Europe's new £24bn mega airport set to rival Heathrow and Dubai

A swanky new airport could be landing in Europe, rivalling London's Heathrow and even the renowned Dubai International, as it aims to connect the entire continent in ways we've never seen before.

What is proposed to be a $32.5 billion project, the Centralny Port Komunikacyjny is a new aviation gateway in Warsaw that bears the weight of Poland's ambitious mega airport. However, the concept is rapidly evolving, as the official approval and transfer of the passenger terminal design marks a significant advancement.

This can only mean that the mega airport is officially transitioning into its next development phase. The question is, will this new advancement rival Dubai's dominance as the home of both the world's largest airport, King Fahd International Airport, and the busiest, Dubai International Airport?

While it still falls short of the world's largest airport, CPK's projected passenger capacity makes it a strong competitor as the new hub for Europe. In comparison, Dubai is on track to manage 100 million passengers by the end of next year, thanks to its strategic geographical position with the other continents, and the Polish project will eventually take on up to 44 million.

Even the busiest of airports in Europe processes far fewer passengers than Dubai, with its top airport processing roughly 40 million people in the first half of 2025. While megahubs like Milan Malpensa and Athens are strong contenders, with significant growth, they still sit well below the current volumes that Dubai is bringing in.

Construction of CPK is expected to begin in 2026, with aims to integrate both air and high-speed rail travel. Its ambitious design sets out to open up a whole new world of connectivity across the continent, encompassing an impressive 450,000 square metres.

Major designs include roughly 140 check-in desks with the flexibility to extend to up to 170, as the passengers' demand grows, Gulf News reports. As for the planes themselves, the terminal will feature over 20 dedicated contact stands for both narrow-body and wide-body aircraft, with plans for a phased expansion.

These groundbreaking plans, designed by Foster + Partners and Buro Happold and, are three times the size of Warsaw Chopin Airport’s current terminal. But the impressive figures don't quite stop there. Their mega airport will initially be made to handle up to 34 million passengers on an annual basis, with plans to increase to 44 million.

Taking things up a notch, the multi-billion-dollar project hopes to integrate an underground railway station, forming part of the WarsawŁódź High-Speed Rail Line. The train system is expected to be completed by 2029, while the airport isn't expected to be completely operational until 2032.

According to Gulf News, developers initially told Reuters that the CPK project would cost $32.5 billion up to 2032; a more recent estimate suggests this could reach as high as $34 billion in total. The mega airport aims to capture a 'meaningful share of Europe’s air traffic' with the hope of becoming a multi-modal hub, but will it live up to its high-cost expectations?