Despite the very modest size of the country, the number of international airports in Romania reaches fourteen. The two largest airport terminals are located in the country's capital - Bucharest. However, other major cities of the republic also have busy airports.
Otopeni Capital Air Hub
Bucharest Airport, located in the small town of Otopeni, is officially named after Romanian aviation pioneer Henri Coande, who built the first aircraft in Romania. However, the name of this designer was assigned to the airfield only in 2004, and before that it was called Bucharest-Otopeni.
Starting from the Second World War, Otopeni was used as an air force base, and it was rebuilt into a civilian airport in Romania only in 1968, when it became clear that Baniza airport could not cope with the increasing flow of passengers. As part of the reconstruction for civilian needs, the runway was rebuilt and a new terminal building was erected, which immediately began serving both domestic and international flights.
The increased load on the airport over the past decade clearly demonstrates the need for rapid reconstruction. ATairport management plans to expand the arrival and departure halls, increase the number of gates to twenty-four, as well as the construction of a new terminal, since the capacity of the existing one has been exhausted.
Destinations and airlines of the country's main airport
The airport is a single terminal, however, consisting of two buildings - the arrivals hall and the departure hall. The two halls are interconnected by a corridor with a shopping area. To date, this Romanian airport has nine departure gates, only five of which are equipped with air bridges.
The airport is home to the national carrier TAROM, the country's oldest and largest airline, with flights to fifty destinations.
In addition to TAROM, thirty-one more companies fly to Otopeni Airport, which allows you to have a very wide geography of flights - from Dublin to Tel Aviv.
Benyasa Airport
The second airport of the capital's air hub is the Baneas International Airport named after Aurel Vlaicu. This is the oldest of the capital's air terminals, which began its work in 1909. However, in terms of the number of passenger traffic, it is inferior to Otopeni, although it is closer to the city center. From an administrative point of view, the airport is located within the city, just nine kilometers from its center.
Five airlines use the services of the Baneasa terminal, each of which positions itself as a low-cost one. Flights to four destinationsonly in summer season.
The largest and most famous company flying from Banyas (there is also a variant of pronouncing Beniz) is the Hungarian WizzAir.
Romanian Regional Airports
In addition to the capital's airports, there are regional ones in Romania. The largest of them is the Cluj-Napoca airfield. In terms of passenger traffic, this regional airport surpasses even the capital named after Benyas.
The airfield begins its history in 1932, when a military test airfield was built in its place. Throughout its history, the airport has been repeatedly upgraded and expanded.
Today, seventeen airlines fly from the airport, most of which are low cost. The main user is WizzAir, which has a total of thirty-six destinations.
The busiest routes from Cluj-Napoca are flights to Bucharest and London. For the first one, 43 departures per week are made every week, for the second - 24.
Timisoara
Timisoara International Airport is named after the famous Romanian inventor and aviation pioneer Traian Vuja. Located in the historical region of Banat, it is the main air hub for Western Romania.
WizzAir uses the Timisoara terminal as its base of operations. In addition, this airport is an alternate in case of accidents or bad weather over Bucharest, Budapest or Belgrade.
Most flight destinations only operate on certainseasons. The rest of the time there are regular flights to Budapest, Bergamo, Frankfurt, Munich, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona and several other European capitals.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that there is also a cargo terminal at every international airport in Romania.
