Romania’s biggest airport attracted some 70% of the passengers traveling to and from Romania by plane, more than in 2010, when it accounted for half of the passenger traffic of all airports in the country.
It gained almost one million passengers last year, its highest growth in the past three years. A total of 31 airlines are currently operating from the Henri Coanda Airport, such as Tarom, Blue Air, Wizz Air, Ryanair, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines.
Second busiest airport was Cluj-Napoca’s Avram Iancu, more than 1.5 million passengers. The management thereof expects 1.7 million passengers this year. Companies operating from this airport include Blue Air, Tarom, Wizz Air and Lufthansa. This airport has become more and more attractive for airlines for both domestic and international flights. Wizz Air and Blue Air announced they would introduce Bucharest-Cluj Napoca flights this summer, competing flag carrier Tarom, which had been the only operator on this route for years.
Traian Vuia Airport in Timisoara attracted Ryanair, which decided to introduce flights to Bucharest as of November. Ryanair also offers flights to Berlin, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, London and Milan from Timisoara.
Passenger traffic increased by 25% to 920,000 last year, according to ZF’s calculations based on Romania Airports Association data.
One third of those passing through the airport in Timisoara flew to and from Munich and Bucharest.
The airport in Iasi saw the highest growth in passenger numbers last year, about 40% to more than 380,000. This result puts it among top five airports in the country. Its officials have recently said they expect more than 700,000 passengers this year. Companies operating from Iasi include Wizz Air, Blue Air, Tarom and Austrian Airlines. Blue Air started competing Tarom on the Bucharest-Iasi route last year.
Fifth largest airport of the country is Bacau, which served more than 360,000 passengers last year, 16% more than in 2014. The airline operating on this airport is Blue Air.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)