Krakowski port lotniczy w latach 1923–1939

Zarys historii, rozwoju i ocena wpływu na miasto

Abstract

THE KRAKÓW AIRPORT IN THE YEARS 1923–1939. AN OUTLINE OF ITS HISTORY, DEVELOPMENT AND AN EVALUATION OF ITS IMPACT ON THE CITY

The paper discusses the issues of the establishment of the Kraków Rakowice Czyżyny Airport and its development in the interwar period, as well as its impact on the city. An airport servicing passenger flights, airmail and air cargo was established in 1923 in the village of Rakowice, just outside Kraków, on the site where a military air base had already existed. For many years the civilian part of the aerodrome functioned merely as an extension of the military part and, therefore, had to subordinate to the needs of the air force, which enforced the relocation of its rather modest infrastructure on several occasions. This situation changed in 1929 with the founding of LOT Polish Airlines (Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT) – a state-owned self-governing corporation which became an air transport operator and aspired to expand passenger aviation, which included the development of airports to provide such services to the public. In the case of the Kraków aerodrome, this meant the construction of a state-of-the-art, fully equipped hangar as an extension of the Rakowice airfield stretching further eastward, i.e. expanding into the neighbouring village of Czyżyny. In the interwar period the Kraków airport played a significant role in the network of air connections in Poland, and was also included in the system of international air transport. However, the airport’s impact on the city as such was very limited at the time, which resulted chiefly from the relatively small number of passengers using its services – the connection becomes clear particularly when we compare these statistics with our contemporary data. With the construction of the new airfield in Czyżyny, Kraków could boast a modern airport, and the air carrier worked hard to provide the best quality of service to the passengers. Polish authorities supported the actions of the national air carrier, subsidized air tickets, and made sure that air travel was effectively popularized among potential clients. The passenger airport was the living proof of the fact that Kraków was in the vanguard of new technologies and communications, which offered the city a real prospect of further development, however, this much-anticipated growth was stunted by the outbreak of World War II. The article also attempts to rectify some of the fixed, stereotypical notions about the development of Polish passenger aviation, the aircraft that were used, and the ground infrastructure which ensured smooth flight operations.