In the flat farmland between Warsaw and Łódź, one of Europe’s most ambitious transport projects is edging closer to reality. Poland is pressing ahead with a vast new hub airport and rail nexus worth around 131.7 billion złoty, or roughly 30 billion euros, aiming to turn the country into a central gateway for European and intercontinental travel.

After political rows, audits and redesigns, the question for travelers is now becoming clearer: this mega-airport is scheduled to start operating in 2032.

More News:

A 30 billion euro vision for a new European gateway

The project, long known as Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (Central Communication Port, or CPK), and now widely referred to in the travel industry as Poland’s “mega-airport,” is designed as a combined aviation and rail hub between Warsaw and Łódź.

Authorities have earmarked 131.7 billion złoty up to 2032 for the first phase, covering the airport, key rail connections and related road infrastructure. Government planning documents outline that this first stage will absorb almost all of that spending by 2032, with the airport and its core high-speed link entering service in that year.

Located on a 2,500-hectare-plus site, the airport will start with two parallel runways and a terminal designed by British firm Foster + Partners in cooperation with engineering group Buro Happold.

It is being sized at the outset for roughly 34 million passengers per year, with design provisions to expand the annual capacity to 40 million and beyond without major reconfiguration. That places it in the same tier as established hubs such as London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle and the newer Istanbul Airport.

Polish leaders, including current Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Infrastructure Minister Dariusz Klimczak, present the hub as nothing less than a national transformation project.

They argue that Warsaw’s existing Chopin Airport is reaching its practical limits, while Poland’s rapid growth in low-cost and long-haul traffic demands a new focal point that integrates air and rail. The government’s updated plans, approved in 2024 and refined through 2025, frame CPK as the backbone of the country’s future transport system.

When will Poland’s mega-airport actually open?

For travelers and airlines, the key detail is timing. After several years of shifting timelines, the current official schedule aims for the airport to open to passengers in 2032.

Under the investment plan adopted by the government, construction of the main airport works is slated to begin in 2026, with certification expected in 2031 and operations commencing the following year.

This 2032 date marks a reset from earlier, more aggressive targets. Under the previous government, proponents talked of opening as early as 2027 or 2028. A critical report from Poland’s Supreme Audit Office in 2025 found those deadlines unrealistic and pointed to repeated delays in key preparatory decisions, including the formal choice of location, which was only finalized in January 2025. The new coalition government that took office in late 2023 has since endorsed a later, more conservative schedule.

Recent public statements by project executives and ministers have converged on the same timeframe. The CPK company’s updated investment roadmap, presented in 2025, sets 2032 as the year when both the first-stage airport and an initial high-speed rail segment linking Warsaw, the new hub and Łódź will open together. Aviation industry briefings and tender documents are now structured around that date, signaling that the 2032 target is being used as the working assumption across the project.

From political controversy to “clean start”

The road to this point has been politically turbulent. CPK first gained momentum under the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government, which promoted it as a flagship national investment and envisioned the hub as one of the world’s largest airports. Critics accused the administration of setting overambitious deadlines and passenger forecasts, and of pushing ahead without adequate financial and strategic scrutiny.

In 2025, the Supreme Audit Office issued a highly critical report on the way the earlier phase of the project had been managed from 2021 to 2023. The auditors concluded that key elements were “not properly conducted,” noting that internal analyses had indicated 2030 as the earliest plausible launch date even with a scaled-down and more cost-contained version of the project. Despite that, official targets had continued to suggest a 2028 opening with higher capacity and expenditure than analysts considered viable.

Following the change of government in late 2023, Prime Minister Donald Tusk initially ordered a review of CPK. After months of internal debate and public speculation about whether the scheme might be scrapped or drastically reduced, the new administration chose instead to keep the core concept but reset its scope, financing model and timeline.

Tusk has since described the relaunch as giving the project “a clean start,” arguing that a realistic schedule and tighter oversight can restore confidence among investors, EU partners and the traveling public.

