Craiova Airport

Aeroportul Internațional Craiova
Characteristics
ICAO code	LRCV
IATA code	CRA
Coordinates	44 ° 19 '5 "  N , 23 ° 53' 19"  E Coordinates: 44 ° 19 '5 "  N , 23 ° 53' 19"  E
Height above MSL	191 m (627  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	7 km east of Craiova , Romania
Street	65
train	No
Local transport	bus
Basic data
opening	1938
operator	Local government
Terminals	1
Start-and runway
09/27	2500 m × 45 m concrete

The Craiova airport , in English Craiova Airport or Craiova International Airport , in Romanian Aeroportul Craiova or Aeroportul Internaţional Craiova is an international airport in Romania in the city of Craiova .

The airport is located on the eastern outskirts of Craiova on expressway 65 (Bucharest – Craiova), about 7 kilometers east of the city center in Dolj County . The airport can be reached by private car, taxi or bus.

history

Craiova airport dates back to 1938 when the Romanian King Charles II ordered the construction of an airport near Craiova. It should improve the traffic development of Craiova and the surrounding area and in the event of war it should also be used for military purposes. The airport was built quickly, opened in 1938 and was also used by military aircraft during the Second World War. At the time, the airport was built very simply, with a 1000 meter long and 200 meter wide unpaved runway and very few facilities.

It took several years before civil traffic came to Craiova, which could also have been due to the condition. After the change of power after the Second World War and the beginning of the global growth situation of the airport infrastructures, the airport near Craiova was also expanded considerably. So between 1950 and 1952 a 2000 meter long and 60 meter wide concrete runway was built . In addition, the facilities at the airport were expanded and some were newly built. After this work and the increased demand for passenger flights, the opening flight of the first scheduled flight connection from Craiova was celebrated on May 6, 1957. From then on, regular flights from the Romanian state carrier TAROM to the Romanian capital Bucharest started in Craiova .

In addition to the connection to Bucharest, which was flown exclusively with Ilyushin Il-14 between 1959 and 1972 , other aircraft occasionally landed on the airfield. In the decades after the start of scheduled flight operations, minor modifications and expansion measures were carried out at the airport. In the 1960s, for example, the runway was lengthened by 500 to 2500 meters and a concrete runway, which is no longer used today, was built with a length of 380 and a width of 14 meters. In 1972 an Antonov An-24 was used next to the Ilyushin Il-14 for the first time on the route to Bucharest . In the following years, mainly new passenger facilities were built at the airport.

As a result of the Romanian Revolution in 1989 and its impact on the economy, the airport's heyday came to an end when TAROM radically cut its flight schedule and frequencies and cut many domestic connections. The last TAROM flight to Bucharest took off from Craiova in 1995. The airport fell into a kind of deep sleep; in addition to a few rarely performed charter flights, no flights were made at the airport.

The first line connection after the connection was discontinued in 1995 was taken on March 29, 2007, when the local Carpatair took up a connection to Timișoara , also in Romania . From Timișoara, Carpatair offers a variety of connections to numerous European destinations. Carpatair later opened two international flight connections.

Expansion plans

For the future, those responsible at the airport are planning, among other things, to expand the existing terminal, expand the runway from currently 2500 to 3500 or 4000 meters and upgrade the instrument landing system (ILS) of the runway from Cat I to Cat II. The fire protection category is also to be increased.

Flight connections

Craiova Airport is currently being served by Wizz Air as a scheduled service directly to Rome (Ciampino), Milan (Bergamo), Barcelona, ​​London (Luton) and, from March 2017, Cologne / Bonn. Ryanair also flies to Valencia.

Web links

• Side of the airport (English, Romanian)
• Airport data from World Aero Data (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Location of the airport ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ History of the airport on the airport website ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Routes from Craiova ( Memento of the original from April 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Expansion plans for the airport ( memento of the original from April 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Video animation about the airport ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.