avia.wikisort.org - Aerodrome

Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport[4] (IATA: CLJ, ICAO: LRCL) is an airport serving the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Initially known as Someșeni Airport, it is located 9 km (5.6 mi) east of the city centre, in the Someșeni area, which is now within the Cluj-Napoca city limits.[2] The airport is named in honour of Romanian revolutionary Avram Iancu.

"Avram Iancu" Cluj International Airport Aeroportul Internațional „Avram Iancu” Cluj
IATA: CLJ ICAO: LRCL
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Cluj County Council
Operator	Aeroportul Internațional „Avram Iancu” Cluj R.A.
Serves	Cluj County, Romania
Focus city for	Blue Air Wizz Air
Elevation AMSL	1,036 ft / 315 m
Coordinates	46°47′06″N 023°41′10″E
Website	airportcluj.ro
Map
CLJ Location within Romania
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 07/25[1] 2,100 6,693 Concrete
Statistics (2019)
Passengers 2,923,845 Aircraft movements 24,450 Freight 3,457
Sources: Romanian AIP at EUROCONTROL,[2] newsair.ro[3]

In terms of passenger traffic, Cluj Airport is the second busiest airport in Romania, after Bucharest Henri Coandă, handling 2.9 million passengers in 2019. Its size and location (on the European route E576 and close to A3 Transylvania Motorway) make it the most important airport in the historical region of Transylvania.

History

On 15 December 1917, the County Council of Kolozsvár (today Cluj-Napoca) gave land in the settlement of Szamosfalva (today the Someșeni district of Cluj-Napoca) in order to develop a military airport.[5] The first passenger plane landed on 2 August 1928.[6] The Cluj Airport was founded on 1 April 1932 by the Romanian Ministry of Industry and Trade.[7] Until the civil airport was built, the first operations used the Someșeni Military Aerodrome that was founded by the Romanian National Service of Air Navigation (Romanian: Serviciul Național de Navigație Aerianǎ SNNA) in 1928. The SNNA was set up by the Romanian Ministry of War for opening an air transportation line between Cluj and Bucharest. The first aircraft used was the Farman-Goliath aircraft, a twin-engine plane with space for ten passengers built by the Farman Aviation Works.^{[citation needed]}

In 1933, Cluj Airport was declared an International Airport by the Romanian Government. The first international flight, a CSA Czech Airlines Prague-Cluj-Bucharest flight, took place on 11 September 1933. The aircraft used on this route were eight-seat Avia-Fokker aircraft. In the following years, several new routes were opened, such as the Aeroflot Moscow-Cluj-Prague flight, opened on 15 November 1935, which was operated with 14-seat McDonnell Douglas DC-2 twin-engine aircraft, registered as USSR-M25 and USSR-M26. Internal flights were also operated in this period, such as Cluj-Satu-Mare and Cernăuţi-Cluj-Arad using Lockheed Model 10 Electra ten-passenger aircraft and de Havilland Dragon Rapide aircraft. In the late 1930s, the airport recorded steady growth and the employees' number rose from 6 in 1934 to 16 in 1939. The passenger terminal was also built in this period, being inaugurated in 1939.^{[citation needed]}

During World War II, the airport became again a military airport, as it was considered to be the most important in Transylvania. In 1940, as a result of the Second Vienna Award, Northern Transylvania (including Cluj) was ceded to Hungary and thus the airport was used by the Hungarian Air Force and German Luftwaffe. Malert airline also operated flights to Budapest during these years. In October 1944, the Hungarian forces in the city were defeated by the Romanian and Soviet armies. By the time of the reconquest of the airport by the Romanian No. 4 Fighting Squadron Focşani, in late September 1944, the airport was completely destroyed.

After the war, the airport's operations were resumed with TAROM internal flights connecting Cluj to other major Romanian cities. The aircraft used were the Lisunov Li-2 / Douglas DC-3 and Ilyushin Il-14 aircraft.

In the 1960s, an extensive modernization of the airport began. In 1969, a new passenger terminal was opened. By 1970, the airport was fully equipped with all of the safety facilities.

The airport remained a domestic airport until September 1996, when it was once again opened to both international passenger and cargo traffic. The extension of the terminal building was also started in 1996 and since August 1997, it is run by the Cluj County Council. By 2001, the extension of the airport building was finished, the runway lighting system was modernized, and an Instrument Landing System (ILS) CAT I equipment was implemented.

