Major Changes at New Warsaw Airport: Polish Government Ousts Supervisory Board and CEO

The Polish government has dismissed the entire supervisory board of the Centralny Port Komunikacyjny Airport (CPK), the new airport under construction near Warsaw. Alongside the board, Mikołaj Wild, the CEO of the CPK project, has also been relieved of his duties.

These changes follow the ascension of Donald Tusk’s new administration to power in December 2023. Tusk’s government’s decision to remove the CPK’s supervisory board and CEO has sparked discussions about its dedication to this critical infrastructure project, which was a cornerstone of the previous administration’s agenda.

The CPK airport, set to be located approximately 40 kilometers from central Warsaw, is envisaged as a future replacement for the existing Warsaw Chopin Airport. However, both airports are expected to remain operational once CPK becomes functional.

Initially, the former Polish government had projected the opening of CPK by 2028. The new airport is designed to feature two parallel runways and is expected to handle up to 40 million passengers annually. Ambitious plans for its expansion by 2060 include adding a third runway and increasing its capacity to accommodate 65 million passengers each year.

In a follow-up to these sweeping changes, the government has announced the appointment of Filip Czernicki as the new chairman of the CPK supervisory board. Czernicki is currently the Head of the Center for Constitutionalism and Legal Culture in Warsaw. He brings significant experience from his previous role as an executive with the Polish Airports State Enterprise, where he served from 2006 to 2017.