Construction steps between now and 2032

With the political direction clarified, the CPK company has spent 2024 and 2025 moving the airport from concept to implementation. One milestone came when the master architect consortium submitted the construction design for the airport, railway station and public transport interchange, effectively completing the main design phase for the central complex. Officials say this means they are now “ready for construction,” which is due to begin on the ground in 2026.

The next two to three years will be dominated by a flurry of tenders. According to the company’s published pipeline, tenders worth tens of billions of złoty will be launched between 2025 and 2028, covering the passenger terminal, airfield systems, rail links, road access and energy infrastructure.

A major contract for the terminal, valued at more than 5 billion złoty, has already attracted applications from multiple international consortia, while a separate process is underway to select a “general contract engineer” to oversee the entire construction program.

CPK executives say that, by 2026, they expect to have concluded framework agreements for airport infrastructure and landside buildings, along with large-scale earthworks and site preparation.

Rail elements are also progressing, including a key tunnel in nearby Łódź. If the current schedule holds, structural work on the terminal and runways would advance through the late 2020s, with systems integration, testing and certification occupying the early 2030s in preparation for a 2032 opening.

What travelers can expect from the new hub

For future passengers, CPK is being marketed as a next-generation transfer and origin airport. The initial design foresees a terminal area of about 450,000 square meters, with piers extending from a central hall to allow reasonably short walking distances and ample aircraft contact stands.

The first phase would be able to handle about 34 million travelers per year, with passive provisions for a quick ramp-up to around 44 million through internal reconfiguration and modest expansions.

Polish authorities expect about 40 percent of passengers in the early years to be transfer customers connecting between flights, positioning the airport as a new hub for Central and Eastern Europe.

National carrier LOT Polish Airlines is widely seen as the future anchor tenant, with the government planning for most commercial traffic to move from Warsaw’s existing Chopin Airport to the new hub once it is fully operational. That shift is seen as critical to ensuring the economic viability of the project.

Non-aviation elements are also central to the vision. Long-term plans include a large cargo complex capable of handling up to 1.5 million tons of freight annually, as well as an “airport city” with hotels, offices and commercial space.

The government portrays the area as a future economic cluster that will attract logistics, technology and service companies, leveraging its location at the intersection of key European trade and travel routes.

High-speed rail at the heart of the plan

CPK is not just an airport project. It is also the centerpiece of a planned countrywide high-speed rail network, designed to connect major Polish cities more tightly and give travelers an alternative to domestic flights. The hub’s rail station, integrated directly under or alongside the terminal, is intended to serve as a central node in this network.

Planning documents envisage journey times of around 15 minutes from the airport to central Warsaw and roughly 25 minutes to Łódź. New or upgraded lines are expected to bring Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań and Gdańsk within about two hours of the hub.

For international travelers, future extensions could shorten rail journeys on routes such as Berlin to CPK to under three and a half hours, reinforcing the airport’s appeal as a transfer point for both air and high-speed rail.

The government expects a significant share of airport users to arrive by train, with internal forecasts suggesting that rail could account for around 40 percent of access journeys once the network is fully built out. For climate-conscious travelers, this multimodal approach could make it easier to combine long-haul flights with low-carbon rail segments inside Europe, instead of relying solely on feeder flights or driving.

Financing, risks and the road ahead

The financial scale of CPK is formidable. The current budget projects that the first phase will cost 131.7 billion złoty by 2032, equivalent to just over 30 billion euros at recent exchange rates. That figure covers not only the airport itself but also associated rail lines, roads and related infrastructure.

The funds are expected to come from a mix of State Treasury resources, European Union contributions, multilateral and commercial bank loans and corporate bonds issued by the CPK company.

Officials argue that concentrating most commercial air traffic at the new hub will improve profitability and help service the debt, especially if the airport attracts a strong connecting traffic base from across Central and Eastern Europe.

However, analysts point to clear risks, ranging from cost overruns and construction delays to shifts in air travel demand and competition from other regional hubs. The 2032 opening date is ambitious but not extraordinary for a project of this scale, and any major slippage in the rail or air components could push back the effective launch.