In 2007 and 2008, the airport posted year-over-year growth of 60% and 93% respectively, reaching over 750,000 passengers in 2008.[8]

The construction of a new terminal, capable of handling 2 million passengers annually, started on 26 June 2007. The 10,812 m² (116,380 sq ft) arrivals hall was inaugurated on May 22, 2008,[9] followed by the new departures hall, with a total area of 16,000 m² (170,000 sq ft), inaugurated in May 2009.[10] The connecting building between the two terminals was inaugurated in November 2009. The total project cost was an estimated €40 million.[10][11] In February 2009, the ILS equipment was upgraded to CAT II.

Cluj Airport exceeded the 1,000,000 passenger mark in 2010.[12] On 8 September 2011, the construction works for building a new runway of 2,100 m (6,890 ft) began. The works represented the first phase of the investment that aims at a take-off/landing runway of 3,500 m (11,483 ft).[13] The new runway 07/25 officially went into operation on 26 October 2013.[14] The old runway 08/26 became a taxiway, after the new runway opened.[1]

In 2014, ROMATSA held a competition for the creation of a new control tower for Cluj-Napoca Airport. Of the 22 projects that were submitted in the competition,[15] as winner the project of Outline Architecture Office was chosen,[16] an architectural design office based in Bucharest. The tower resembles a tulnic and will have a height of 42 m. The costs for the construction of the new control tower will be borne by ROMATSA.[17]

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Cluj-Napoca:[18][19]

Airlines	Destinations
Aeroexpress Regional	Budapest,[20] Debrecen[20]
Air Bucharest[21]	Seasonal charter: Antalya, Hurghada
Air Connect	Budapest (begins 28 March 2023),[22][23] Constanta (begins 22 June 2023)[22]
Animawings[24]	Seasonal: Heraklion, Rhodes Seasonal charter: Hurghada[19]
Corendon Airlines	Seasonal: Antalya[25]
HiSky[26]	Bucharest,[27] Dublin, Tel Aviv (begins 8 December 2022)[28] Seasonal charter: Antalya,[29] Hurghada,[29] Monastir,[29] Sharm El Sheikh[29]
LOT Polish Airlines	Warsaw–Chopin
Lufthansa	Frankfurt, Munich
Ryanair	Dublin,[30] London–Stansted
TAROM	Bucharest
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul
Wizz Air[31]	Alicante, Barcelona, Bari, Basel/Mulhouse, Beauvais, Bergamo, Berlin, Billund, Birmingham, Bologna, Catania, Charleroi, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund, Eindhoven, Hahn, Larnaca, Leeds/Bradford,[32] Liverpool, London–Luton, Lyon, Madrid, Málaga, Malmö, Memmingen, Naples,[33] Nuremberg, Perugia (begins 14 December 2022),[34] Rome–Ciampino, Tel Aviv, Treviso, Turin,[33] Valencia, Vienna, Zaragoza Seasonal: Abu Dhabi, Chania,[35] Corfu,[33] Malta,[36] Nice,[36] Zakynthos[37]

Statistics

Annual revenue passenger, aircraft movements and cargo statistics[3][38][39]

Year	Passengers (% change from prior year)	Movements (% change from prior year)	Tones (% change from prior year)
2004	162,668(+34.4%)	6,697(+52.9%)	138(+29.8%)
2005	202,556(+24.5%)	8,018(+19.7%)	213(+54.3%)
2006	244,366(+20.6%)	8,904(+11.1%)	187(-12.2%)
2007	390,521(+59.8%)	9,206(+3.4%)	254(+35.8%)
2008	752,181(+92.6%)	12,025(+30.6%)	413(+62.6%)
2009	834,400(+10.9%)	13,489(+12.2%)	385(-6.8%)
2010	1,028,907(+23.3%)	16,352(+21.2%%)	354(-8.1%)
2011	1,004,855(-2.3%)	14,064(-13.9%)	744(+101.7%)
2012	931,999(-7.2%)	0(0)	885(+18.9%)
2013	1,036,438(+11.2%)	11,743	1,262(+42.6%)
2014	1,182,047(+14.0%)	12,710(+8.2%)	1,332(+5.5%)
2015	1,487,603(+25.8%)	14,667(+15.4%)	1,680(+26.1%)
2016	1,880,171(+26.5%)	19,152(+30.6%)	2,100(+25%)
2017	2,699,286(+43.6%)	24,476(+27.8%)	2,927(+39%)
2018	2,782,401(+3.1%)	23,880(-2.4%)	2,986(+2%)
2019	2,923,845(+4.9%)	24,450(+2.4%)	3,457(+15.8%)
2020	906,651(-68.9%)	12,307(-49.6%)	3,904(+12.9%)
2021	1,463,207(+61.4%)	17,540(+42.5%)	5,670(+45.2%)

