Expansion creates opportunities to increase accessibility and passenger traffic by over 2 million customers per year.
Katowice Airport has opened its expanded and reconstructed passenger Terminal B, with the first travellers using the facility on Thursday 5 August. This came in just under two years after the development began in September 2019 to improve the performance and quality of passenger handling by enhancing the surface and volume of the building, including a new layout.
The surface area of the building was increased by 40% from 12,200 m2 to 17,200 m2. This increased the building’s volume by 35% from 88,400 m3 to 120,300 thousand m3. By moving the facade of the terminal, it became possible to level and – consequently connect – the reconstructed building with Terminal C. This has also made the building architecturally consistent with Terminals A and C, the airport company reports.
A key alteration is the separation of the check-in area from the security control area via a floor, both having been on the ground floor at old terminal B. Now, security control is on the first floor. Down at check-in, the space now vacated has enabled an increase in the number of desks from 18 to 28.
In the departure hall of Terminal B, there is an expanded Fast Track, plus new food, retail and services outlets. The business lounge has moved to the second floor, with the new facility being twice as big as its predecessor.
There are now 16 boarding gates, six more than in the old Terminal B. Two additional gates are located in each of 3 external boarding towers which are connected to the terminal with bridges. The remaining 10 boarding gates are located on the ground floor of the departure hall. The new Terminal B has also been fully equipped to allow passengers with reduced mobility (PRMs) to move comfortably between all floors of the free access area and the departure hall.
The “heart” of Terminal B, states the airport company, comprises a baggage transport, security control and sorting system. This has CT scanners which make it possible to receive a detailed, 3D image of scanned bags. The throughput of the system comes in at 1,885 pieces of luggage per hour.
As a result of all of these investments, the capacity of passenger Terminal B has now been greatly increased from 2 million a year to 4 million. That has further increased the airport’s potential annual throughput from 6 million to up to 8 million passengers.
