Olsztyn-Mazury opens its door to jet services into northeast Poland

The newly renovated Olsztyn-Mazury Airport, formerly Szczytno-Szymany Airport, will see its first scheduled jet operations under its new guise from June this year after Adria Airways and Wizz Air announced new direct international flights into Germany and the UK. And representatives of the former German and Polish Air Force base are attending Routes Europe in the hope of putting the facility on more airlines’ route maps.

Szczytno-Szymany Airport was first opened to civilian operations in the mid-1990s and while LOT Polish Airlines operated limited services, it was mainly served by charter providers offering links from Germany. Although Ryanair showed some interest in serving the facility no agreement was ever reached due to the need for significant investment in the airport.

These investments have now taken place and the new look Olsztyn-Mazury Airport, complete with a new terminal building, renovated runway and new apron and taxiway system, was opened in January 2016. The facility takes its name from the larger city of Olsztyn, the capital of the wider Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.

Scheduled operations commenced on January 21, 2016 with SprintAir providing a domestic link to Krakow and international services to Berlin Tegel using a Saab 340 turboprop, but the announcements this month from both Adria Airways and Wizz Air highlight the growth intentions of the small regional airport.

Slovenian carrier Adria Airways will provide an important hub link into the Star Alliance network via Lufthansa’s Bavarian hub at Munich Airport. The airline will introduce a three times weekly link at Olsztyn-Mazury from June 17, 2016 using a Bombardier CRJ900.

Just a day later Wizz Air on June 18, 2016 will inaugurate a three times weekly low-cost link between Olsztyn-Mazury and London Luton. With an initial seat capacity of 27,000 seats in calendar year 2016, the new route is expected to stimulate aviation and hospitality sectors in the region, while allowing Masurian passengers to more easily travel into the UK, where there is large ethnic communities.