Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport
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Aurel Vlaicu International Airport (generally known as Băneasa Airport or Bucharest City Airport) is located in
Băneasa Băneasa () is a borough () on the north side of Bucharest, in Sector 1, near the Băneasa Lake (). Like every north-side district of Bucharest, it is relatively sparsely populated, with large areas of parkland. Bordering on Băneasa Fores ...
district,
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 ...
,
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 ...
, north of the city center.EAD Basic
/ref> Named after
Aurel Vlaicu Aurel Vlaicu (; 19 November 1882 – 13 September 1913) was a Romanian engineer, inventor, airplane constructor, and early pilot.Gheorghiu, 1960 Early years and education Aurel Vlaicu was born in the village of Bințințiencenc in Transylvan ...
, a Romanian engineer, inventor, aeroplane constructor, and early pilot, it was Bucharest's only commercial airport until 1969, when the Otopeni Airport (today ''Henri Coandă International Airport'') was opened to civilian use. Until March 2012, when it was converted into a business airport, Aurel Vlaicu International was the second airport in Romania in terms of air traffic, and Bucharest's
low-cost A no-frills or no frills service or product is one for which the non-essential features have been removed to keep the price low. The term "Ruffle (sewing), frills" originally refers to a style of fabric decoration. Something offered to customers f ...
airline hub An airline hub or hub airport is an airport used by one or more airlines to concentrate passenger traffic and flight operations. Hubs serve as transfer (or stop-over) points to help get passengers to their final destination. It is part of the s ...
.


History


Foundation and early years

The first flights in the Băneasa area took place in 1909 and they were carried out by the French pilot and aviation pioneer
Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of t ...
, who flew on 18 October at the . In 1912, one of the first flight schools in Romania was opened at the Băneasa airfield by
George Valentin Bibescu George III Valentin, Prince Bibescu (; 22 March 1880 – 2 July 1941) was a Romanian early aviation pioneer and automobile enthusiast. Family His parents were Prince George Bibescu (1834–1902; son of Gheorghe Bibescu) and Valentine de Riquet ...
. This makes Băneasa airport the oldest continuously operating airport in Eastern Europe, and places it among the five oldest airports in the world. In 1922, the airport headquartered the first aviation company in Romania, and one of the earliest in the world,
CFRNA CFRNA ("The French-Romanian Company for Air Transport"; ; ) was a French Third Republic, French–Kingdom of Romania, Romanian airline, Portal:Aviation/Historical anniversaries/January in aviation/January 1, founded on 1 January 1920. Its name ch ...
(The French–Romanian Company for Air Navigation), the precursor of the Romanian national airline,
TAROM TAROM (; legally ''Compania NaÈ›ională 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 CoandÄ ...
. In 1923, CFRNA built the industrial facilities for aircraft maintenance in Băneasa. These facilities preceded the aerospace company
Romaero Romaero, formerly Intreprinderea de Reparații Material Aeronautic or IRMA ('Enterprise for the Repair of Aeronautical Material'), is a Romanian aerospace company, headquartered in the Băneasa neighborhood of Bucharest. In recent years, it has ...
. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the airport was used by both
Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
and
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
units as an aircraft repair hub and also functioned as the headquarters of the Romanian White Squadron. The airport mainly had a grass surface with a single long concrete runway built in 1942. The current terminal building was designed in the late 1940s and opened in 1952. At that time it was considered one of the finest architectural features of Bucharest. The building consists of a central dome with three distinct wings which represents an airplane propeller with three blades. During the communist period (1947–1989), Băneasa Airport was TAROM's domestic hub, while Otopeni Airport was used as an international hub. In the early 2000s (decade), TAROM moved all of its activities to Otopeni (renamed Henri Coandă International Airport).


