Poland’s CPK Airport Finishes Test Piling Ahead of Terminal Foundations

Work on Poland’s planned central airport has reached a new construction stage. Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK), the new hub being built between Warsaw and Łódź, has completed the installation of test piles for its passenger terminal and is now load-testing them before main foundation works begin.

What the test piles are for

The test piles are currently undergoing testing and load tests, which are intended to confirm the adopted design solutions before the main foundation works start. CPK said the main works will install more than 8,000 piles ranging from roughly 30 to 100 feet in length, with a combined reinforcement length exceeding 87 miles.

The foundation contract is held by Budimex, a Polish contractor, and has been valued at nearly PLN 146 million. Earlier reporting described the foundations as including both piles and ground-improvement columns.

The terminal behind the foundations

CPK’s planning documents describe a terminal of about 450,000 square metres of usable space, designed for 34 million passengers a year initially and expandable to 44 million. It is to have close to 140 check-in desks, which could be increased to around 170 by 2032.

The terminal contract itself has not yet been awarded. Five consortia, comprising 16 firms in total, are taking part in a competitive dialogue, and CPK expects to select one by the end of 2026.

Timeline

The published schedule runs as follows:

• 2026: piling works begin.
• 2029: completion of the underground railway station and tunnel.
• 2031: completion of the main construction phase.
• End of 2032: airport operational, with the first high-speed rail section connecting Warsaw and Łódź.

CPK describes itself as a strategic investment integrating air, rail and road networks into a transport and logistics backbone for Central Europe. The airport is being developed together with a national high-speed rail programme, and the rail link is central to its design as a hub that connects flights directly to long-distance trains.

Why it matters

Warsaw Chopin Airport, Poland’s busiest, is capacity-constrained and surrounded by the city, which limits expansion. CPK is intended to give Poland a hub able to compete for transfer traffic with airports such as Frankfurt, Vienna and Istanbul, and to serve as a base for LOT Polish Airlines’ growth. For aircraft and equipment suppliers, a greenfield 34-million-passenger terminal represents a large procurement pipeline from 2027.

Greenfield airports of this scale commonly face schedule pressure, and the 2032 opening date depends on both the terminal procurement and the rail programme staying on track. The test-pile results will be an early indicator of whether the ground conditions match the design assumptions. CPK has not reported results from the load tests yet.