Monthly traffic figures (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2022)[40][41]

Month	2018	2019	Change 2019 vs. 2018	2020	Change 2020 vs. 2019	2021	Change 2021 vs. 2020	2022	Change 2022 vs. 2021	YTD (2022)
January	182,333	185,431	1.7%	190,848	2.9%	40,321	78.9%	107,538	166.7%	107,538
February	173,890	177,633	2.2%	180,148	1.4%	29,333	83.7%	92,718	216.1%	200,256
March	203,030	200,022	1.5%	85,204	57.4%	37,954	55.5%	133,304	251.2%	333,560
April	231,369	234,610	1.4%	14,370	93.9%	64,437	348.4%	222,519	245.3%	556,079
May	242,150	259,347	7.1%	14,730	94.3%	83,300	465.5%	241,694	190.1%	797,773
June	266,085	280,557	5.4%	18,710	93.3%	130,314	596.6%	262,709	101.6%	1,060,482
July	296,094	304,585	2.9%	83,953	72.4%	216,829	158.3%	295,549	36.3%	1,356,031
August	296,242	312,214	5.4%	100,311	67.9%	249,863	149.1%	338,127	35.3%	1,694,158
September	277,735	295,643	6.4%	83,277	71.8%	223,490	148.5%	286,280	28.1%	1,980,438
October	245,972	262,055	6.5%	56,927	78.3%	152,400	167.7%
November	179,725	205,780	14.5%	28,375	86.2%	103,870	264.6%
December	187,776	205,967	7.5%	49,798	75.8%	131,096	208.8%

Busiest routes from Avram Iancu International Airport (2018)

Rank	Airport	Passengers	Carriers
1	Bucharest	490,428	Blue Air, TAROM, Wizz Air
2	London - Luton	315,630	Blue Air, Wizz Air
3	Munich	163,917	Lufthansa
4	Bergamo	110,588	Wizz Air
5	Paris - Beauvais	101,013	Wizz Air
6	Barcelona	93,467	Vueling, Wizz Air
7	Bologna	77,194	Wizz Air
8	Rome - Ciampino Airport	69,914	Wizz Air
9	Charleroi	69,507	Wizz Air
10	Madrid	66,463	Wizz Air
11	Dortmund	66,453	Wizz Air
12	Tel Aviv - Ben Gurion Airport	65,944	Blue Air, Wizz Air
13	Eindhoven	50,554	Wizz Air
14	Dublin	48,930	Blue Air
15	Frankfurt am Main Airport	48,732	Lufthansa
16	Basel/Mulhouse Airport	45,367	Wizz Air
17	Valencia	43,355	Wizz Air
18	Zaragoza	43,198	Wizz Air
Source: Eurostat

Busiest routes by country from Avram Iancu International Airport (2018)

Rank	Country	Passengers 2018	Carriers
1	Romania	506,783	Blue Air, TAROM, Wizz Air
2	Germany	443,020	Lufthansa, Wizz Air
3	United Kingdom	392,728	Wizz Air
4	Italy	314,457	Wizz Air
5	Spain	299,383	Wizz Air
6	France	115,383	Blue Air, Wizz Air
Source: Eurostat

Ground transportation

The airport is located 8 km (5.0 mi) east of the city centre on the European route E576. The drive from the city centre takes about 20 minutes. CTP Cluj Napoca, the local public transport company, operates its Route No. 8 that connects the airport with the Mihai Viteazul Square in the City Center and trolleybus No. 5 to the Main Rail Station.

