Baltic aviation companies should keep a close eye on the development of a new airport in Poland, which has serious ambitions of becoming an aviation hub for the whole region, says Gediminas Ziemelis, board chairman of Avia Solutions Group, which owns SmartLynx Airlines. He was speaking in an interview with the LETA News Agency.
Ziemelis notes that Europe is currently the world’s largest air transport market with 1.2 billion passengers per year, but growth cannot be expected during the next decade.
“Bear in mind that many countries are trying to develop rail transport and are investing heavily in high-speed rail lines,” Ziemelis points out. “France, for example, has banned domestic flights that last for less than four hours. I do not believe, therefore, that air traffic in Europe will increase in the long term.”
At the same time, however, the board chairman also argues that there will certainly be growth in India and the Asia-Pacific region, adding that passenger numbers are also likely to grow in a number of countries in South America and Africa.
The new airport in Polish could completely upend the aviation situation in the Baltics, Ziemelis predicts. Estonia might be less affected, but Lithuania and Latvia must keep a close eye on what is happening with the Polish market and its ambitions.
“Poland definitely wants to create something similar to the Lufthansa hub in Frankfurt,” Ziemelis says. “They have a domestic market base of 41 million people. 4.5 million in Latvia and Lithuania, or just 10% of the Polish market. The strength of the domestic market will always be important in aviation. The Baltic countries, sadly, have a very weak domestic market because of low population numbers.”
Poland has launched the Central Port Communications (CPK) project, which is aimed at creating a modern air, rail and road hub that is centred on an airport that is linked by high-speed rail lines about 40 kilometres from Warsaw. The new airport is being designed to handle 34 million passengers a year with a potential to expand even further. The CPK project is slated for completion in 2032.
The Avia Solutions Group involves eight airlines which provide full-service aircraft easing or ACMI services. Among them is SmartLynx in Latvia, and there are also aircraft maintenance companies. Ziemelis, as the owner of Avia, is considered to be the richest man in Lithuania.
Source: BNS
(Reproduction of BNS information in mass media and other websites without written consent of BNS is prohibited.)