Artillery ammunition is loaded on a cargo plane of a US airline at Rzeszow-Jasionka airport, on April 5, 2023.

Artillery ammunition is loaded on a cargo plane of a US airline at Rzeszow-Jasionka airport, on April 5, 2023. Christoph Soeder / picture alliance via Getty Images

How a tiny Polish airport became a key node for Western aid to Ukraine

Daily jumbo-jet landings now eat up the fuel once allotted for a whole week of passenger flights.

RZESZÓW, Poland — Shortly after the U.S. announced snap deployments to Europe in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Michał Tabisz had a shocking realization. 

“Jesus, this all is going to come here,” said Tabisz, vice president of Rzeszów-Jasionka airport, the closest Polish airfield to Ukraine’s border. Within hours, they were getting calls from senior Polish government officials. 

Since that day, the tempo has hardly eased as what was once a small airport for budget flights has transformed into a key node in Western military support for Ukraine. Its tiny VIP conference room has hosted the likes of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while jumbo jets stuffed with arms for Ukraine land daily on its tarmac. 

The small airport's journey from low-budget holiday flights to major logistics hub bears lessons for the United States, which relies heavily on commercial airlines for its global operations. Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, who leads U.S. Transportation Command, has  called contractors the “fourth component command.” 

In the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Rzeszów-Jasionka airport was just another node in low-cost airlines’ network, doling out 18-euro flights to locations like London and Manchester to eager Poles and Brits. 

The airport had 730,000 passengers in all of 2021, or less than what Dulles airport saw in a month. The airport had the “occasional” cargo flight, but nothing regular, Tabisz said. 

The airport, though, had features to recommend it to U.S. military planners. For one, the border with Ukraine is just 50 miles away. 

For another, the airport incongruously had a runway long enough to accommodate large cargo planes like the Boeing-built C-17. In a twist of fate, the airport was among the last to host Ukraine’s An-225 Mriya, the heaviest plane ever built. It was destroyed when Russian forces attacked Hostomel airport in the opening days of the invasion. 

Tabisz said there was no economic reason for the small airport to have such a long runway, and speculated that it was the product of political decisions made when the airport was operated by a state-run company. 

U.S. officials were also familiar with the airport, having used it for an early-February deployment just before the Russian invasion, Tabisz said. 

Still, the choice of a civilian airport came with major problems.

Soon after the war started, the airport found itself facing down possible Russian cyber infiltration, forcing it to upgrade its network security. 

Tabisz declined to provide specifics, but suggested that Russian attacks were sophisticated. 

“I can just say that I am even more convinced in my deep conviction that I had before the war that the Russians are experts in taking the information that they should not possess,” he said. 

The airfield was also at risk of a potential Russian airstrike. In the early days of the war, planes defending the border patrolled the skies constantly, their window-shaking sonic booms causing Tabisz’s daughter to ask him why everyday was so loud. 

“It really creates an atmosphere of something bad happening,” he said. Some new workers even quit working at the airport. 

The installation of U.S.-manned Patriot anti-missile batteries relieved some of the tension, but in the shadows, the airport became the target of surveillance. In March of this year, Poland detained a ring of Russian spies and saboteurs that one Polish outlet reported had targeted  Rzeszów-Jasionka airport for surveillance. 

More mundane but no less important were the logistical burdens. Eighty percent of allied military aid flows through Poland, much of it through Rzeszów-Jasionka. 

As a small airport, Rzeszów-Jasionka’s weekly supply of fuel would be eaten up by a single jumbo-jet. The airport had up to ten such massive planes in a week, with a total of 3,500 wide-body jets since February 2022. 

Wide-body jets are large cargo and passenger planes, of which jumbo jets are a subset. Not all carry military goods, with at least some delivering humanitarian goods. 

The airport had no nearby railways, so fuel had to be brought in by truck, with as many as 20 trucks arriving daily carrying a total of 175,000 gallons of fuel. Tabisz said Poland’s state oil company had saved the airport by making their fuel deliveries a priority. 

The extra work also meant extra employees, chiefly fuel specialists, security workers, and firemen to stand duty during fueling. 

Although the airport paid workers with overtime and bonuses, the strain could be intense. Soon after the start of shipments, Tabisz recalled seeing the chief of his cargo unit: “he was kind of pale-grayish.” He hadn’t slept for 48 hours. 

Added to the stress was a constant influx of foreign ministers, presidents, and prime ministers, often with just hours of notice. “This is a place where we never expected to host 250 government delegations per year,”  Tabisz said. “So basically, we designed it for a few prime ministers who accidentally happen to be around the area.” 

One day, both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U2 lead singer Bono arrived. Tabisz skipped Trudeau to meet Bono. 

Passenger flights continue to this day, despite the vast quantities of military aid flying through and rings of U.S. air defense easily visible from the road. 

Tabisz also credited the U.S. military as being key to the effort, praising their efforts to make suggestions rather than bark orders. Personal connections helped as well. One American officer even discovered, with Tabisz’s help, that he had roots in the area. Following research, Tabisz and the officer even visited the spot where the officer’s family had once lived. 

While the hectic pace continues, some improvements will ease the burden. The airport is planning on increasing fuel storage by 50 percent, and modernizing its runway. 

Amid round-the-clock work and fears of Russian attacks, staff were under great pressure. 

“People who had full rights to just say okay, it's not not the place I want to work anymore because of my view from the window,” he said.  

Both Tabisz and the majority of staff stayed at their posts. 

“You can't just leave and say that you haven't signed up for running this kind of hybrid airport,” Tabisz said. “Everything we do helps those on the front line to stop the Russians. It's as simple as that.” 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.