world operating as large transfer bases. Now, LOT Polish Airlines is attempting to turn an airport in Poland into yet another mega-hub.

A new mega-airport is currently under construction in Poland. Intended to serve the city of Warsaw, the new airport would allow Poland to become a mega transport hub to rival Emirates in Dubai. It comes at the same time that Finnair is trying to become the Emirates of the north.

The new airport

The new Polish airport will be constructed 40km outside of Warsaw. It will replace the current Chopin International Airport and will have five times the capacity. In fact, the new airport will handle up to 100 million passengers per year. The airport will become the main hub for LOT Polish Airlines who have ambitions of becoming rivals to Middle Eastern airlines from this new hub.

LOT Polish Airlines
Warsaw's new airport will become LOT's new hub. Photo: LOT

Warsaw isn't the only city currently investing in a new airport to boost capacity. A new airport has just entered service in Istanbul in the last week. Additionally, a new mega-airport is currently under construction in Dubai to replace both Dubai and Doha.

How do transfer airlines work?

Transfer airlines such as Emirates operate largely on the principle of connecting passengers across the world. The Gulf carriers are perfect candidates for transfer airlines thanks to their strategic position between Asia, Australia, Africa, and Europe. This allows them to easily connect between many destinations in just one stop.

This principle means that some smaller destinations can be easier to reach. Taking the example of Bali, both Singapore Airlines and Emirates operate one-stop flights to the destination. By taking the Emirates flights, the two flights are divided equally as opposed to one long flight and one short flight.

LOT Polish Airlines
The cost of training an air traffic controller in Warsaw is an estimated $264,312, which would leave a devasting financial crisis for the Polish air traffic management if there were no breakthrough in talks. Photo: LOT Polish Airlines

Warsaw transfer

Warsaw could become a huge new transfer hub thanks to LOT Polish Airlines. According to the Romanian Aeronews, the CEO of LOT Polish Airlines, Rafal Milczarski, told an IATA press conference "Passengers from Central and Eastern Europe will continue to fly more. Not only in Europe, but globally. And global travel can happen via hubs. I am delighted to see that the Polish Government has approved the building of a new aviation hub in Warsaw"

He went on to add: "For the past 3 years, LOT has been the fastest growing airline in Europe, increasing by 30% per year. In 2015 we carried 4.3 million passengers, in 2018 we reached 8.9 million passengers. And we won’t stop here as we aim to reach 10 million passengers in 2019!"

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