Brașov-Ghimbav International Airport (,

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

: GHV,

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

: LRBV) is an airport located in

Ghimbav Ghimbav (; ) is a town in Brașov County, Transylvania, central Romania. Geography The town is situated in the southern part of the Transylvanian Plateau, at an altitude of , on the banks of the river Ghimbășel. It is located in the Burzenland ...

, near

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. It is the first airport to be built in

in the last 50 years, and the 17th

commercial airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

in the country. Flights commenced on 15 June 2023.

History

Planning

The project has been widely supported by the local population and some businesses in the area have announced plans to switch to air freight services. It is expected that the airport will create 4,000 jobs and reach 1 million passengers in 8 years, with a further 6,000 jobs being generated indirectly. Planned costs of the project were originally estimated at

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

87 million. In 2006, the Romanian State Domain Agency transferred 110 hectares of land to

Brașov County Brașov County () is a county (județ) of Transylvania, Romania. Its capital city is Brașov. The county incorporates within its boundaries most of the Medieval "lands" (''țări'') Burzenland and Făgăraș. Name In Hungarian language, Hungari ...

. Intelcan Canada was to develop and build the airport in coordination with Brașov,

Harghita Harghita County (, and , ) is a county () in the center of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Miercurea Ciuc. Demographics 2002 census In 2002, Harghita County had a population of 326,222 and a population density of ...

, and

Covasna Covasna (, , , ) is a town in Covasna County, Transylvania, Romania, at an altitude of . It is known for its natural mineral waters and mofettas. The town administers one village, Chiuruș (). The village has a population of 451 and has an abs ...

counties as well as the Ghimbav city. The airport's charter was officially signed on 14 November 2005. Intelcan inaugurated the construction of the airport on 15 April 2008. The initial target for completion was twenty-four to thirty months. However, due to legal matters and a lack of funds, the construction works had stopped and Intelcan left the project, being replaced by the local authorities.

Construction

On 18 November 2012, the Brașov County authorities signed a €12.7 million (

VAT A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

excluded) contract with Vectra Service, a local construction company, for building the runway. Eventually, construction of the airport restarted in April 2013 with the works at the runway. On 3 October 2014, the runway was officially inaugurated. The contract for the construction of the main terminal building, with a total area of , was awarded to the Romanian contractor Bog'Art Bucharest and was signed on 21 August 2019. Construction works for the passenger terminal started on 17 March 2020 and were completed by March 2021. The construction works on the entire site were finally completed in May 2023, with the total costs raising to approximately €140 million.

Air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

is provided by a remote virtual tower operated from away, in Arad.

Opening

In the first year of operations, the airport is expected to service 300,000 passengers. It is expected that the traffic at the airport will reach one million passengers by 2026, and the construction of a second terminal, or more likely an extension of the already existing building, is envisioned for 2027–2033. The airport opened on 15 June 2023. The first flight was a

TAROM TAROM (; legally ''Compania Națională de Transporturi Aeriene Române TAROM S.A.'') is the flag carrier and oldest currently operating airline of Romania, based in Otopeni near Bucharest. Its headquarters and its main hub are at Henri Coand� ...

flight from

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, operated by a

Boeing 737-700 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a twin-engine narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third-generation derivative of the Boeing 737, it has been pr ...

registered YR-BGG (TAROM's retrojet) which touched down at 08:10 in the morning. The first international flight was Dan Air flight 234 from

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, operated by an

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

registered YR-DSE.

Operations

Upon the airport starting operating, the Romanian authority for air traffic control has only been allowing flights on the site between 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM, due to the limited number of trained staff able to handle the work. Because of this situation, some carriers operating at the airport have been rerouting their flights that had been delayed outside these working hours to other airports, such as Bucharest or Sibiu. From January 2024, the airport has extended its operating schedule to 11:00 PM. The then new Romanian airline Dan Air had been the most active carrier upon the airport's opening, with a large number of routes served, yet from November 2023, they decided to move all their flights to the

Bacău Bacău ( ; , ; ; ) is the main city in Bacău County, Romania. With a population of 136,087 (as of 2021 census), Bacău is the 14th largest city in Romania. The city is situated in the historical region of Moldavia, at the foothills of the ...

airport, because of the tight operating schedule. In December 2024, Fly Lili announced the termination of all scheduled operations from Brașov by January 2025, citing insufficient business figures. As of February 2025, Brasov-Ghimbav Airport officials and representatives were reportedly panicking because the low traffic numbers call into question plans to build a second terminal originally scheduled for 2027-2029. The representatives were expecting the airport to reach 500,000 thousand passengers in 2024, however they later adjusted those projections down to 375,000. Neither of these goals were reached, the airport barely surpassing the 200,000 passenger mark in December 2024. Fly Lili's disastrous arrival, and Wizz Air withdrawing the Dortmund route affected the airport in 2024-2025, making its goals unachievable. Wizz Air announced the expansion of its Sibiu base adding 6 new routes and increasing weekly flights on 4 out of 5 currently served destinations, which will impact Brasov's Airport chance of meeting the 500,000 thousand passengers goal in 2025.wizzair.com

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate flights at Brașov-Ghimbav International Airport:

Statistics

References

External links

Official website

Brașov County Council official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brasov Airport Brasov Airports established in 2023 2023 establishments in Romania