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Cluj-Napoca International Airport (IATA: CLJ, ICAO: LRCL) is the third airport in Romania in terms of traffic. The airport is situated outside the Cluj-Napoca city area, in an ex-municipality (Someşeni) that became a neighbourhood in the outskirts of the town after 1989. Due to the passenger and cargo traffic growth and in order to accommodate larger aircraft, there is an urgent need for investment plans in a longer runway (the existing 2,100 m runway is simply too short), related taxiways and passenger capabilities.
Access to the city
Cluj-Napoca International Airport is situated at 10 Km, east of the city center. The passengers transport is provided by:
- Taxi : At the airport exit there are taxis. Please use taxis that have taximeters and display the tariff (about 0.25 Euro/ km)
- Cars : The travel time from airport to the city center is about 20 minutes. Rent-a-car services by AUTORENT, AVIS, ZIPPO, RODNA TRANS, JETTOUR
- Buses : Bus number 8 of local transport company. Travel time is about 30 minutes. It runs every Monday-Friday from 5:30 to 22:30 every 30 minutes, and on Saturday, Sunday and on holidays, from 5:30 to 22:00.
Latest News
- The runway was extended to 2,100m from 1,850m[citation needed](source www.airportcluj.ro), the following step is to extend it to 2,500m. (More details on the "Future plans" section)
- Starting late May, Carpatair is going to fly over to Paris (Charles de Gaulle Airport) 3 times a week with a single stop on Timisoara airport
- Naples was reintroduced in the Carpatair network
- Carpatair is now operating the Rome flight on Fiumicino airport instead of Ciampino.
Airlines
Cluj-Napoca is an important airport for Romania, served by the following airlines, not including codeshare agreements.
- Carpatair - (domestic:Timişoara internatioal:Ancona, Milan-Bergamo Orio, Bologna, Budapest, Dusseldorf, Florence, Lviv, Munich, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino, Stuttgart, Treviso, Turin, Verona)
- Clubair - (Bologna, Verona)
- TAROM - (domestic:Bucharest-Otopeni international: Frankfurt, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Vienna)
At this time, the following airlines have announced their charter flights for summer 2006.
Facilities
For Passengers
- Snack Bar : Univers T offers an agreeable environment and a lot of specific food-stuff
- Exchange Office : The exchange rate of the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR)
- Rent a car : Autorent, Avis, Hertz, Rodna Trans, Jettour, Romana Impex
- ATM : BancPost and Banca Transilvania (Can be used: Master Card, Visa Card and Euro Card)
- Tourism Agency : Wens Tour
- Customs Commissionaires : Express Spedition, Napotrans, World Media Trans
- Courier Services : TNT
- Handicraft articles and publications : UAP, Vitrina Advertising
Parking
- For Passengers : 14EUR/month, 110EUR/year
- Parking fee/hour : 1RON/15min, 2.5RON/1 hour, 10RON/5 hours, 12RON/15 hours, 15RON/24 hours
- For taxis : 140EUR/semester, 240EUR/year
Accidents and Incidents
- On the 5th September 1986, at about 5 P.M., a fully-loaded Antonov 24RV aircraft departed Otopeni International Airport in Bucharest, 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 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 colleague, she decided to start deboarding 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 Hosu, 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.
- On the 21st of January 2006, at about 6:45PM, an Austrian Arrow landed in safety at Cluj-Napoca International Airport after a malfunction. The flight was on route to Vienna from Chişinău, Moldova. Nobody was hurt.
Statistics
In 2002, 4,379 flights landed at Cluj-Napoca (+6.1% from the previous year), with 130,267 passengers (+22%). Cargo activity was 90.7 tonnes of merchandise (+37%) and 15.6 metric tons of postal mail (+126.1%). All of these percentage increases were the greatest of any international airport in Romania, except for the number of flights, where Timişoara experienced 31.3% growth. The system of marking lights is the most modern and efficient in Romania. Length of runway: 1850m; width: 30m concrete with 7,5m asphalt.
In 2004, 162.668 passengers used Cluj Napoca International Airport, and in 2005, 202.556 passengers. This is an increase of 24.52%. By 2010 it is estimated that 400.000 passengers will be using CLJ, that's why a new passengers terminal (Schengen Terminal) it's going to be built
External links
