In May, UEFA will decide which Polish and Ukrainian cities will eventually be the hosts of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. Level of stadia and airports preparation will be the most important criterion.

The progress in constructing accommodation base and hotels with high, five-star standard will also remain of importance. The next - in terms of importance - is transport in and between cities. "Paradoxically, UEFA has a completely different approach than we have here. For the Polish society, EURO 2012 is associated primarily with roads and motorways. As For UEFA, it is of a lesser importance and great emphasis is, first of all, placed on stadia and airports" said the president of the PL.2012, Marcin Herra.

Airports in Poland were divided into three groups. The first one consists of six main airports situated in all host cities, six more will play a role of contingency airports (Szczecin, Rzeszow, Lodz, Bydgoszcz, Zielona Gora and Szczytno) and the last group includes air force bases. "The Szczytno airport is most problematic at the moment. The most important element at the airport is its fence and in Szczytno, the fence is not tight and as a consequence it can be treated only as so-called accidental landing site. However, it is an important strategic point, since it is near to great accommodation facilities which would be perfect for national teams", informed the National Airport Coordinator of PL.2012, Tomasz Szymczak.
The most urgent tasks include primarily construction of new passenger terminals in five host cities, renovation of runways and taxiways, construction of aprons, modernisation and construction of tramways leading to the airports and purchase of public transport stock, mainly railway stock.
"The airport in Warsaw has the highest level of progress. By 2012 a railway connection with the capital centre will be developed and in the future, even a connection with Modlin will be established. The highest amount of money will have to be assigned for modernisation by Krakow - PLN 520 million, a little l

ess Gdansk - 460 million and Wroclaw - 450 million", admitted Tomasz Szymczak.
All investment activities are intended to contribute to increasing capacity per hour.

The capacity in Warsaw is currently at the level of 36 aircraft and it should be increased to as much as 46. A significant success will be increasing the capacity to 30 operations per hour in five remaining regional airports, while at the moment it equals 10 in Poznan and 14 to 15 in Gdansk.", said Tomasz Szymczak.
Marcin Herra emphasised also that "not only hard investments in infrastructure but improving level of facilities' management and service will be crucial. The success will surely depend on the question whether or not an aircraft can land every two minutes, though the assessment will depend on the person who checks our passport, whether or not the staff is smiling and speaks several languages. We already have to think about a specific training programme", he finished.

PHOTO: Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport