Polish government’s planned mega-airport conceived by “very stupid politicians”, says Ryanair CEO

Michael O’Leary, the outspoken CEO of budget airline giant Ryanair, has again criticised the Polish government’s flagship project to build a new “mega-airport”, which he says is an “incomprehensible” and “unnecessary” idea concocted by “very stupid politicians”.

Ryanair is Poland’s largest carrier by passenger numbers. Last year it transported around 14 million passengers in the country, almost twice as many as Polish flag carrier LOT, notes news weekly Wprost.

However, the Irish airline favours smaller airports whereas the state-owned LOT has lent its support to the government’s project – known as the Solidarity Transport Hub (CPK) and located between Warsaw and Łódź – which it aims to turn into a regional hub.

“The idea of building…CPK is incomprehensible to me,” O’Leary told Polish daily Rzeczpospolita. “I can honestly say that I don’t understand this investment.”

“Even though taxpayers have spent billions on this senseless project, it is still possible to abandon it and not go further,” he added. “This airport is unnecessary. It was planned in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Only very stupid politicians could decide to do something like that.”

“Warsaw already has two airports,” noted O’Leary. “It would be enough to use them well.”

Ryanair’s main Polish base is at one of those airports, Modlin, where it is the exclusive operator. The airline has been locked in a long-running dispute with Poland’s state airport operator over expanding the facility.

Asked by Rzeczpospolita if an agreement could be reached, O’Leary said that “much depends on the outcome of the autumn parliamentary elections”, at which the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party – which has championed the CPK project – is standing for reelection.

“If the next government is more reasonable and determined to develop air transport in Poland, we will certainly have good professional relations,” said O’Leary, who accused the state airport operator of trying to “protect LOT” and of “blocking the development of Modlin”.

Two years ago, the Ryanair CEO also criticised CPK, calling it a “crazy” plan that would “wastes billions on a sandcastle in the middle of nowhere”.

Those involved in the CPK project have dismissed O’Leary’s criticism as unjustified and self-interested. In response to his latest remarks, the CEO of CPK, Mikołaj Wild, tweeted that it would be “a waste of time to comment on [O’Leary’s] infotainment”.

Wild added only that CPK is being developed to ensure that passengers in Poland “are not limited to airline trash” and that “the example of [Warsaw Chopin airport] shows that Ryanair can fly at market rates [so] I hope that this will be the standard of airports from the CPK group”.

Ryanair is not alone in having raised concern about CPK. Poland’s state audit office, NIK, last year warned that the project lack a full business justification, has been prepared through “unreliable planning”, and is seeking to meet “impossible deadlines”

Analysts have also noted that aims of the project, first conceived before the pandemic, will be much harder to achieve after Covid reduced air travel and with the hub airport model becoming less relevant as aircraft can fly longer distances.

According to estimates prepared last year by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), in its first full year of operation (which is planned to be 2027), CPK is expected to handle 30 million passengers, reaching 40 million by 2035. That is down from the figure of 45 million forecast before the pandemic.

In its baseline scenario, the IATA predicts that, by the end of its forecast period in 2060, passenger numbers will reach 65 million. Originally it had been planned for the airport to have a final capacity of 100 million, which would have made CPK the joint-second busiest airport in the world on pre-pandemic figures.

Poland’s government, however, argues that the project still makes economic sense and that it will be a hub for air cargo as well as for passengers.

Main photo credit: ADAM STEPIEN / AGENCJA GAZETA

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.