EU 基金s help Poland build 'ghost' airports
By Christian Lowe and Wiktor Szary
LODZ, Poland, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The European Union has given Poland more than 100 million euros ($125 million) to build at least three "ghost" airports in places where there are not enough 乗客s to keep them in 商売／仕事.
The result is gleaming new airport 終点s which, even at the 頂点（に達する） of the holiday season, echo to the sound of empty concourses and spend millions trying to attract 航空機によるs.
Poland is not the only country in Europe to have built airports that struggle to attract flights. Around 80 airports in Europe attract より小数の than 1 million 乗客s a year, and about three-４半期/4分の1s of those are in the red, によれば 産業 団体／死体 Airports 会議 International. Some cost much more to build than the ポーランドの（人） 事業／計画（する）s. One airport in eastern Spain, open for three years, has so far received not a 選び出す／独身 flight.
But Poland is striking because the country received so much money for its 事業／計画（する）s from EU 基金s.
Poland received 615.7 million euros in EU support for airports between 2007 and 2013, によれば 人物／姿／数字s 供給（する）d to Reuters by the European （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限. That was almost twice as much as the next biggest 受取人, Spain, and more than a third of all member 明言する／公表するs' money for airports. The 政府 拒絶する／低下するd to 供給する all the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） on which it based its 決定／判定勝ち（する）s to 投資する in the airports, but Reuters has reviewed data on three 場所／位置s where traffic fell 劇的な short of 予測（する）s.
Poland is often touted by Brussels as one of the most efficient 使用者s of EU 援助（する）, and there is no suggestion the country used EU airport money corruptly. European help has been 決定的な in 改善するing Poland's 航空 組織／基盤／下部構造, only a small 株 of the country's airport spending has been on white elephants, and 乗客 不足（高）s may have been 悪化させるd by the 2008 全世界の 財政上の 危機. Spokespeople at some airports said the 事業／計画（する）s could be considered a success because they were creating 職業s, bringing in tourists, and 運動ing 投資 in the 地域の economy.
But it is （疑いを）晴らす mistakes were made in Poland, planning 公式の／役人s and 航空 (n)役員／(a)執行力のあるs say. The whole experience raises questions about how the 政府 will 扱う the next big 注射 of EU money, which it 推定する／予想するs to be 82 billion euros over the next seven years.
The problem is most striking at the recently rebuilt Lodz 乗客 終点, where 乗客 numbers in 2013 fell almost one million short of 予測（する）s, によれば European （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 文書s 診察するd by Reuters.
On a 比較して busy day this summer, just four flights arrived and four 出発／死d. In between, the place was almost 砂漠d. In the 早期に afternoon a 選び出す／独身 乗客, a woman in a blue-and-white （土地などの）細長い一片d T-shirt, sat in a 72-seat waiting area. Outside on the tarmac, five 始める，決めるs of movable steps stood waiting for a jet to land.
Where there aren't enough 乗客s to make an airport viable, 地元の 政府s keep them on life support through 補助金s, によれば a 報告（する）／憶測 by CEE Bankwatch 網状組織, a 非，不，無-政治の 監視者. The 受益者s have often been the 航空機によるs that use them.
Jacek Krawczyk, the former chairman of the board of ポーランドの（人） 国家の 航空機による LOT who いつかs advises the European （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 o n 航空 政策, said Poland was no worse than other EU countries at building airports, but the sheer 容積／容量 of EU money it was trying to 吸収する in a short space of time explained some problems. The European Union has now 強化するd up the 支配するs on 明言する／公表する 援助（する） that airports can receive.
Krawczyk, who was not 直接／まっすぐに 伴う／関わるd in planning any of the airport 投資s, said that in those ポーランドの（人） 事例／患者s where things did go wrong, "there was no 汚職, just wrong 優先s."
FAULTY FORECASTS
Between 2007 and 2013, the European Union 約束d 基金ing to help build and 昇格 12 ポーランドの（人） airports. Some of the 発射／推定s underlying the 計画（する）s were 高度に ambitious.
