Cluj-Napoca International Airport

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Cluj-Napoca International Airport

IATA: CLJ - ICAO: LRCL
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Consiliul Judeţean Cluj
Serves		Cluj-Napoca
Elevation AMSL		1,036 ft (316 m)
Coordinates		46°47′06″N, 23°41′10″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
08/26	6,070	2,100	Concrete

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.

1 City access
2 Latest News
3 Airlines and destinations
4 Facilities
5 Accidents and Incidents
6 Statistics
7 See also
8 External links
9 References

[edit] City access

Cluj-Napoca International Airport is situated 10 km east of the city center. The passengers’ ground 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)
Private cars: The travel time from airport to the city center is about 20 minutes. Car rental is available from Autorent, Avis, Hertz, Sixt, Zippo, Rodna Trans, Jettour/Europcar
Buses: Route 8 of local transport company. Travel time is about 30 minutes. It runs Monday-Friday from 5:30 to 22:30 every 30 minutes, and Saturday, Sunday and holidays from 5:30 to 22:00.

[edit] Latest News

Blue Air is going to start flying to Valencia as well. This is the second Blue Air destination from Cluj. Until now Blue Air was operating flights to Valencia from Targu Mures, but now, after Cluj Napoca airport developed and the runway was extended they decided to continue this service from Cluj
Starting 29 October 2006, Blue Air (the only Romanian low-cost carrier) is going to operate flights to Bucharest (Baneasa International Airport). This is the first low-cost carrier to operate from Cluj Napoca International Airport.
The runway was extended to 2,100 m from 1,850 m^{[citation needed]}(source www.airportcluj.ro). It is to be extended again to 2,500 m.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

Cluj-Napoca is an important airport in Romania, served by the following airlines:

Blue Air (Bucharest-Baneasa, Valencia)
Carpatair (Budapest, Timişoara)
Club Air (Bologna, Verona)
Nouvelair (Monastir) seasonal
Tarom (Bucharest-Otopeni, Frankfurt, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Vienna)

[edit] 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)
Car rental: Autorent, Avis, Hertz, Rodna Trans, Jettour, Romana Impex
ATM: BancPost and Banca Transilvania (accepts MasterCard, Visa)
Tourism agency: Wens Tour
Customs commissionaires: Express Spedition, Napotrans, World Media Trans
Courier service: TNT
Handicraft articles and publications: UAP, Vitrina Advertising

Parking

Short-term: 1 RON/15min, 2.5 RON/1 hour, 10 RON/5 hours, 12 RON/15 hours, 15 RON/24 hours
Long-term: 14 €/month, 110 €/year
Taxis: 140 €/semester, 240 €/year

[edit] Accidents and Incidents

On the 5th September 1986, at about 17:00, 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 18:45, an Austrian Arrow landed safely at Cluj-Napoca International Airport after a malfunction. The flight was on route to Vienna from Chişinău, Moldova. Nobody was hurt.

[edit] 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 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: 1850 m; width: 30 m; concrete with 7.5 m 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 use CLJ. A new passenger terminal (Schengen Terminal) is planned.