A NOTAM issued at 23:20 UTC on 12 November 2026 closed Warsaw Chopin Airport’s main runway 15/33 from 23:30 UTC until 04:00 UTC (00:30–05:00 local time) for urgent pavement repairs. Although the maintenance window was scheduled for off-peak hours, ripple effects hit the morning wave of departures. By 06:00 local time on 13 November, real-time flight boards showed at least one long-haul service—LOT Polish Airlines flight LO126 from Riyadh—cancelled, while departures to Yerevan and Addis Ababa were delayed. Airport authorities said the work was necessary after routine inspections detected surface cracks exacerbated by heavy autumn traffic. With runway 11/29 unable to handle wide-body aircraft simultaneously, carriers consolidated schedules or re-timed flights. Most intra-Schengen services operated with minor delays, but passengers on Middle Eastern and Caucasus routes experienced re-booking or overnight accommodation offers. Business travellers connecting through Warsaw should note that further night closures are planned later in November as part of an accelerated resurfacing programme. LOT recommends checking flight status 24 hours before departure and arriving three hours early for long-haul flights to allow for longer security and immigration queues when recovery operations compress departure banks. The incident underscores the vulnerability of hub operations to infrastructure constraints. Companies relying on tight same-day turnarounds for sales teams or urgent shipments may wish to keep contingency routings via Kraków or Gdańsk until works conclude.
