Warsaw Chopin Airport

Warsaw Chopin Airport (Polish: Lotnisko Chopina w Warszawie, Polish pronunciation: [lɔtˈɲiskɔ ʂɔˈpɛna]) (IATA: WAW, ICAO: EPWA) is an international airport in the Włochy district of Warsaw, Poland. It is the busiest airport in Poland and the 28th busiest airport in Europe with 21.3 million passengers in 2024, handling approximately 40% of the country's total air passenger traffic. The airport is a central hub for LOT Polish Airlines as well as a base for Enter Air and Wizz Air.

Warsaw Chopin Airport covers 834 hectares (2,060 acres) of land and handles approximately 300 scheduled flights daily, including a substantial number of charters. London, Frankfurt, Paris, and Amsterdam are the busiest international connections, while Kraków, Wrocław, and Gdańsk are the most popular domestic ones. Founded in 1934, the airport was previously known as Warsaw-Okęcie Airport (Port lotniczy Warszawa-Okęcie) and bore the name of its Okęcie neighborhood throughout its history. It was renamed in honour of Polish composer and former Warsaw resident Frédéric Chopin in 2001. Despite the official change, "Okęcie" ("Lotnisko Okęcie") remains in popular and industry use, including air traffic and aerodrome references.

An underground railway station connecting from the airport to Warsaw's suburban rail system was opened in June 2012 in time for the Euro 2012 football championships, and on 25 November 2013, the airport announced accommodating – for the first time in history – its 10 millionth passenger in a single year. The airport would go on and double the amount of passengers 11 years later, welcoming its 20 millionth passenger on 6 December 2024 and 21 millionth on 26 December 2024.

The Chopin Airport is one of the three airports serving the Warsaw metropolitan area, along with Warsaw Modlin Airport, which opened in 2012, and Warsaw Radom Airport, which opened in 2023. In 2024, Chopin Airport announced plans for expansion, boosting passenger capacity to serve over 30 million travelers annually. Construction began in late 2025 and is slated for completion by 2029, ahead of the Central Communication Port’s planned 2032 opening.

In 1924, when urban development around Warsaw's aerodrome at Mokotów Field (Pole Mokotowskie) began affecting air traffic, the Ministry of Railways purchased land near the village of Okęcie to construct a new airport. On 29 April 1934, the Polish president, Ignacy Mościcki, opened Central Airport (Okęcie), which from then on took over the handling of all traffic from the former civilian aerodrome at Pole Mokotowskie. In the weeks after its opening, a journalist from the magazine Flight and Air Defence of Poland reported the following: "In a large pastel-coloured hall, we see a ticket office, a customs post, telegraph and post office, police station and a kiosk with various newspapers etc... On the first (upper) floor, there is a restaurant and viewing terrace, from where one can see the entire territory of the airport." ^{[citation needed]}

With the building finished in 1933, the new modernist premises of the Warsaw airport cost the State Treasury around zl 10 million. The new complex included three hangars, exhibition space, garages, and of course a large, modern terminal building with a concrete taxiway complete with stands for a number of aircraft. Warsaw thus received an airport befitting of any European capital city. In its first year of operation, Okęcie served over 10,000 passengers. After the aerodrome's civilian buildings were finished, the military potential of the site began to be developed, with a Polish Air Force base opening soon after; later followed the buildings of the Institute of Aviation, PZL aircraft-building plant and other pieces of aviation infrastructure. ^{[citation needed]}

As air traffic and the number of aircraft movements grew greatly year on year, the authorities identified the need to develop a new system for air traffic navigation and control. The state, as a result, marked a number of air corridors for use by civil airlines, whilst radio stations were established to regulate such traffic and divert it away from sensitive and restricted areas. By 1938, the airport was equipped with 16 immigration checkpoints for passengers both departing and arriving on international flights. These posts were then manned by the Polish Border Guard. By 1937, the airport had also received new radio navigation equipment and was using Lorenz beam technology to assure the safety of landings and approaches over Warsaw, during periods of poor visibility or bad weather. On the eve of World War II, Okęcie airport was connected by regular scheduled flights with 6 domestic and 17 foreign airports, among which were Tel-Aviv (then in Palestine) and Beirut in Lebanon; there were also plans to soon begin transatlantic service to the United States.

During World War II, Okęcie was often used as a battleground between the German Army and Polish resistance and was almost completely destroyed. From the very first day of the war in Poland, Okęcie became a target for bombing by the German Luftwaffe. Later, once Warsaw was occupied by the German army, the airport became the base for two German aviation schools and a Junkers aircraft repair works. During this period, the airport also received its first concrete runway and taxiways; these were left undamaged until the very final days of the war, despite numerous attacks by both the Home Army and Soviet Armed Forces. However, with the German withdrawal from the city, both Okęcie's remaining buildings and ground infrastructure (including the runway) were intentionally destroyed in order to deny their use to the advancing Red Army and Polish First Army.