The 2007 low cost "invasion"

The first
low cost airline A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...
established at BBU was
Blue Air Blue Air was a Romanian low-cost airline headquartered in Bucharest, with its hub at Henri Coandă International Airport. It was the largest Romanian airline by scheduled passengers flown. In 2017, Blue Air carried over 5 million passengers, ...
in 2004. From January 2007, the low-fare airlines
Wizz Air {{Infobox airline , airline = Wizz Air Holdings Plc. , IATA = , ICAO = , callsign = , aoc = , hubs = , focus_cities = , frequent_flyer = {{ubl, class=nowrap , Wizz All You Can Fly , Wizz Discount Club , Wizz Privilege Pass , ...
,
EasyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airlin ...
, and
Germanwings Germanwings GmbH was a German low-cost airline wholly owned by Lufthansa which operated under the Eurowings brand. It was based in Cologne with hubs at Cologne Bonn Airport, Stuttgart Airport, Hamburg Airport, Berlin Tegel Airport, Munich ...
started European routes from Băneasa. In 2007, the airport was closed from 10 May to 19 August for renovation works. All flights during this period were moved to
Henri Coandă International Airport Henri is the French form of the masculine given name Henry, also in Estonian, Finnish, German and Luxembourgish. Bearers of the given name include: People French nobles * Henri I de Montmorency (1534–1614), Marshal and Constable of France * ...
. Renovations included commercial areas, restaurants, a VIP lounge and a 300-space car park. The runway and lighting systems were also completely overhauled. The estimated cost was €20m.


Conversion into a business airport and reopening

In March 2012, Băneasa was dedicated to business air traffic. The last passenger air traffic was transferred to
Henri Coandă International Airport Henri is the French form of the masculine given name Henry, also in Estonian, Finnish, German and Luxembourgish. Bearers of the given name include: People French nobles * Henri I de Montmorency (1534–1614), Marshal and Constable of France * ...
on 25 March 2012. In 2017 and 2018, public talks organized by the managing company took place, suggesting that the airport may be re-opened for regular flights, following renovation works, that may be completed in two years from start. In June 2019, it was announced that the airport will reopen for commercial flights in early 2020. On 1 August 2022, the airport was re-opened after 10 years of renovation work and 110 years since it was founded. The first scheduled flight was operated on 20 April 2023, to Antalya. Interest for operating on the new airport has already been shown by airlines such as
Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...
and
FlyOne FLYONE is a privately owned Moldovan low-cost airline headquartered in Chișinău, Moldova. FLYONE was launched in 2016 and has managed in a short time to become one of the leaders of the aviation industry in Republic of Moldova. It operates sch ...
, but also from domestic carriers, such as AirConnect.


Terminals

The building is a late 1940s design, and was not built to cope with more than 600,000 passengers per year and departures every 25 minutes. As such in the few years before 2012 when the airport was closed to commercial scheduled flights, the facilities were extremely undersized and became very crowded. The building cannot be expanded, because of its status as a
historic monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...
, and because of the sheer lack of space in the airport area.


Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate flights at Aurel Vlaicu International Airport:


Statistics

From as low as 20 to 30 passengers per month in 2001–2002, BBU handled 119,000 passengers in 2004, and 2,398,911 passengers in 2011.


Bucharest International Air Show

The airport has been the set where the Bucharest International Air Show, the largest of its kind in Romania, has been taking place. In 2018, this event had its tenth edition, with 150 aircraft on the ground and on display in the air and 100 pilots and paratroopers, from 13 countries.


Ground transportation


Road

The airport is situated 8 km (5 miles) north of Bucharest city centre and is accessible by
STB State Security (, ), or StB / Å tB, was the secret police force in communist Czechoslovakia from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990. Serving as an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency, it dealt with any activity that was considered oppositio ...
buses, trams and Airport Express. Taxis and ride-sharing services are also present and accessible.


Metro

An extension of the
Bucharest Metro The Bucharest Metro () is an underground rapid transit system that serves Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It first opened for service on 16 November 1979. The network is run by Metrorex. One of two parts of the larger Transport in Bucharest, B ...
system to Aurel Vlaicu International, as Metro Line M6, which will link it to the Main Train Station and the larger Henri Coandă International Airport, was approved in June 2006 and is currently under construction.
Metrorex


See also

*
Aviation in Romania Romania has a rich tradition in aviation. At the beginning of the 20th century, pioneers such as Henri Coandă, Aurel Vlaicu, Traian Vuia and George Valentin Bibescu made important contributions to early aviation history, building revolutionary air ...
*
Transport in Romania Transportation infrastructure in Romania is the property of the state, and is administered by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Constructions and Tourism, except when operated as a concession, in which case the concessions are mad ...


References


External links


Official website

Google Map – Aerial View
{{authority control Transport in Bucharest Airports in Romania Airports established in 1912 Buildings and structures in Bucharest Historic monuments in Bucharest 1912 establishments in Romania Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command in the European Theater Aurel Vlaicu Băneasa