Radom too short for freighters. Industry does not want to take risks

• The airport in Radom has had permission for night flights for a dozen or so days. For now, it is only 10 operations, but it gives the airport a chance to create new business. The company wants to change the role of Radom and create a new home there, among others, for companies dealing with express air cargo.
• - This is a solution that we can effectively convince market participants to use, including those at Chopin Airport – Marcin Danił, vice-president of PPL, recently emphasized in WNP.
• We asked the biggest players in this segment in Warsaw about this plan. - The idea itself is cool, but it seems to me that it is far from being implemented - says Tomasz Buraś, CEO of the airline DHL Express Polska.
• Long, expensive and uncertain – this is just the beginning of the list of disadvantages of moving to Radom. Companies fear that it would lose its competitiveness.

The airport in Radom has been almost empty since its launch at the end of April 2023. The terminal in Radom has been resized, but - as the vice president of PPL said in our pages - the port is underinvested in terms of cargo infrastructure or MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul; in simple terms - ongoing aircraft inspections and service). The airport owner hopes that attracting aviation companies from these two segments to Radom will increase the profitability of the port operating there.

- There are investment areas at the airport in Radom that can be used to create cargo infrastructure. This mainly concerns warehouses and places where air cargo - even in the form of RFS (delivered by trucks from various parts of the country - editor's note) - could operate. (…) We imagine such a model: the investor builds cargo and warehouse infrastructure, PPL enters into agreements with carriers, and logistics companies directly negotiate with airlines the use of this infrastructure - Vice-President Danił presented the idea.

In an interview with WNP, he emphasized that this is a good alternative for companies that will have to move out of Chopin Airport (when it ceases to operate) and will not necessarily be ready to pay the rates at the new CPK airport.

- We would like to sign letters of intent or preliminary agreements with selected partners this year - he declared.

Business plans and a hard clash with the actual business reality

UPS is one of the leading players in this segment at Chopin Airport, where it flies large freighters. It also flies smaller turboprops to its bases in Gdańsk, Poznań, Wrocław and Katowice.

Would a business move to Radom be a solution for UPS?

- It takes about 90 minutes to drive from Radom to the southern parts of Warsaw by delivery vehicle. When a vehicle has to travel this distance in the morning and evening, the so-called operating window is shortened by about 3 hours. This puts a company that would move to Radom in a very unfavourable situation . However, it is possible that one of the express cargo operators will launch an additional flight to Radom, e.g. to service south-eastern Poland, in a situation where it is not possible to add another plane at Chopin - explains Wojciech Arszewski, regional director of public affairs at UPS.

Arszewski, who is also the president of the Express Carriers Forum, which brings together DPD, FedEx and GLS, among others, argues that the worst thing right now is the lack of knowledge about what the service in this part of the market will look like once the CPK airport is open.

- Both the CPK airport and the one in Radom are located at a similar travel time from Warsaw. The most important question, given the entire set of Mazovian ports, is: what will be the fate of Chopin after the opening of CPK . If Chopin continues to operate to some extent and there is consent for cargo flights, the express cargo operator that would remain at this airport will be in a much better competitive position compared to those who decide to move, e.g. to CPK - states Wojciech Arszewski.

Cheap doesn't always mean good. Price list shouldn't be the only advantage

In a recently published interview with the vice-president of PPL, which owns the airport in Radom, we asked whether the expansion of Radom to include cargo makes sense in the context of similar investments planned at the CPK airport . Marcin Danił assured us that it does, because "express cargo must have dispersed warehouses", and companies present at Chopin want to expand, but have nowhere to do so.

- The question now is what could be transported to Radom and how. Belly cargo – i.e. cargo transported in the holds of passenger planes – will go to CPK. However, for all-cargo type transport (dedicated freighters) , location does not play such a big role . I think that companies will take this into account in their strategies for the coming years. The costs of such operations will also be important for them. Radom will always be cheaper than CPK – he emphasized.

Choosing between CPK and something else is not just a matter of the money that the airline has to pay . CPK may have the advantage that there will be no night restrictions. In Radom, these restrictions are there and – as the example of the Warsaw airport teaches us – they can also be increased. If I had a certain pool of money for investments in central Poland, I would have to make a proper comparison of these two airports. As of today , practically nothing is known about the airport in Radom, and not much about CPK either . However, from the point of view of the long-term interests of my company, I would choose an airport that has greater development prospects, where the business can develop more, where even larger planes can be flown – retorts Tomasz Buraś, president of the courier airline DHL Express Polska.

The head of the global giant’s regional structures adds that – in the event of a longer decision-making turmoil – he can imagine servicing central Poland without a base dedicated to this part of the country .

- The closure of Chopin Airport does not mean that we will automatically find ourselves at the CPK airport. There are several other options for reaching central Poland with cargo without having to land in central Poland - says President Buraś.

Radom too short for freighters. Owner ready for investments, but are they really ready for all of them?

However, what is Radom's biggest problem with the new "cargo" idea are the technical limitations of this airport.

- The runway length of 2,500 meters may in practice limit the operational capabilities of larger cargo aircraft, including wide-body aircraft used by global logistics operators. This is an important parameter that is worth considering when planning the further development of the cargo offer - indicates Olga Palec-Furga, Country Manager at R-BAG Poland.

The company in Poland is a representative of air carriers and a provider of logistics services for Air France KLM, Qatar Aiways Cargo, Air China and Finnair. R-BAG in Poland operates mainly from the capital city airport.

- In the case of Radom, the problem of lack of connectivity (communication - editor's note) is particularly visible - the airport lacks regular flight operations, which significantly hinders the development of an attractive offer for the cargo market . In such a situation, it becomes necessary to look for customers in more niche segments - where a simpler model is used, flexible in time and less dependent on large hubs. In such a scenario, opportunities may include, for example, night cargo charters, integration with road transport as a complement to the offer of Chopin Airport, and not the competition - explains Palec-Furga.

PPL, in the idea for Radom presented in the interview with WNP, is not ready to invest in new cargo terminals. However, it declares its willingness to put money into the airport itself.

- We are ready to invest in improving the airport's operational parameters - for example by raising the ILS category. Condition: we need to have confirmation from the market that there is greater interest in operations from Radom - stated Marcin Danił.