The disgusting little airport terminal of Etiuda will close for good in April 2009. Warsaw airport authorities finally gave in and admitted that the terminal was not fit to serve its purpose and that they were fed up of receiving mountains of customer complaints. Easy to admit that now as many of the cheap airlines have now stopped flying to Warsaw and the terminal was probably functioning better than ever with less flights and less crowds to deal with.
Etuida was originally set up as a secondary terminal specifically for low cost carriers flying in and out of the Polish capitol. In the beginning it was seen as a symbol of 'the boom years'- the mass exodus of young Poles going to work abroad, the renewed interest in Poland as a tourist destination and the popularity of low cost airlines all fighting to get in on the developing Polish market. Unfortunately it rapidly became clear that the 'little shack' was simply not up to the job. Huge queues of confused people, irritable ground staff, lack of any facilities, no duty free stores, a distinct lack of seating etc. The fact that many flights left around the same time meant there were regularily thousands of travellers all pushing and shoving into the building, once inside nobody knew which queue to stand in and, of course, there was very rarely anyone to try and help the increasingly hectic situation.
Frequently hordes of travellers would simply be left to stand outside as there was absolutely no chance of entering the stuffed building - think of the 180 Bus at around 5.30pm and multiply that by 100, add huge rucksacks, suitcases stuffed with tinned food and sausages, enormous cardboard boxes tied up with string, screaming babies and shaven headed builders losing the plot and shouting the 'K' word at the top of their voice and you may get some idea of what this place was like. Many foreigners travelling via Etiuda could not believe what they were witnessing and it most certainly left a very bad impression of Polish organisational skills as travellers were leaving the country .
Over the past couple of years many low cost airlines have either withdrawn from flights to and from Warsaw or have simply collapsed - among them Sky Europe, Ryanair and Centralwings. Centralwings being the only low cost carrier which did not have to make its passengers suffer the indignity of departing from Etiuda. Due to its links to the national carrier LOT, Centralwings was allowed to depart and arrive at the main terminal.
Interesting to note that these cheap carriers will now all use the beautiful new terminal although they will be asked to pay higher airport fees and will therefore have to increase ticket prices by an estimated 30PLN. Norwegian airlines are pleased with the proposed move to the main terminal and claim it will even help in targeting business travellers therefore increasing their passenger numbers. On the other hand Wizzair are now threatening to withdraw completely from flights to Warsaw as they do not want to be forced into hiking up their prices because of such a move.
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