Henri Coanda (Otopeni) International Airport retains the top spot among the country’s airports, with almost 11 million passengers last year.
The top five airport ranking remained unchanged in 2016 and they served 93% of all the passengers. Provincial airports have improved their market share, however, from about 26% in 2015 to more than 32% last year, ZF has calculated. The increase in traffic on the provincial airports was largely because of the expansion of the low-cost companies, which launched domestic and international flights from the Cluj-Napoca, Iasi and Timisoara airports.
Iasi saw one of the highest increases in traffic in 2016, 120%, followed by Craiova, Oradea, Tulcea and Suceava.
On the other hand, the Arad and Baia Mare airports did not serve any passengers last year, according to the Romanian Airports Association. The airport in Baia Mare is now undergoing refurbishment, while Arad has no regular flights after low-cost airline Wizz Air left in 2015.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)