History: Cluj Napoca International Airport CLJ LRCL

Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport, IATA: CLJ, ICAO: LRCL is an airport in Cluj Napoca, Romania. It serves the city of Cluj Napoca and its surroundings. The airport is located at about 8 km (5 mi) east of the city centre just north of the former village of Someseni (now part of Cluj Napoca).

Currently Cluj International Airport is the second busiest airport in Romania after Bucharest Hendri Coanda Airport. In 2015 it handled 1.48 million passengers and 1680 tonnes of cargo.

History

In the 21st century

On 8 September 2011, the construction of a new runway of 2100 m (6890 ft) began. This is part of a new investment in two phases that aims at a take-off/landing runway of 3500 m (11483 ft) On 26 October 2013 the new runway 07/25 officially went into operation while the old runway 08/26 became a taxiway.

Development

Current status

Terminals

Airlines and destinations

Currently the following airlines operate to and from Cluj Napoca Airport:

Airline	Destinations
Aegean Airlines	Seasonal charter: Heraklion
Air Bucharest	Seasonal charter: Antalya
AtlasGlobal	Istanbul Ataturk Seasonal charter: Antalya
Blue Air	Birmingham (starts 16 December 2016), Bucharest, Dublin, Iasi International Airport IAS LRIA (begins 1 October 2016)), Liverpool, Timisoara Traian Vuia International Airport TSR LRTR Seasonal charter: Antalya, Bodrum, Corfu, Heraklion, Zakynthos
Corendon Airlines	Seasonal charter: Antalya
LOT Polish Airlines	Warsaw
Lufthansa Regional operated by Air Dolomiti	Munich
Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa Cityline	Munich
Pegasus Airlines	Seasonal charter: Antalya
TAROM	Bucharest, Vienna Seasonal charter : Chania, Santorini, Skiathos, Zakynthos
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul Ataturk
Vueling	Barcelona (only in summer)
Wizz Air	Alicante , Barcelona, Basel Mulhouse, Beauvais Tille, Berlin, Billund, Bucharest, Cologne, Doncaster Sheffield, Dortmund, Dubai, Eindhoven , London Luton, Madrid, Malaga, Malmo , Memmingen, Milan Orio al Serio, Nuremberg , Rome Ciampino, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion, Valencia, Venice Treviso, Zaragoza Seasonal: Palma de Mallorca

Timeline of route changes and announcements at Cluj Napoca International Airport

Cargo

Airport statistics

Year	Passengers	Tonnes of cargo	Aircraft movements
2015	1,487,603 (+25,8%)	1680 (+26,1%)	14,667

Surface access

Road

Rail

There is no railway station near the airport but for getting to the airport you can take the train to Cluj Napoca Railway Station and from there you can use taxi or bus (line 5). From the airport you can use taxi or the same bus (no. 5) to get to the railway station.

Bus

The airport is served by two bus lines: Line (route) No. 8 operated by CTP from Mihai Viteazul Square.
The second (newer) line is Line (route) No. 5 operated also by CTP. This line connects the railway station to the airport.

The buses stop at 100 m (330 ft) from the airport terminal building. After leaving the terminal building walk 50 meters to the main road in front of the airport, turn right walk 50 meters again and there should be a bus stop.

The buses run every 15-30 minutes from 5.30 in the morning until 22.00 in the evening. The ride takes approximatively 30 minutes and costs about 0.5 euros (2 RON) one-way. In Cluj Napoca all bus tickets are 2 fare tickets (you can use a ticket on two separate journeys) and cost 0.9 euros (4 RON).

Taxi

There are lots of taxis usually in front of the airport. You must pay attention to which taxi you choose because some use very high tariffs. Usually the fare should cost 5-6 euros (20-25 RON/lei) and the taxi should have displayed visibly the fare cost per kilometre (usually 2 RON). Anything that is above this is too high.

Accidents and incidents

• 7 January 2016 - A Blue Air charter flight from Bucharest Henri Coanda to Barcelona El Prat with a stopover at Cluj Napoca International Airport experienced a runway excursion on landing. During descent the aircraft encountered heavy snow fall and fog and after the landing the aircraft overrun the end of the runway by about 15 meters and stopped with all wheels on the paved surface of the runway end safety area (RESA). There were no injuries and the aircraft did not receive any visible damage. As a result of the incident the airport was closed and some flights diverted to Sibiu while other later flights flew holding patterns over the runway until about 14.00 hours when the runway was reopened and the 3 planes in holding landed safely.

Further reading

Airports in Romania
Cluj Napoca