Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Warsaw Chopin Airport (EPWA/WAW) is Poland's principal international gateway, sited in the Włochy district a few kilometres south-west of central Warsaw. It is a major hub for LOT Polish Airlines and a base for Enter Air and Wizz Air, offering a sim pilot a busy, radar-controlled Class C environment with parallel hard runways and full ILS approaches. The field traces its history back to 1934 and has grown from a modest interwar aerodrome into the busiest airport in Poland.
Warsaw Chopin Airport lies in the Włochy district of Warsaw, close to the city centre, and is operated as the principal civil airport serving the Polish capital. It is the busiest airport in the country, acting as the central hub for LOT Polish Airlines and an operating base for Enter Air, Wizz Air, Smartwings Poland and SprintAir. For a simulator pilot it offers the challenge of flying into a large, radar-controlled international hub with parallel hard-surfaced runways, full ILS approaches and a dense mix of airline traffic, all set against a site with a long and eventful aviation history dating back to 1934.
The airport sits within the Warsaw terminal area and is served by Warszawa Approach, which is worked across several published frequencies. It lies in the Włochy district on the south-western edge of Warsaw, close to the city centre, and is one of three airports now serving the Warsaw metropolitan area alongside Warsaw Modlin Airport and Warsaw Radom Airport.
Warsaw Chopin has two physical asphalt runways, both lit. Runway 11/29 measures 9174 ft in the 11 direction, reducing to 7556 ft in the 29 direction, with an ILS available on runway 11. Runway 15/33 measures 12090 ft in the 15 direction and 9928 ft in the 33 direction, with an ILS available on runway 33.
Arrivals and departures at Warsaw are worked by Warszawa Approach on 125.055 MHz, 128.805 MHz (the commonly used frequency), 129.38 MHz and 135.93 MHz, all available H24. Warszawa ATIS broadcasts arrival information on 120.455 MHz and departure information on 123.43 MHz, also H24. Okęcie Delivery operates on 121.605 MHz H24, and Okęcie Ground on 121.905 MHz between 0330 and 2200. Okęcie Tower is on 118.305 MHz H24. Warszawa Information is available on 118.775 MHz and 128.575 MHz, and a Warszawa Radar Volmet broadcast is transmitted on 127.6 MHz H24. Instrument approaches are provided via ILS on runways 11 and 33.
The airport traces its origins to 1924, when the Ministry of Railways acquired land near the village of Okęcie to relieve pressure on the earlier civilian aerodrome at Pole Mokotowskie (Mokotów Field) in Warsaw. Construction of the new Central Airport at Okęcie was completed in 1933 and the field was formally opened by Polish President Ignacy Mościcki on 29 April 1934, taking over all civil traffic from Mokotów Field. The pre-war airport was a modern complex for its era, with three hangars, a large terminal building and a concrete taxiway, and by 1938 it handled international immigration through sixteen checkpoints and had adopted Lorenz beam radio navigation equipment to assist landings in poor visibility. On the eve of the Second World War, Okęcie held scheduled links to six domestic and seventeen foreign destinations, including Tel Aviv and Beirut, with transatlantic services to the United States under consideration. During the war the airport was repeatedly bombed from the first day of the German invasion, was later used as a base for German aviation schools and a Junkers repair works, and received its first concrete runway and taxiways under German occupation, though these were damaged in the closing stages of the conflict. The airport continued as Warsaw's main civil aerodrome under the Okęcie name for decades afterwards, and in March 2001 it was renamed in honour of the composer and former Warsaw resident Frédéric Chopin, although the older name Okęcie has remained in everyday and industry use.
Warsaw Chopin today functions as the central hub for LOT Polish Airlines and an operating base for Enter Air, Smartwings Poland, SprintAir and Wizz Air, handling around 300 scheduled flights a day across domestic and international routes, with London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam among the busiest international connections. In 2024 the airport announced plans to expand capacity to serve over 30 million passengers a year, with construction beginning in late 2025 for completion by 2029.
