The absence of required documentation made it impossible to check if the decision to make the Poznań-Krzesiny airport part of the NATO infrastructure was justified. In July 2005, the Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of National Defence (MND) learnt from the MND’s Department of Inspection that the documentation concerning the decision-making process had been destroyed in 1997 with a breach of the Ministry’s provisions in that matter.
The decision of the Minister of National Defence of 14 August 1997 significantly contributed to the fact that the Poznań-Krzesiny airport was chosen to be the multipurpose aircrafts base. In that decision the airport was mentioned as an element of the military infrastructure, designated by Poland to cooperate with NATO. It also said that the airport would be ready to cooperate before the end of 1999. That was why, it became part of the NSIP. The documentation concerning implementation of the objectives of the NATO 2000 Armed Forces indicates that airports other than in Poznań and Łask were also considered as potential locations of multipurpose aircraft bases.
The audit revealed that the Air Force Command had the greatest impact on the airport choice. As a result of its actions, in 2001, a year and a half before selecting the multipurpose aircraft for the Polish Armed Forces, large-scale construction works related to the runway modernisation started at the Poznań-Krzesiny airport. That actually solved the issue of where the aircrafts base in Poznań should be located. On 16 July 2001, the then Commander of the Polish Air Force notified the Minister of National Defence that the Poznań-Krzesiny airport should be prepared for receiving the multipurpose aircrafts. The Minister of National Defence questioned the rationality of starting modernisation of the Poznań-Krzesiny airport surface without using the NATO grant. Despite those objections, the Minister approved the construction investments scheme for 2001, which said that the task should be financed from the state budget.
The audit findings show that the environmental aspect was not considered when choosing the location for the multipurpose airplanes. In 2004, at the request of the Minister of National Defence, the MND’s Department of Inspection analysed the process of developing the draft Environment Protection Act. It established that no objections to the said draft Act were made.
From 1 January 2006 to 30 September 2009, the Military Infrastructure Management in Poznań, based on court decisions, paid the owners of real properties located in the limited use area around the Poznań-Krzesiny airport over PLN 2 million compensation. NIK points out that the number of claims for compensation or real estate purchase is huge and is still growing. There were in total 1502 summons to the court, of which 1222 concerned claims for compensation of nearly PLN 258 million and 52 were related to the real estate purchase for a bit less than PLN 25 million.
Regardless of the said financial consequences of the multipurpose aircraft base location in Poznań, the effective law says that the noise in the environment is measured regularly at the airports in agglomerations with more than 10 thousand take-offs and landings per year. Since the Poznań-Krzesiny airport is planning to increase its air operations, there should be more than 10 thousand take-offs and landings per year, starting 2009. That is why, the MND will have to pay for the installation of relevant measuring devices as well as for systematic noise monitoring.
It should be emphasised that according to the binding law, in case of airports located outside agglomerations, regular noise measurements are made only when there are more than 50 thousand take-offs and landings per year. If this number is smaller than 50 thousand, the noise level is measured every 5 years. The Supreme Audit Office points out in its audit report that the army should make a profit and loss analysis and consider moving the F-16 base to another airport, further from urban agglomerations.