Environmental impact and local opposition pose additional challenges. While the government has secured the necessary location decisions and environmental approvals, local communities have raised concerns about expropriations, noise and ecological effects.

How these are managed during the construction phase will likely influence the project’s public acceptance, both domestically and among international travelers who are increasingly sensitive to the sustainability credentials of major infrastructure projects.

What the 2032 opening means for travelers

If the current schedule is maintained, global travelers could be routing through the new Polish hub in just over six years from the start of major works in 2026. For long-haul passengers from North America or Asia heading to Central and Eastern Europe, CPK could offer new one-stop options and shorter overall journeys compared with existing hub combinations. LOT and its partners are expected to build new waves of connections to capitalize on the airport’s design and runway capacity.

For regional travelers, the appeal will depend heavily on how quickly the associated rail network is completed. The first high-speed segment between Warsaw, the airport and Łódź is planned to open alongside the airport in 2032.

As additional lines to cities like Kraków, Gdańsk and Wrocław are finished, the hub could increasingly function as both an air and rail node, allowing, for example, a traveler from Berlin or Prague to ride a high-speed train to CPK and then continue by air to North America or the Middle East.

Until then, Poland’s existing airports will continue to handle rising passenger numbers, and airlines will keep a close watch on whether CPK’s tenders, groundworks and certifications remain on track.

For now, though, the contours of the project are clearer than at any time in its turbulent history: a roughly 30 billion euro mega-airport, built from scratch on farmland west of Warsaw, is due to start welcoming passengers in 2032.

FAQ

Q1: When is Poland’s new mega-airport scheduled to open?
The current official plan is for the new hub airport to become operational in 2032, following construction that is due to begin in 2026 and certification targeted for 2031.

Q2: What is the official name of the project?
The project is widely referred to as Centralny Port Komunikacyjny, or Central Communication Port, often abbreviated as CPK. In some recent travel and government communications it is also marketed under the branding Port Polska.

Q3: How much will the mega-airport and its related infrastructure cost?
The Polish government’s latest investment plan estimates total spending of around 131.7 billion złoty by 2032, which is roughly 30 to 31 billion euros at recent exchange rates, including the airport, high-speed rail links and road connections.

Q4: Where exactly will the new airport be located?
The airport site lies between Warsaw and the central city of Łódź, on a large area of farmland in central Poland. It is being positioned so that high-speed rail can link it quickly to both cities and to other major Polish urban centers.

Q5: What will happen to Warsaw Chopin Airport once CPK opens?
Government planning documents state that once the new hub is operational, it is expected to take over most commercial passenger traffic from Warsaw’s existing Chopin Airport, in order to concentrate flights and ensure the new airport’s economic viability.

Q6: How many passengers is the new airport designed to handle?
The first phase of the terminal is being designed for about 34 million passengers per year, with built-in flexibility to increase capacity to around 40 million or more through expansions and internal reconfiguration.

Q7: What role will rail play in the new hub?
CPK is conceived as a combined air and rail hub, with a major station integrated into the airport. High-speed lines are planned to bring central Warsaw within about 15 minutes and Łódź within around 25 minutes, and to connect other large Polish cities in roughly two hours.

Q8: How is the project being financed?
The funding mix is expected to include contributions from the State Treasury, European Union funds, loans from banks and other financial institutions, and bonds issued by the CPK company, spread across the years leading up to 2032.

Q9: Why did the opening date shift from earlier targets?
Earlier political plans spoke of opening the airport as soon as 2027 or 2028, but independent audits and internal analyses concluded that such timelines were unrealistic. The current government has adopted a later 2032 target, which aligns more closely with the scale of construction and the need for new rail links.

Q10: What benefits could travelers see once CPK is open?
Travelers could gain new one-stop connections between Central and Eastern Europe and long-haul destinations, shorter transfer times in a purpose-built hub, and the option to combine air travel with fast, electrified rail to reach major Polish cities and some neighboring countries.