The evolution of passenger traffic
Looking back at the last 15 years of the Cluj airport's history, at the level of 2023, passenger air traffic registered at the Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport increased approximately 4,3 times, compared to the traffic registered in 2008. The exceptions to the traffic progression they do it in 2020 and 2021, when there were significant decreases in air traffic, in the context of the pandemic with the new SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus. Air traffic data from recent years, as well as the impressive figures recorded in 2023, the best year in the history of the airline, underline the fact that the Cluj airport has become more and more attractive for passengers over time, and the strategic partnerships with various air operators played a particularly important role in this success.
The country's first regional airport
Cluj International Airport is the most important air gateway in the Northwest region of Romania.
As a first-class medium-sized airport located in a region in full economic development with a particular appetite for business and leisure traffic, Cluj International Airport has demonstrated the ability to take advantage of the potential of its catchment area and has become, in the last two decades, one of the airports with the most spectacular evolution of passenger traffic in Romania.
If in 1996 the plans to develop the airport at a traffic level of 36.000 passengers seemed impossible to achieve, the dynamic approach of its management towards the modernization and development of the airport infrastructure over the last 27 years, led to the achievement of a historical threshold of over 3,2 million passengers in 2023 and granted Cluj International Airport the worthy status - a model of best practices and a reference airport in South-Eastern Europe.
In its evolution, the Cluj airport experienced permanent development and modernization in order to synchronize with the dynamics of air traffic, with the increasingly advanced performance of aircraft, with the demands of passengers and with national regulations, respectively international civil aviation standards.
In the years 2017, 2018 and 2019, the International Airport Avram Iancu Cluj registered a record traffic of approximately 3 million passengers annually, who chose to travel to 45 destinations from 20 countries, flights being operated by 10 airlines.
At the level of 2021, in the context of the SARS CoV-2 pandemic which seriously affected air traffic, the International Airport Avram Iancu Cluj kept its first position in the ranking of regional airports in Romania, with approximately 1.460.000 passengers, and occupied the 2nd place in the top of airports in Romania, after Compania Națională București.
At the end of 2021, the International Airport Avram Iancu Cluj was designated as the first for Romania, the best airport in Europe for less than 5 million passengers a year, during the 17th edition of the annual ACI Europe Awards Gala, held in Geneva. The event took place on the occasion of the 31st Congress and General Assembly of the International Council of Airports - Europe region (ACI EUROPE), which brought together leaders from the air transport industry from 55 countries. This prestigious award confirms the successful management of the activity during an unprecedented global crisis and at the same time completes the track record of the Cluj airport, appreciated internationally.
At the level of 2022, the management of Cluj International Airport has made considerable efforts in order to achieve the main objectives of the airport, namely the recovery of passenger traffic recorded before the pandemic, the consolidation of cargo traffic, the maintenance of current destinations, the resumption of suspended or canceled ones, as well as the identification of some new opportunities regarding the development of the route network as soon as possible.
The year 2023 represented the best year in the history of the director in terms of registered passenger traffic (with a total traffic of 3.240.750 passengers), and this achievement marks not only a significant increase in passenger volumes, but also a consolidation of the position International Airport Avram Iancu Cluj among competing airports in the Transylvania region, thus reflecting the airport's commitment to providing high-quality services and offering a pleasant experience to its passengers.
In the moon august 2024, International Airport Avram Iancu Cluj reached, for a sixth time in its history, the threshold of 2 million registered passengers in a calendar year. This achievement underlines the steady growth of air traffic at the airport. In addition, according to air traffic forecasts, by the end of 2024, the airport will once again exceed the 3 million passenger mark in a single year, thus continuing the upward trend of airport activity.
Attracting airlines to operate new destinations, increasing operating frequencies, modernizing and developing the infrastructure, as well as developing collaboration with national and international air transport bodies: ICAO, IATA, ACI Europe, ROMATSA, MTI is also a priority. , AACR, EASA, the Association of Romanian Airports and other institutions, bodies and associations in the field of airport activity.
Development of air traffic at the International Airport Avram Iancu Cluj in the last 2 decades has decisively contributed to the rise of the city of Cluj-Napoca as a pole of economic, social, academic, medical, sports or cultural-artistic development of Romania, so that the intensification of socio-cultural exchanges with Europe and the international environment have had a positive influence development of the region.
International Airport Avram Iancu Cluj serves an extended coverage area with a population of up to 4 million people, within a radius of 200 km, of which 1 million can reach the airport in less than 1 hour.
International Airport Avram Iancu Cluj is and will always be an important vector in the economic development of the region and remains the reliable partner of your travels!
