A sharp plunge in temperatures across Central Europe crippled air-traffic operations in Poland on 7 February, with Warsaw-Chopin, Kraków-Balice, Gdańsk, Katowice and Poznań airports collectively logging 339 delays and four cancellations before midday. National carrier LOT accounted for 140 late departures, while low-cost rivals Wizz Air, Ryanair and Buzz also suffered significant knock-on delays.
Although the disruption is modest compared with total winter shut-downs seen elsewhere, the scale matters for business travellers: Warsaw-Chopin is Poland’s main transfer hub, and missed connections cascade into lost meetings and re-routing costs. Travel-risk consultants say February’s seasonal peak—in which corporate mobility programmes juggle ski-season holidaymakers and the first wave of spring project launches—makes resilience planning essential. Companies running tight itineraries for C-suite visits or expatriate onboarding should build in a 24-hour buffer and activate airline-app alerts for real-time gate changes.
While reassessing schedules, travellers should also verify that their travel documents remain in order. Online platform VisaHQ (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) offers quick visa checks, expedited processing and real-time updates for Poland and onward destinations, and can step in when storm-related re-routings suddenly require different entry permissions.
![Wintry Weather Triggers 339 Flight Delays and 4 Cancellations Across Five Polish Airports]()
Under EU Regulation 261/2004, passengers delayed three hours or more may claim care—meals, hotel if needed—and, in limited circumstances, compensation. However, bad weather is generally treated as an “extraordinary circumstance”, so cash payouts are unlikely. Mobility managers should therefore focus on proactive re-booking rather than post-event claims.
Airport authorities noted that ground-handling teams were at capacity de-icing aircraft and taxiways, and urged travellers to arrive early and keep hand luggage to a minimum to speed security lines. With more freezing drizzle forecast overnight, airlines have begun pre-emptively thinning schedules for 8 February, particularly on regional turboprop routes.
For now, employers with personnel transiting Poland should double-check duty-of-care protocols, reconfirm hotel reservations and encourage staff to keep all receipts. In a winter in which extreme weather is increasingly the norm, rapid response can spell the difference between a minor delay and a major assignment derailment.
Although the disruption is modest compared with total winter shut-downs seen elsewhere, the scale matters for business travellers: Warsaw-Chopin is Poland’s main transfer hub, and missed connections cascade into lost meetings and re-routing costs. Travel-risk consultants say February’s seasonal peak—in which corporate mobility programmes juggle ski-season holidaymakers and the first wave of spring project launches—makes resilience planning essential. Companies running tight itineraries for C-suite visits or expatriate onboarding should build in a 24-hour buffer and activate airline-app alerts for real-time gate changes.
While reassessing schedules, travellers should also verify that their travel documents remain in order. Online platform VisaHQ (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) offers quick visa checks, expedited processing and real-time updates for Poland and onward destinations, and can step in when storm-related re-routings suddenly require different entry permissions.
Under EU Regulation 261/2004, passengers delayed three hours or more may claim care—meals, hotel if needed—and, in limited circumstances, compensation. However, bad weather is generally treated as an “extraordinary circumstance”, so cash payouts are unlikely. Mobility managers should therefore focus on proactive re-booking rather than post-event claims.
Airport authorities noted that ground-handling teams were at capacity de-icing aircraft and taxiways, and urged travellers to arrive early and keep hand luggage to a minimum to speed security lines. With more freezing drizzle forecast overnight, airlines have begun pre-emptively thinning schedules for 8 February, particularly on regional turboprop routes.
For now, employers with personnel transiting Poland should double-check duty-of-care protocols, reconfirm hotel reservations and encourage staff to keep all receipts. In a winter in which extreme weather is increasingly the norm, rapid response can spell the difference between a minor delay and a major assignment derailment.
