# Kraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)

> Balice, PL · IATA: KRK · ICAO: EPKK · Large Airport · Cargo Hub

## Quick Facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| IATA | `KRK` |
| ICAO | `EPKK` |
| City | Balice |
| Country | PL |
| Type | Large Airport |
| Elevation | 241 m |
| Cargo | ✅ |
| GPS | 50.07770, 19.78480 |

## Description

Kraków-Balice (IATA: KRK, ICAO: EPKK) carries the name of the city's most famous son, Pope John Paul II — and shares its single runway with a Polish Air Force base, a detail worth knowing when requesting charter or freighter slots. With more than 11 million passengers in a recent year, Kraków is Poland's clear number two behind Warsaw, lifted by tourism, diaspora traffic and the region's fast-growing tech and shared-services sector. Cargo, however, is a sideshow here: the airport handles only a few thousand tonnes annually, mainly express and courier shipments plus belly freight on European routes. Just how marginal cargo has become was underlined in April 2026, when the former cargo building was converted into a new pre-boarding zone for non-Schengen passengers, adding 4,500 m² and six extra gates. The bulk of Lesser Poland's airfreight continues to move by truck, as road feeder service to Warsaw and Katowice or onward to Vienna and Frankfurt. Anyone booking airfreight "from Kraków" usually departs physically from somewhere else; planning that routing honestly saves transit time. The airport sits at Balice, some 11 kilometres west of the centre, directly on the A4 motorway running from the German border via Wrocław towards Ukraine; a rail link reaches the main station in about 20 minutes. A new passenger terminal with 11 gates is planned for 2029, under a contract worth more than 661 million zloty signed in May 2026.

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*Freight Academy — Airport Profile: [https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/krakow-john-paul-ii-international-airport-krk](https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/krakow-john-paul-ii-international-airport-krk)*

*Markdown mirror: [https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/krakow-john-paul-ii-international-airport-krk](https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/krakow-john-paul-ii-international-airport-krk)*

*LLM-Summary (JSON): https://www.freight-academy.com/api/v1/airports/krakow-john-paul-ii-international-airport-krk/llm-summary*