The 政府 拒絶する／低下するd to 詳細（に述べる） its 予測s for 乗客 numbers. But 人物／姿／数字s for three of the airports - Lodz, Rzeszow and Lublin - are 含む／封じ込めるd in letters on a 関係のある topic sent by the European （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 to the ポーランドの（人） 外務大臣. The letters show ポーランドの（人） 当局 事業／計画（する）d 連合させるd 乗客 numbers for the airports to be more than 3 million 乗客s a year. In 2013, the actual number was just over 1.1 million.
Together, the 投資s in the three airports totalled about 245 million euros. Around 105 million of that （機の）カム from the European Union. The 残り／休憩（する） （機の）カム from central 政府 in Warsaw, 地元の 政府s and the airports themselves.
The airport with the biggest 事業／計画（する）d traffic was in Lodz.
In its heyday, the city was a 栄えるing 織物 製造業の centre. Now, many of the elegant 19th-century merchant's houses lining the main drag, Piotrkowska Street, are 崩壊するing.
Jerzy Kropiwnicki, 市長 of Lodz between 2002 and 2010, 手配中の，お尋ね者 to attract foreign 投資 and tourists. The city had a small airport that 扱うd 国内の flights; but Kropiwnicki felt a big international 終点 would 生き返らせる the 地元の economy.
"I used to endlessly answer questions like: 'How do we get to you?' and 'How do we 飛行機で行く there?'" Kropiwnicki told Reuters.
Poland, which had joined the European Union in 2004, was gearing up for a 大規模な 注射 of EU cash to be spent on 開発 事業／計画（する）s between 2007 and 2014. To get the 基金s, the country had to 準備する a 戦略の 計画（する） for civil 航空. At the 輸送（する） 省, this 仕事 fell おもに to Andrzej Korzeniowski.
He was given three months to 草案 the 計画（する） and 会合，会う the EU 基金ing 最終期限. "I slept on a （軍の）野営地，陣営ing mattress under my desk," Korzeniowski, now retired, told Reuters. "I had no time to eat."
Looking 支援する on the 160-page 文書 he 草案d, Korzeniowski says it was, under the circumstances, a good programme. But it had a big shortcoming: It let 地元の 政府s decide where new airports should be built, and how big they would be. "That was the biggest mistake, for which we're now 支払う／賃金ing the price," he said. "The 地元の 政府s decided, 'I'm a prince in my domain, the 政府 doesn't tell me what I'm supposed to do, we do what we want.'"
By 2005, 乗客 numbers in Lodz were 狙撃 up. Wojciech Laszkiewicz, an 助言者 to the 市長 who went on to be 副 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある of the airport, said the team decided to 再構築する the 終点 完全に.
The airport （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限d a 実現可能 熟考する／考慮する from （a）忠告の／（n）警報 会社／堅い Ernst & Young (EY), published in November, 2009. EY 予報するd a 最小限 of 1.042 million 乗客s in 2013 for Lodz. That was いっそう少なく than the 政府 予測（する） but many more than the 353,633 who 現実に passed through the airport last year. EY 拒絶する／低下するd to comment.< /p>
Lodz's 市長, Kropiwnicki, left office in 2010, two years before the new 終点 opened. The 目的（とする） of the airport was to help 刺激する the 地元の economy, he said, and it is 達成するing that. "From my point of 見解（をとる）, the airport wasn't supposed to make a 利益（をあげる）."
"CANNIBALISATION"
The problem, say 航空 産業 公式の／役人s and 顧問s, is that 乗客 numbers for any individual airport are impossible to 予報する with 信用／信任. Even if 国家の 予測（する）s 持つ／拘留する true, 地元の factors can pull 乗客s away from one airport and attract them to another.
Lodz quickly became a 犠牲者 of this "cannibalisation," as the 航空機による 産業 calls it, because Warsaw airport was also 昇格d, and a new 主要道路 built which brought the 資本／首都 within 50 minutes' 運動 of Lodz.
"To have an airport in Lodz from that point of 見解（をとる） makes no sense at all," said Krawczyk, the former 航空機による chairman. He is now 大統領，／社長 of the 雇用者s' Group of the European 経済的な and Social 委員会, a Brussels-based 諮問の 団体／死体 that advises on EU 決定／判定勝ち（する）-making.
