The airport was built in 1938 as Flugplatz Breslau-Schöngarten Airport for German military purposes before World War II, when the city was still part of Germany. It was the site of a military aviation school, the Luftkriegsschule Breslau-Schöngarten, later renamed Luftkriegsschule 5. Among the Luftwaffe units stationed here just before the war were the Sturzkampfgeschwader 77, Kampfgeschwader 76, and Kampfgeschwader 1 "Hindenburg". It was operated briefly by Soviet forces following the war before being used for civilian purposes in 1945. Services were operated to Warsaw, Łódź, Poznań and Katowice. By 1992 destinations also included Kraków, Rzeszów, Gdańsk, Szczecin and Koszalin. 'Port Lotniczy Wrocław S. A.' was established as a company in January 1992 and Wrocław airport assets operated by the state-owned Polish Airports authority were transferred to the company in January 1993. The first international flights were inaugurated in January 1993, serving Frankfurt, Germany. Significant airport improvements have been completed in the late twentieth century. A new international departures terminal was opened in May 1997 followed by a new domestic terminal in November 1998.
A cargo terminal, international arrivals hall, and installation of a new meteorological system were completed in 1999; new fire station and apron extensions in 2000. A new air traffic control tower and duty-free area followed in 2001. On December 6, 2005 the airport was renamed after the famous astronomerNicolaus Copernicus, who in Wrocław studied and received a scholarship, and in the years 1503-1538 was a scholaster of the Wrocław Collegiate Holy Cross and St. Bartholomew on the Cathedral Island. The airport's new name is Copernicus Airport Wrocław. Terminal extensions were officially opened on the same day, increasing the airport's capacity to 750,000 passengers per year. This capacity was quickly exceeded by several hundred thousand so the existing terminal space was expanded by to alleviate some of the congestion, but more importantly make the terminal facilities conform to the requirements of the Schengen Agreement, which was implemented at Poland's airports on 31 March 2008. On 19 July 2006, the architectural firm JSK was chosen to design a significant airport expansion. This includes plans for a new passenger terminal and assorted taxiway, apron and navigation equipment improvements. Also, car parking will be expanded to 1,000 spaces. The first stage, increasing the passenger capacity to 3,5 million yearly, officially opened on February 29, 2012. However, the new terminal opened to passengers on Sunday March 11, 2012. In May 2014, the HEMS base for Air Ambulance was launched at the airport. in 2015 Ryanair announced that it has selected Copernicus Airport Wrocław for its aircraft maintenance base. The construction of the hangar to fit 2 C-type aircraft was finished in June 2017. The airport has upgraded to ILS system from category I to category II in April 2016. Until it was reformed, the 3rd Air Base also used the main runway of the airport, and currently the 8th Transport Aviation Base, whose barracks complex adjoins the airport. Due to the existence of NATO garrisons nearby, in which US troops have been stationed as part of the Atlantic Resolve operation since January 2017, Wroclaw airport is very often used by US Air Force transport aircraft. On September 23, 2019, in New York, the presidents of the USA and Poland signed a declaration on the deepening of defense cooperation, in which Wrocław Airport was designated as the seat of the US Armyair transport base. The District Infrastructure Board from Wrocław in July 2020 announced a tender for the preparation of pre-project documentation regarding the preparation of infrastructure for the Aerial Port of Debarkation at the Wrocław airport.
Facilities
The airport operates modern domestic, international and cargo terminals. The international terminal contains a duty free area in the international departures hall. The cargo terminal, located beside the fire station and air traffic controltower, has a storage area of, a bonded warehouse, freezer and radioactive materials warehouse.
Airlines and destinations
Statistics
Following are the official airport annual traffic figures.
Year
Passengers
Cargo
Movements
1998
174 202
871
9 558
1999
191 502
628
10 333
2000
210 873
2 548
11 858
2001
237 705
1 172
7 430
2002
236 151
1 571
6 594
2003
284 334
1 183
12 384
2004
355 431
823
18 509
2005
454 047
1 378
20 556
2006
857 931
1 510
25 002
2007
1 270 825
1 458
26 948
2008
1 486 442
1 462
32 000
2009
1 365 456
1 031
25 472
2010
1 654 439
946
23 627
2011
1 657 472
957
25 339
2012
1 996 552
928
27 960
2013
1 920 179
910
24 958
2014
2 085 638
463
24 970
2015
2 320 000
391
24 510
2016
2 419 561
2 549
25 486
2017
2 855 071
1 025
27 737
2018
3 347 553
10 425
32 462
2019
3 548 089
11 061
32 967
Ground transportation
Bus and coach
The airport is served by two :pl:Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne we Wrocławiu|MPK Wrocław bus lines, which on their routes have many stops in the city. Line 106 or 206 connect to main railway station and :pl:Dworzec Wrocław|main bus station, and line 129 through the estates Strachowice, Żerniki, Kuźniki, Gądów Mały, Popowice, Różanka, Karłowice, Poświętne with the northern part of the Psie Pole district. From December 2017 Polbus-PKS started an express bus called "WRO Airport Express" connecting the airport with :pl:Plac Dominikański we Wrocławiu|Dominikański Square and the main bus station, which is located in the basement of the shopping mall "Wroclavia".
Car
The airport also is served by traditional taxi corporations, as well as Uber, Bolt, iTaxi and Free Now. The airport offers nearly 4000 parking spaces. There are car rentals at the airport.
Bike
There is also a bike path that leads to the airport.
Railway
There are future plans to build a railway line between the airport and Wrocław Główny railway station. A tunnel and a railway station have already been built under the main terminal.
