For most of the travelers, visiting foreign countries begins with the landing of the plane at the airport on their territory. The first impressions of the trip depend on how modern the airport will be and how high-quality service it can offer. We will learn more about how the John Paul II airport Krakow-Balice works.
History and modernity
This Polish airport received its first passenger flight in 1964. Until that time, it had been a military base for four years. Since 1968, the airport has officially become a civilian airport, but the Polish Air Force still uses its runway alongside civilian aircraft.
The runway is currently one. Its length is 2550 m, and its width is 60 m, which allows it to receive Boeing 747 aircraft, however, they should not be fully loaded, since the length of the take-off strip for aircraft with a full load is insufficient. In 2021, it is planned to open a new strip for take-off and landing of aircraft.
In terms of its importance, Krakow-Balice ranks second in Poland, second only to Warsaw Chopin Airport.
Currently, it receives over 3.5 million passengers a year, which is about 400 thousand passengers more than Katowice Airport, which is the third largest passenger traffic in the country. According to development plans, by 2021 this figure should increase to 6.5 million. However, statistics already indicate that the growth of passenger traffic exceeds expectations.
Airlines and destinations
Airlines and cities with which they connect Krakow are shown in the table:
| Airline | Flights from and to: |
|---|---|
| Aeroflot | Moscow |
| Aer lingus | Dublin |
| Austrian airlines performer Austrian Arrows | Veins |
| Brussels Airlines | Brussels |
| Czech Airlines | Prague |
| easyJet | Belfast, Bristol, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London (Gatwick), Paris (Charles de Gaulle), Geneva |
| EuroLOT | Amsterdam, Dubrovnik, Florence, Hamburg, Pork, Lviv, Vilnius, Zurich |
| Finnair | Helsinki |
| Germanwings | Stuttgart |
| Iceland express | Reykjavik (seasonal) |
| Jet2.com | Newcastle |
| LOT | Athens, Frankfurt, Paris (Charles de Gaulle), Rome (Fiumicino), Chicago |
| EuroLOT | Vienna, Warsaw, Gdansk, Poznan, Szczecin |
| Lufthansa performer Lufthansa CityLine | Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich |
| Norwegian | Bergen, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stavanger, Stockholm (Arlanda) |
| Ryanair | Alicante, Barcelona, Billund, Bologna, Brussels, Budapest, Cagliari, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Leeds (Bradford), Liverpool, London (Stansted), Madrid, Malaga, Malta, Milan (Bergamo), Oslo, Paphos, Palma de Mallorca, Paris (Beauvais), Pisa, Rome (Ciampino), Stockholm (Skavsta), Trapani |
| Travel Fly | Naples (seasonal) |
| Volotea | Venice |
| Wow air | Reykjavik |
In addition, charter flights run from and to:
- Bulgarian Burgas;
- Egyptian Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh;
- Greek Corfu, Kos, Crete and Rhodes;
- Spanish Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Palma de Mallorca;
- Israeli Tel Aviv;
- Portuguese Faro;
- Tunisian Enfidah and Monasteries;
- Turkish Antalya, Bodrum and Dalaman.
Terminals for passengers
The airport has two terminals serving passengers on domestic and international flights. They are located at a distance of about 1 kilometer from each other.
The new terminal is international. The modern building has three floors. The left side of the first floor is occupied by the check-in and departure areas, the right side is the arrival area.
On the second floor, passport control is carried out, to which only passengers of flights outside the Schengen area are subject. Also on the second floor, inspections are carried out in order to ensure flight safety.
The old terminal serves domestic flights. It is a relatively small hangar-type building equipped with check-in, arrival and departure halls and one luggage transport belt.
You can get from one terminal to another by a free bus that runs every half an hour.
Maintenance and services in the airport building
Having passed passport control, passengers theoretically leave the territory of Poland and find themselves in an area where there is a cafe and a number of small Duty free shops.
Currency exchange offices are available in the arrival and check-in lounges. Their schedule is designed in such a way that at least one of them works at any time of the day.
At exchange offices, non-EU citizens can get VAT refunds for purchases made within the EU, provided they have properly issued checks. This system is called tax-free.
In addition, a bank branch operates from 9.00 to 16.30 in the airport building.
In both terminals of the airport there are several cafes and restaurants, the operating mode of which allows serving passengers 2 hours before the first departure and before the departure of passengers on the last arrived flight.
In the airport building, in addition to duty-free shops, there are several shops selling souvenirs, books, cosmetics and medicines.
There is an observation deck on the third floor of the international terminal. If you want to get there, stock up on coins - the turnstiles you need to go through accept only them.
Fans of spotting - observing aircraft taking off and landing - can enjoy this spectacle if they walk about a kilometer along the road from the domestic terminal to the end of the aircraft take-off and landing strip.
The flight schedule can be viewed on the airport's official website using the following links:
- arrival,
- departure.
John Paul II Airport is located just 11 kilometers from the center of Krakow, so all hotels in this city are available to travelers.
Parking
Parking is available near both terminals of the airport. In addition, the international terminal has a multi-level parking lot.
The approach for picking up and dropping off passengers at the domestic terminal for up to 10 minutes will cost 2 zlotys (0.46 euros). Parking for three days costs 30 zlotys (6.96 euros), for each subsequent day you need to pay 10 zlotys (2.32 euros).
At the international terminal, the entrance for embarking and disembarking passengers is free for up to 10 minutes. Further, for every 15 minutes of parking, you need to pay 5 zlotys (1.16 euros).
In a multi-level parking lot, an hour of parking will cost 7 zloty (1.62 euros). For long-term parking, the first and second days cost 40 zlotys (9.28 euros), the third and fourth days - 20 zlotys (4.64 euros), every subsequent day - 5 zlotys (1.16 euros).
Transport links to the airport
City buses from Krakow to the airport and vice versa stop at the international terminal. From the airport, all buses go to the city's main railway station.
However, routes no. 208 and no. 292 arrive at its eastern part during the day, while route no. 902 operates at night and follows the same route, approaching the main station building.
The cost of a single bus ticket is 3.2 zlotys (0.74 euros). A ticket valid for multiple trips within 24 hours will cost PLN 16 (€ 3.71). The journey between the end points of the bus routes will take about 40 minutes.
A train from the airport, which is called a rail bus, also arrives at the main railway station in Krakow.
Its stop is located 350 meters from the new airport terminal. The train departs every half hour, the travel time between the final points is 20 minutes, the journey will cost 10 zlotys (2.32 euros).
Airport contact details
Passengers can find out all the necessary information about flights from the official website of the Krakow airport. Airport address: Captain Mieczyslaw Medvecki Street 1, 32-083 Balice, Poland.The street is named after the first Polish pilot who died in World War II. It was from the military airfield in Balice that he left for the last flight.
Contact phone: +48 12 295 58 00.
Finally
Krakow Airport in Balice, bearing the name of Pope John Paul II of Polish origin since 1995, is the second most important airport in Poland, serving domestic, regular international and charter flights. The terminal for international flights is new, has everything you need to wait for flights.
The not too large selection of shops in the airport building is compensated by the proximity of the location of the second most populous Polish city - Krakow.
