Poznań-Ławica to introduce night curfew. No scheduled flights between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. from autumn 2026
Poznań-Ławica Airport will introduce a new night operations regime from autumn 2026. The main change is a “core night” period, which will ban the scheduling of departures and arrivals between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. According to the source material provided, the decision has been approved by Poland’s Civil Aviation Authority.
The aim is to reduce noise during the most sensitive hours of the night. At the same time, the airport expects airlines to gain more flexibility when planning late-evening and early-morning operations.
Four hours without scheduled movements
In practice, core night means that no scheduled take-offs or landings may be placed in the timetable between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. The restriction applies only to flight operations. The terminal will remain open during that period.
This marks a shift from the previous model, where similar restrictions applied both just after 10:00 p.m. and in the middle of the night. Under the new setup, the airport wants to remove planned traffic from the noisiest part of the night while leaving more room for flights later in the evening.
Which flights will still be allowed
The rules provide for four groups of exemptions. State flights, including operations classified as STATE, HEAD and GARDA, will remain permitted during core night. Emergency landings will also be allowed.
Medical and rescue flights, including HUM, HOSP and SAR operations, are also exempt. The fourth category covers flights delayed for reasons outside the airline’s control.
This is how the core night model works in practice: it bans scheduled traffic in a defined time window, but still allows exceptional or delay-related operations. That is also how the mechanism has been described in industry coverage explaining similar rules at other airports.
What it means for the route network
For airlines, the change means some rotations will have to move outside the 1:00 a.m.–5:00 a.m. window. Carriers relying on very early departures, very late arrivals or tight overnight aircraft utilization are likely to feel the impact most.
For the airport, the new rules are meant to support further network growth while limiting noise over nearby residential areas. That matters in Poznań because Ławica is located about 7 km from the city centre and operates close to dense housing.
More flexibility before midnight and after dawn
Airport CEO Grzegorz Bykowski says the goal is not to eliminate all night flying, but to move scheduled traffic out of the middle of the night. In operational terms, that should give airlines more room to plan flights late in the evening and in the early morning, while reducing overnight noise for local residents.
For passengers, the move does not necessarily mean fewer destinations, but it may lead to timetable changes on some routes. The airport continues to expand its network, with new routes and frequency growth already announced for 2026.
