Poznan Airport Guide: Inside Lawica’s City Airfield
Poznan Airport at Lawica dates from 1913 and now handles over four million passengers. Runway, airlines, busiest routes, buses and future plans.
By The Aviation Hub
5 min read
Updated October 20, 2026 
Poznan Airport, officially Poznan Lawica Henryk Wieniawski Airport, sits inside the city limits on the western side of Poznan in west central Poland. It is one of the oldest airports in the country, with roots in 1913, and it now handles more than four million passengers a year. Low cost and holiday flights dominate, but network carriers keep the region connected to Europe’s hubs. Its approach path runs straight over the rooftops.
Poznan Airport at a Glance
The IATA code is POZ and the ICAO code is EPPO. The field lies about 3 miles (5 km) west of the Old Town, at an elevation of 308 feet (94 m). It has one runway and one passenger terminal, opened in 2012. Poznan Airport handled 4,144,827 passengers and 44,823 aircraft movements in 2025, well above the levels seen before the pandemic.
The operating company is owned jointly by the city, the regional government and the state airports company PPL. Ryanair runs the largest network, Buzz has a focus operation, and Wizz Air, LOT and Lufthansa are major players. Timetables, parking and bus details are on the airport’s official website.
A Short History of Lawica
The airfield was built in 1913, when Poznan was the German city of Posen. It earned a place in Polish history on 6 January 1919, when insurgents in the Greater Poland Uprising captured the base along with dozens of German aircraft, a haul that helped found the Polish air force. Civil flights followed in the interwar years.
The name comes from the Lawica neighbourhood in the Grunwald district, although the airport itself lies in Jezyce. The honorific recalls Henryk Wieniawski, the violinist whose international competition is held in Poznan. The northern section of the field was a military airbase until 23 December 2009, while the southern side handled civil traffic.
A darker episode surfaced decades later. On 10 June 1952 a Soviet built Pe-2 bomber crashed near the Warta river after an engine failure, killing three crew and six people on the ground. The communist authorities covered it up and blamed the pilot, and a monument was unveiled in 2008. Poznan Airport’s modern era began with Poland’s entry into the European Union in 2004 and the low cost boom that followed.
Runways at Poznan Airport
There is one asphalt runway, 10/28, measuring 2,504 metres (8,215 feet) long and 50 metres wide. It handles the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families with ease, and charter flights to Turkey and Egypt operate without significant restriction. Westerly winds prevail, so runway 28 is used most often, with arrivals passing low over the city.
The airfield has a curious neighbour. Poznan Krzesiny, a military air base south east of the city, also has a runway of about 2,500 metres on a similar heading. On 15 August 2006 a Sky Airlines Boeing 737-800 on flight SKY335 landed at Krzesiny by mistake. A local pilot and editor claimed it was at least the seventh such mistaken landing that year and criticised the procedures used at Poznan Airport.
Terminals and Airlines
The terminal opened in 2012, ahead of the Euro 2012 football championship, with capacity for 3.5 million passengers a year. Traffic has since passed that figure, so the building is busy at summer peaks. All scheduled and charter flights use it, with separate areas for Schengen and non Schengen departures.
Ryanair dominates, flying to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Greece, while Buzz, its Polish sister airline, operates holiday routes. Wizz Air adds routes across Europe. LOT links Warsaw, Lufthansa flies to Frankfurt, KLM to Amsterdam, SAS to Copenhagen and Swiss to Zurich. Charter carriers including Enter Air, Smartwings, SkyUp, Neos and Nouvelair fill the summer schedule, and flydubai connects Dubai.
Routes and Destinations
Antalya was the busiest route in 2024, with 271,455 passengers, showing how strongly holiday demand shapes Poznan Airport. London Stansted followed with 175,027 and London Luton with 155,513. Warsaw Chopin carried 149,827 and Frankfurt 129,819. The two London routes reflect the large Polish community in Britain, which travels year round.
Summer brings a surge of charter flights to Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Tunisia, Spain and Bulgaria. Winter is calmer, though flights to the Canary Islands and Egypt keep the holiday operators busy. Air Baltic adds seasonal flights to Gran Canaria from 26 October 2026. Hub flights to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Zurich and Warsaw carry business travellers connected to the city’s trade fairs and manufacturers.
Getting to and from Poznan Airport
The airport is close to the centre and well served by buses. City lines 159 and 222 stop at the arrivals area and run to Poznan Glowny railway station in about 20 minutes, and line 148 stops nearby. The bus is the cheapest sensible option, with a standard city ticket covering the trip. There is no rail link to the terminal.
By road, the airport sits on Bukowska street, the main route west out of the city. The A2 motorway is about 15 minutes away. Taxis and ride hailing services reach the Old Town in around 15 to 20 minutes outside rush hour, for a modest fare in zloty. Parking is available beside the terminal, with cheaper long stay options a little further out.
Spotting and Photography
With runway 28 in regular use, arrivals pass low over the eastern suburbs, and the streets and allotment gardens near that end of Poznan Airport offer close views over the rooftops. The western end, surrounded by more open ground, suits departures and runway 10 arrivals. The sun sits to the south, so the southern side gives the best light for much of the day.
The traffic is largely Ryanair and Buzz 737s with Wizz Air A320 and A321neo jets, but LOT Embraers, Lufthansa regional jets and summer charters add variety. Stay on public land, avoid parking in residential streets where it causes problems, and never climb on fences. Police and airport security may ask questions, so carry identification.
What Comes Next
With traffic above the 2012 terminal’s design capacity, Poznan Airport needs more space. Talk of relocating the whole operation surfaces regularly, because approach paths cross densely populated parts of the city. For now, expansion within the existing site and steady growth in low cost and charter flying look far more likely than a move.
Poland’s planned central airport near Warsaw will reshape national air travel in the 2030s, but regional fields will keep their point to point role. The verdict: Lawica will stay busy and city bound, growing within tight limits. Compare it with other Polish airports on the Airports of the World map.
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