“Demand for domestic flights is partly because of the condition of the railroad and road infrastructure. There are people in the west of the country who want to go to Constanta (SE Romania) without going through Bucharest. Constanta is a holiday destination that is hard to reach via traditional transportation, especially for those who live in Cluj, Timisoara and Oradea,” explains Gheorghe Racaru, chief executive of Blue Air, the second leading airline by passenger numbers in Romania.
It takes nine hours by car (from Cluj for instance) and 15 by train (from Oradea) from western Romania to reach Constanta.
CFR Calatori, the main railroad passenger carrier in Romania has seen a decline in passenger numbers in the last few years partly because of rise in the number of transport options.
CFR Calatori carried almost 53 million people in 2016, down 4% on 2015.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)