Air traffic will recover in Poland deputy minister says

Air traffic in Poland could enjoy a strong summer season in 2022, although it will still fail to hit the highs of 2019, a deputy infrastructure minister has told PAP.

The main risk is how the coronavirus pandemic will unfold, Marcin Horala told PAP on the sidelines of the 30th Economic Forum in Karpacz.

"The recovery of air traffic depends mainly on non-aviation factors, I mean the pandemic," Horala said.

"The question is whether there will be a fourth wave of the pandemic and whether it will involve any restrictions on air travel," he went on to say, expressing hope the next wave will not be very serious thanks to vaccinations.

Poland has managed to fully vaccinate just over a half of its 38 million people.

Horala said other countries are generally avoiding introducing strict restrictions despite rising infections due to low death rates, a positive outcome of vaccinations.

"This would indicate that traffic will be recovering. The summer of 2022 should be a really good season, perhaps not at the levels of 2019, but good," Horala said.

According to Poland's Civil Aviation Office, Polish airports handled over one million passengers in the first quarter of this year, down 87 percent on the same period of 2020 and 89 percent fewer compared to 2019. The coronavirus pandemic first hit Poland in March 2020.