Accidents and incidents

• On 5 September 1986 at about 19:45, a fully loaded Antonov An-24RV aircraft departed Bucharest Otopeni Airport, bound for Cluj-Napoca. When the landing procedure began, one of the flight attendants, Aurelia Grigore, realized that the aircraft was landing at higher than normal speed. When the main landing gear touched the ground, it bounced repeatedly until the aircraft stopped. The front of the aircraft was on fire. Grigore realized they had an emergency situation. With her flight attendant colleague, she decided to start deplaning passengers. She opened the emergency exit and she let the stairs down, but the stairs weren't touching the ground because the front gear was broken. She was helped by Emil Hossu, a famous actor. "He was one of the few people that didn't panic and helped us evacuate the aircraft in safety", said Grigore. After evacuating the passengers they returned to help the pilots who were trapped in the cockpit. "The cockpit was on fire and we lost any faith that we could save them". The next moments were horrible for all passengers and flight crew. The aircraft was destroyed by flames and with the pilots still on board. After 10 minutes, they saw one of the copilots trying to escape through a window. "He told us his foot was stuck and that he couldn't get it out. We tried to help him, but we couldn't. Finally, he managed to get out of the aircraft on fire. He was completely burned, you couldn't even look at him. It was terrible. The other 2 pilots burned alive as we watched them, helpless". The copilot died also. He was transported to the ER but died the next day because of the burns. The authorities said that the accident was due to an equipment malfunction. The 3 pilots were the only casualties.[42]
• On 7 January 2016, a Blue Air Boeing 737-400, reg. YR-BAS, skidded off the runway after landing. No injuries were reported amongst the 116 passengers and crew. The accident's cause was the performance of an extended flare flight, followed by the runway touchdown at a distance of about 2300 ft. (approx. 700 m) measured from runway threshold 25. The wet snow layer present on the runway may have contributed to the accident.[43]

See also

• List of the busiest airports in Romania
• Airports in Romania
• Aviation in Romania
• Transport in Romania

References

External links

Media related to Cluj-Napoca International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Google Maps - aerial view
• Accident history for CLJ at Aviation Safety Network

На других языках

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[de] Flughafen Cluj

Der Flughafen Avram Iancu, Cluj (IATA-Code CLJ, ICAO-Code LRCL; rumänisch Aeroportul Internațional Avram Iancu Cluj (AIAIC)) ist ein Flughafen bei Cluj-Napoca (Klausenburg) in der Region Siebenbürgen in Rumänien. Er ist der drittwichtigste Verkehrsflughafen des Landes und liegt 9 km östlich der Stadt im Vorort Someșeni. Der Name "Avram Iancu" bezieht sich auf einen Revolutionär aus dieser Region im 19. Jahrhundert.

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- [en] Cluj International Airport

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[es] Aeropuerto de Cluj-Napoca

El Aeropuerto de Cluj-Napoca (IATA: CLJ, OACI: LRCL) sirve a la ciudad de Cluj-Napoca, Rumanía. Fue originalmente conocido como Aeropuerto de Someşeni puesto que se encuentra a 8 km este de la población en la región de Someşeni, que está actualmente dentro de los límites de la ciudad de Cluj-Napoca. En términos de tráfico, es el cuarto aeropuerto de Rumanía, tras Bucarest Henri Coandă, Bucharest Aurel Vlaicu y Timişoara. Su tamaño y ubicación lo convierten en el principal aeropuerto de Transilvania (noroeste de Rumanía).

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[fr] Aéroport international de Cluj-Napoca

L'Aéroport international de Cluj-Napoca (en roumain: Aeroportul Internațional Cluj-Napoca) (code IATA : CLJ • code OACI : LRCL) dessert la ville de Cluj-Napoca, tout comme la région nord-ouest et centre de la Roumanie, soit la Transylvanie. Situé à 9 km à l'est du centre-ville, il est le quatrième aéroport roumain en termes de trafic de passagers, devancé par les deux aéroports de Bucarest (OTP et BBU) et légèrement par l'aéroport de Timișoara (TSR).

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[it] Aeroporto di Cluj-Avram Iancu

L'Aeroporto di Cluj[3] (IATA: CLJ, ICAO: LRCL), chiamato Cluj International Airport, in romeno Aeroportul Internațional Avram Iancu Cluj, è un aeroporto romeno situato a 9 km ad est dal centro di Cluj-Napoca, sulla strada europea E576 (in direzione Dej), a circa 20 km ad est della A3 ed a circa 1 km del tangenziale est della città che fa da collegamento con la E60 a sud-est di Cluj. Quarto aeroporto rumeno per numero di passeggeri alla fine del 2009, superato solo dai due aeroporti di Bucarest (OTP e BBU) e da quello di Timișoara, l'aeroporto di Cluj serve tutto il nord-ovest ed il centro del Paese, cioè la Transilvania. L'aeroporto è intitolato al patriota transilvano Avram Iancu (1824-1872) protagonista della Rivoluzione Transilvana.

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