Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport is situated in southeastern

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, in the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Mihail Kogălniceanu Mihail Kogălniceanu (; also known as Mihail Cogâlniceanu, Michel de Kogalnitchan; September 6, 1817 – July 1, 1891) was a Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania on October 11, 1863, ...

, north-northwest of

Constanța Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...

. It is the main airport of the

Northern Dobruja Northern Dobruja ( ro, Dobrogea de Nord or simply ; bg, Северна Добруджа, ''Severna Dobrudzha'') is the part of Dobruja within the borders of Romania. It lies between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, bordered in the south ...

region and provides access to

Constanța County Constanța () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the Dobruja region. Its capital city is also named Constanța. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 684,082 and the population density was 96/km2. The deg ...

, the

Port of Constanța The Port of Constanța is located in Constanța, Romania, on the western coast of the Black Sea, from the Bosphorus Strait and from the Sulina Branch, through which the Danube river flows into the sea. It covers , of which is land and the res ...

and the Black Sea resorts. The airport is named in honour of

, the third Prime Minister of Romania. The military sector of the Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport is currently home of the 57th Air Base. Since 1999 it has occasionally been used by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

.Sgt. Erica Earl (May 23, 2019) U.S. Soldiers march in Romanian parade
Area Support Group – Black Sea

History

Built in 1955 as a military airbase, Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport opened for civil operations in May 1960. It replaced the old Palas Airport (founded in 1932). A passenger terminal with a capacity of 200 passengers per hour was inaugurated in 1962. In 1967 the terminal expanded to a processing capacity of 300 pax/hour. In 1974 a major expansion increased the processing capacity to 1,000 pax/hour. Use of the airport peaked at 778,766 passengers in 1979, when foreign tourism to the Romanian Riviera was at a high. Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport handled 127,635 passengers in 2017. That represented a 34.9% increase over the previous year.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Constanța Airport:

Statistics

Traffic figures

Military usage

The airport is home of the

Romanian Air Force The Romanian Air Force (RoAF) ( ro, Forțele Aeriene Române) is the air force branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. It has an air force headquarters, an operational command, five airbases and an air defense brigade. Reserve forces include one ai ...

57th Air Base, which was the only unit operating the

Mikoyan MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (russian: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the MiG- ...

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

. The base was disbanded in April 2004. All the 18 MiG-29s remain in open storage at the airport. It has been used by the

US Military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six Military branch, service branches: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States N ...

since 1999. It is currently home to the 572nd Helicopter Squadron which operates IAR 330Ls and also hosts the 861st Fighter Squadron of the 86th Air Base which operates

MiG-21 LanceR This is a list of variants and specifications for variants of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, which differed considerably between models. Variants All information in this section adapted from ''MiG-21'' (2008).Gordon, Yefim. ''Mikoyan MiG-21'' (Fa ...

Ground transportation

Bus

Several city bus lines link the airport to Constanța railway station. There are also a few private bus lines operating to downtown Constanța and to the

Romanian Black Sea resorts The Romanian Black Sea resorts or the Romanian Riviera stretch along the Black Sea coast from the Danube Delta at the northern end down to the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the south, along 275 kilometers of coastline. The most important re ...

. There is no shuttle service available.

Taxi

There are always cabs available outside airport terminal. The cost of a ride to Constanța is around US$30 which is considerably higher than the bus rates which can be as low as 3 lei/US$0,43.

Car

The Airport is easily accessible by car and is located in north-western part of Constanța, which can be accessed from the DN 2A/ E60 Constanța-Hârșova or

A4 motorway (Romania) The A4 motorway ( ro, Autostrada A4) is a motorway in Romania that serves as a bypass for the city of Constanța, between Ovidiu and the Port of Constanța, connecting with the A2 motorway via an interchange southwest of the city. It is 22 ...

until

Ovidiu Ovidiu (, historical name: ''Canara'', tr, Kanara) is a town situated a few kilometres north of Constanța in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. Ovidiu is quite small, with a population of around 12,000, and many wealthy inhabitants o ...

. The airport can also be reached from the A2 highway by exiting towards Cernavodă driving on DN22C towards

Medgidia Medgidia ( or ; historical Turkish names: ''Karasu'' or ''Carasu'', ''Mecidiye'' or ''Megidie'') is a city in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, south-eastern Romania. History Archaeological findings show that Dobruja was inhabited since th ...

then through county road DJ 222 passing through Cuza Vodă all the way to the commune of Mihail Kogălniceanu where the airport is located. Alternatively from the A2 highway there is another exit towards Medgidia on DJ381 and then continue on DJ222. Car rentals are also available. There is free short- and long-term parking right outside the airport terminal.

Accidents and incidents

* On 12 June 2017, a

of the

crashed on approach, 8 km away from Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport. The pilot, though seriously injured, survived and the aircraft was written off.

Notes

References

Charlie Coon, Construction To Begin This Winter On Romania Bases, Stars and Stripes, September 30, 2006

JTF East

External links

Official website

Google Map - Aerial View

Sourcewatch link
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mihail Kogalniceanu International Airport Airports in Romania Romania–United States military relations Black sites Buildings and structures in Constanța County Airports established in 1960 1960 establishments in Romania Transport in Constanța