The new airport, in the town of Baranów, 40 km west of Warsaw “will be the most modern in Central Europe,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday, announcing the plans.

Warsaw’s main existing facility, Chopin Airport, is to be expanded to cater to growing passenger numbers until the new site is ready in 2032. Many connections offered by national carrier LOT will then be moved to the new airport, designed to serve 34 million travelers a year.

The project is to be financed by a combination of public and private funding, and will be linked to the capital via a high-speed rail link from Warsaw to the central city of Łódź. The size of the airport, which will serve freight and military traffic as well as passengers, has been scaled down from the previous government’s vision of a sprawling facility called the Central Transport Hub.

The former populist, nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) administration, ousted in elections in late 2023, had proposed a facility to serve some 40 million passengers a year, with high-speed rail connections, aiming to boost Poland's economy and international prestige.

Tusk’s government set up an inquiry to examine the costs and the scale of the undertaking, which were ballooning.

Before a brick was laid, marketing and planning costs had already reached €176 million for the airport itself, with €100 million spent on the plans for the rail connections leading to the site.

Tusk said on Wednesday he wanted national airline LOT to be the main carrier at the new airport, filling 50-60% of available flight slots.

Such a major role for LOT will require significant investment in its fleet, which will be extended “to 130-135 planes, including 35 broad-bodied aircraft,” Tusk said.