As a result of socio-economic changes in the early 1990s, the inhabitants of Poland gained the opportunity of unrestricted movement beyond the country’s borders. However, only with the liberalization of air transportation, brought about by Poland’s entry into the European Union, were Poles given a real option of using an airplane as a feasible means of travel. This was in large part attributed to the introduction of low-fare airlines, which utilize mainly regional airports. The large wave of migration stemming from the opening up of labor markets to the inhabitants of new E U member states served as an additional factor creating additional demand. Owing to the above, since 2004, passenger air transportation in Poland has reached new levels. I n 2013 the number of passengers checked in at Polish airports should exceed 25 million. Although the global economic crisis has hampered all air transportation markets in Europe, Polish airports have exceptionally quickly returned to the path of dynamic growth. I n the immediate future, the direction and dynamics of air transportation growth in Poland will be in large part bound to the fate of Poland’s national air carrier – P L L L O T.

Air transportation infrastructure has been present in Europe for over 100 years. In that period of time, the location pattern of airports has changed. Initially, airports were established at central locations in urbanized areas. Later on, airports were being established closer to the city limits. With the growth of new suburbs, such locations became no less burdensome. Today, the building of new airports takes place at substantial distances from urbanized areas. This by no means implies that new airports are somehow disconnected from other types of services or residential areas. Airports are built in line with the concept proposed by J. D. Kasarda, whereby they serve as specialized units, with their unique morphological and functional aspects. In Europe, partly due to the limited availability of land, new airports usually replace old airports. The overall picture of the European continent’s array of airports shows that they are concentrated in its western part. On the other hand, most new airports are found in Eastern and Southeastern Europe – which can be attributed to the region’s effort to overcome its deficit of infrastructure.

The article attempts to explore the relationship between the level of spatial deconcentration and the level of spatial inequality in the budgets of communes found within the boundaries of functional areas of large cities in Poland. The study was conducted for twelve major cities indentified in The N ational Spatial Development Plan for 2030. C ities included in the survey are : Warsaw, C racow, Tricity ( Gdańsk, Sopot, Gdynia ), Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Szczecin, Lublin, Rzeszów, Białystok, Bydgoszcz and Toruń. The study covers the period from 2001 to 2010. The analysis was conducted at the commune level and concerned different categories of commune revenues and expenditures. The level of spatial concentration was measured by using two indicators : standard distance and the Gini index calculated in relation to the area of communes. Spatial inequality was measured by the Gini index in relation to the number of inhabitants. A correlation has been identified for the following categories : current expenditures, expenditures on transportation and communication, health expenditures, personal income tax appropriated for communes, and various subsidies from the national budget. The research results confirm the influence of the spatial deconcentration of commune budgets at the level of spatial inequality. However, this is true only for selected budget categories, while no clear relationships were noted for other categories. The analysis of the above mentioned relationships shows significant differentiation in the types of impact of spatial deconcentration on the level of inequality between communes within functional areas.