Originally Posted by
Charlie Roy
Since this is a Ryanair thread, I'll explain the Ryanair factor in this decision, the Ryanair factor is not the only reason they are building it, but certainly it is a factor that contributes to it.
Basically there is a long running battle between PPL (Polish State Airports) and Ryanair which has been going on for the best part of a decade to be honest on and off, I would say Ryanair have worse relations with PPL than any other airport operator, they've complained to the EU about them numerous times.
Basically what it stems from is many years ago when Ryanair flew from Chopin Airport, PPL closed the low cost area at Chopin Airport when LCCs started to rapidly expand and told Ryanair could stay if it went to the core part of the airport with much higher charges. many people speculated that this was an attempt to try and protect LOT.
Ryanair then was heavily lobbying for Modlin Airport for some years, quite a few before any building work started on it. The problem was that Modlin wasn't going to be built because there was not adequate funding for it and PPL would not supply it. Many people felt that PPL could fund it but simply refused to, again to protect LOT.
In the end without enough funding from PPL the Millitary agencies along with local authorites made submissions to the EU for grants to fund the operation of the airport which were accepted, at which point PPL became involved in the project again, the airport was built and Ryanair returned to Poland.
Then there was the situation with Wizz at Modlin who moved out of the airport back to Chopin for an undefined period because of the lack of ILS and then when the airport was closed due to the runway being defective Wizz tried to claim compensation from Modlin for the runway being out of action, despite the fact they'd already moved all their flights out of the airport at the time, they didn't get the compensation they were looking for and never came back.
Over the last 2-3 years PPL have made many attempts to try and gain sole shareholding of Modlin Airport and buying out the other shareholders and using their existing shareholding to get their own people appointed to the board and as chairman & CEO to influence the running of the airport and to run a so called duopoly airport strategy.
Most people I speak to are very cynical at this and believe that the only reason that PPL want to control Modlin is so they can control the growth of Ryanair and therefore protect Chopin Airport and LOT who have lost out because of the presence of Ryanair, there has been talk of having similar charging regimes at both airports and obviously that would hit Ryanair and benefit traditional carriers.
Modlin is now at capacity and again PPL are dragging their heals in relation to investing in the expansion of the airport however there has been indication that if they get full ownership they may be more likely to invest but there are questions about their motives for acquiring the full stake in the airport for the reasons that are outlined above, Modlin being at capacity suited PPL fine since if Modlin cannot expand neither can Ryanair.
To force the issue Ryanair moved it's domestic flights to Chopin Airport and said that if they cannot expand at Modlin they will just do so at Chopin starting with moving the most business orientated routes from Modlin (basically targeting LOT) to Chopin to allow more leisure routes out of Modlin. Chopin couldn't refuse this but on the day Ryanair announced it PPL made the extraordinary statement that they didn't want Ryanair at Chopin but they had to take them.
Since then there has been tit for tat stuff going on, for example in Chopin Airport now Ryanair are getting allocated the furthest away gates from the terminal on a regular basis when arriving into Warsaw that rarely see any use outside Ryanair flights even when nearer parking spaces are avaliable, having long waits for buses and other services that take long routes from the terminal to the airplane and vice versa. Ryanair is now pulling out of Chopin because of this and making a complaint to the EU about unfair treatment.
The idea of one central airport is essentially that in the long term when completed it can possibly replace both Modlin and Chopin Airport and will almost certainly owned by PPL - essentially this would give them complete control over aviation in Warsaw once more, without worrying about low cost carriers at a competing airport. It'll obviously help LOT too and it will bring other benefits than just related to LCCs and LOT so it'd be totally wrong to say they're just doing it for those reasons, but many people think that it plays a part.