In a 声明, a 広報担当者 for the 省 of 組織／基盤／下部構造 and 開発 said it could 問題／発行する 指導基準s, but could not 直接／まっすぐに 影響（力） 地元の 当局: "A 決定／判定勝ち（する） on 拡大するing or building an airport for a particular 地域 is the prerogative of the 地元の 当局."
Under EU 支配するs, though, the 初期の cash for airports comes from 国家の 政府s. They are reimbursed by the EU when it 認可するs a 計画／陰謀.
Only 投資s 価値（がある） over 50 million euros have to 捜し出す the （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限's 事前の 是認, and many of the ポーランドの（人） airport 投資s were below that threshold. The （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 has since said its approach to 基金ing the airports will を受ける a 過激な change. In February, it introduced 厳格な人 基準, and said loss-making airports will be 軍隊d to 離乳する themselves off 明言する／公表する 援助（する）. It did not 指名する any countries.
PAYMENTS TO AIRLINES
For now, the ポーランドの（人） airports still need help, and that can be expensive. 上級の 経営者／支配人s in the ポーランドの（人） 航空 産業 said the cost of running a small 地域の airport would be at least 3 million euros a year. At the moment in Europe, they are often propped up through 財政上の 注射s from 地元の 当局, which are often their biggest 株主s.
The 明言する／公表する also has indirect methods of helping the airports, in particular by giving money to the 航空機によるs - おもに low-cost 運送／保菌者s like Ryanair.
"In practice, these 支払い（額）s serve as an incentive for 航空機によるs," CEE Bankwatch 網状組織, the 非，不，無-政治の 監視者, said in its 報告（する）／憶測.
Lodz and Rzeszow airports did not 答える／応じる to questions about how much they 支払う／賃金 航空機によるs. A 広報担当者 for Lublin airport said only that it was 首尾よく 上げるing communications to help the 地元の economy.
But public 記録，記録的な／記録するs for Podkarpackie, the 山地の, forested 地域 where Rzeszow airport sits, show that between 2011 and 2014 its 政府 paid 5.7 million euros to Ryanair in 交流 for 宣伝s 促進するing the 地域, which appeared on Ryanair's web 場所／位置 and in its in-flight magazines. Podkarpackie spent another 3 million euros to advertise with ポーランドの（人） 運送／保菌者 Eurolot over a three-year period.
In all, 70 パーセント of the 地域's 2013 宣伝の 予算 went to 航空機によるs that 飛行機で行く into Rzeszow airport.
These 支払い（額）s a re problematic, say several people 伴う／関わるd in ポーランドの（人） 航空, because the airports are at the mercy of the 航空機によるs. With so many airports to choose from, 航空機によるs can easily 転換 大勝するs.
"The 関係 between the 地元の airports and low-cost 運送／保菌者s is suicidal," said Krawczyk, the former 航空機による chairman. For low-cost 運送／保菌者s, he said, "nothing will ever be enough. ... At some point they will say, 'If you don't give us more, we'll go.' And they go."
A 広報担当者 for the 地域 where Rzeszow is 位置を示すd said the 取引，協定s were good value because they 許すd it to 的 the 肉親，親類d of travellers it wants. He said tourist numbers in 2013 were 二塁打 the level in 2010. A Eurolot spokeswoman said such marketing 取引，協定s were 広範囲にわたって used in the 航空 商売／仕事 in Europe. She said the 航空機による 供給するd marketing （危険などに）さらす for the 地域, for example by 絵 its jets in the 地域's colours.
Ryanair 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある Michael O'Leary told Reuters such advertising was a good 取引，協定 for 地元の 政府s because the Ryanair website reached a 抱擁する audience. He said Ryanair brought 経済的な 利益s to places that are off the beaten 跡をつける, in part by 飛行機で行くing in tourists. But "if the airport doesn't want me, that's 罰金. I've 80 other airports in Europe who want the growth. We don't 軍隊 any airports" to 支払う／賃金.
"If Rzeszow has enough low fares, Rzeszow can grow to 1 million 訪問者s, 5 million 訪問者s, 10 million 訪問者s," said O'Leary. "They 供給する - 井戸／弁護士席, I don't know what Rzeszow is famous for, but it's famous for something." (1 US dollar = 0.7987 euro) (付加 報告（する）／憶測ing by Robert Hetz in Madrid and Rene Wagner in Berlin; Edited by Sara Ledwith)
