New flights from Krakow to UK, Netherlands
Two major airlines are expanding their operations at Kraków airport, offering connections to the UK and the Netherlands.
The UK’s flagship airline British Airways is to return to Kraków after a six year break, offering year round flights to and from London. And KLM, the Dutch national carrier, will operate daily flights between Kraków and Amsterdam.
Beginning on May 1, British Airways flights will operate between Kraków Balice John Paul II and Heathrow airports. They will be on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays during the summer period, and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the winter.
KLM’s new route will open on May 18, with daily afternoon flights from Amsterdam to Kraków, and return journeys operating in the early evening. The airline will use 100-seater Embraer E190s from its Cityhopper fleet on the route. Prices currently quoted on the KLM booking site range from 508 złoty from Kraków to Amsterdam.
British Airways previously operated at Kraków airport from 1997 to 2009. The new route will be flown by Airbus A319s and A320s, with hand baggage only return fares from around 520 złoty. Bookings are now being taken, at ba.com.
The UK airline had initially agreed to a summer only timetable, but after talks with Balice management agreed to operate the year round route.
Jan Pamuła, head of Kraków airport, said: “The decision to call on the carrier to continue flights in the winter has had very good sales results. The high level of bookings show that this route will enjoy great popularity.”
Eurolot, which previously operated the Kraków-London route, announced in February that it was to go into liquidation due to financial problems. It will honour all bookings made up to and including March 31 this year.
Kraków’s Balice airport last year celebrated its 50th anniversary. It began commercial, scheduled operations in 1964, having served as a military base before that. The airport now serves around 4 million passengers each year, almost a quarter of whom travel between Poland and the UK.
(Exclusively for the Krakow Post by Inside Poland.)