Craiova International Airport (IATA: CRA, ICAO: LRCV) is located in the south-western part of Romania, 7 km (4.3 mi) east[3] of Craiova municipality, one of Romania's largest cities. The airport area is the headquarters of Avioane Craiova (formerly known as IRAv Craiova), the company which built the Romanian IAR-93 and IAR-99 aircraft.

History

The airport was established in 1938 following a decree issued by King Carol II. Through the decree, the airport was meant to be used both as a public airport and a military one in case of war. The airport had a dirt runway with dimensions of 1000×200 m. Between 1950 and 1952, a 2,000 m (6,600 ft) concrete runway, as well as the first airport facilities were constructed. On 6 May 1957, Li-2 aircraft began flying on the Craiova - Bucharest route. The control tower was built in 1959, and between 1959 and 1972 the runway was extended to 2,500 m (8,200 ft). Between 1972 and 1989, other airport facilities were built.[6]

From 1995, the airport was opened to domestic and international traffic, serving only charter flights.[6] A new terminal was opened at Craiova airport in December 2010.[7] Runway renovation works took place in summer 2015. Since July 2014, Craiova Airport is the base for Wizz Air which serves 7 destinations in 4 countries. In March 2018, Ryanair announced it would terminate all services at Craiova by October 2018[8] which had operated since November 2016 and consisted of a single route to Valencia.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Craiova Airport:[9]

AirlinesDestinations
AlbaStar Seasonal charter: Palma de Mallorca (begins 11 June 2025)[10]
AlMasria Universal Airlines Seasonal charter: Hurghada (begins 10 June 2025)[11]
Animawings Seasonal charter: Antalya (begins 9 June 2025),[12] Heraklion (begins 5 June 2025)[13]
Cyprus Airways Seasonal charter: Larnaca (begins 17 June 2025)[14]
HiSky Seasonal charter: Heraklion (begins 16 June 2025)[15]
Nouvelair Seasonal charter: Monastir (begins 17 June 2025)[16]
Sky Express Seasonal charter: Heraklion (begins 16 June 2025)[17]
TAROM Seasonal charter: Antalya (begins 9 June 2025),[18] Rhodes (begins 12 June 2025)[19]
Wizz Air[20] Bari (begins 2 June 2025),[21] Bergamo, Birmingham, Bologna, Charleroi, Dortmund (resumes 2 June 2025),[21] London–Luton, Madrid (begins 1 June 2025),[22] Memmingen (begins 1 June 2025),[21] Rome–Ciampino

Statistics

Passengers

Year Passengers Change Aircraft movements Change
2007 5,133
Steady
Steady
Steady
2008 12,988 153% Increase
Steady
Steady
2009 15,130 16.4% Increase
Steady
Steady
2010 23,629 56.1% Increase
Steady
Steady
2011 32,006 35.4% Increase
Steady
Steady
2012 29,626 7.4% Decrease 3,394
Steady
2013 40,291 35.9%Increase 2,246 33.9%Decrease
2014 138,886 244.7%Increase 3,506 56.1%Increase
2015 116,947 15.8%Decrease 2,999 14.5%Decrease
2016 222,320 90.1%Increase 4,018 33.9%Increase
2017 447,227 101.1%Increase 5,960 48.3%Increase
2018 493,056 10.2%Increase 6,793 14%Increase
2019 514,544 4.3%Increase 6,779 0.2%Decrease
2020[1] 159,552 68.9%Decrease 3,758 44.5%Decrease
2021[1] 191,510 20.0%Increase 5,260 39.6%Increase

Routes

Busiest Routes from Craiova International Airport (2019)
Rank Airport Passengers
1 United Kingdom London - Luton
142,678
2 Italy Bergamo
84,970
3 Italy Rome - Ciampino Airport
43,856
4 Spain Madrid
40,183
5 Italy Bologna
35,368

Military use

Main article: Craiova Air Base
Retired MiG-21 and IAR-93 aircraft at the base in 1996

Between 1940 and 2004 the airport was used as a military air base. During the Cold War, the 67th Fighter Aviation Regiment was headquartered at Craiova. It was equipped with MiG-15 and MiG-17 fighters, as well as IAR 93 ground attack aircraft. From 1991, the MiG-15s and 17s were replaced with MiG-21s. The 322nd Aviation Maintenance Centre also functioned at the base between 1970 and 2004.

Ground transportation

The airport is connected to the city via bus route 9 (Metro-Central Market-Craiovița Nouă) of the public transport company RAT Craiova. There is a station in front of the airport with all-day service time.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Situaţii statistice de aeroport pentru perioada 2017 – 2021" (PDF) (in Romanian).
  2. ^ https://airportaar.ro/comunicat-de-presa-traficul-de-pasageri-inregistrat-de-aeroporturile-din-romania-in-2024
  3. ^ a b EAD Basic
  4. ^ Craiova Airport in 2013 Archived 8 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine at newsair.ro (in Romanian)
  5. ^ ORDIN 169/1.801. Planul national de actiune privind reducerea emisiilor de gaze cu efect de seră în domeniul aviatiei civile Archived 17 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine (in Romanian)
  6. ^ a b "Istoric". aeroportcraiova.ro (in Romanian).
  7. ^ "Craiova: Noul terminal de plecări al aeroportului va fi inaugurat peste două săptămâni" [The New Terminal of the Airport Will be Inaugurated in Two Weeks]. Adevarul. 25 November 2010.
  8. ^ "Ryanair to stop flights from Oradea and Craiova, after closing Timisoara base". 16 March 2018.
  9. ^ "Craiova Airport flight schedule".. Retrieved on 6 August 2022.
  10. ^ https://aeroportcraiova.ro/zboruri-charter/
  11. ^ https://aeroportcraiova.ro/zboruri-charter/
  12. ^ https://aeroportcraiova.ro/zboruri-charter/
  13. ^ https://aeroportcraiova.ro/zboruri-charter/
  14. ^ https://aeroportcraiova.ro/zboruri-charter/
  15. ^ https://aeroportcraiova.ro/zboruri-charter/
  16. ^ https://aeroportcraiova.ro/zboruri-charter/
  17. ^ https://aeroportcraiova.ro/zboruri-charter/
  18. ^ https://aeroportcraiova.ro/zboruri-charter/
  19. ^ https://aeroportcraiova.ro/zboruri-charter/
  20. ^ "Wizz Air".[full citation needed]
  21. ^ a b c "Southern Romania: Wizz Air announces additional routes from Craiova".
  22. ^ Liu, Jim (17 January 2025). "Wizz Air NS25 Network Additions – 16JAN25". AeroRoutes. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  23. ^ "RAT-Craiova bus schedule". Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craiova_Airport
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