Over the last few years, Eastern Europe has seen an unprecedented increase in air connectivity.
Driven primarily by low-cost carriers like Wizz Air and Ryanair, airports that were gateways for emigration not so long ago are increasingly becoming conduits for inbound investment and tourism.
And few places are a better example of this trend than Cluj-Napoca Avram Iancu International Airport (CLJ), in the heart of Transylvania.
This airport, which serves the university and tech hub of northern Romania, has seen its passenger figures multiply 30-fold in a period of two decades: from handling barely 100,000 passengers per year in 2002, to almost hitting the three-million mark in 2019.
Growth resumed shortly after the pandemic, and by 2023 Cluj International Airport had already left the three-million annual passenger milestone well behind.
The next goal Cluj International Airport has set its sights on is reaching seven million passengers per year. If achieved, this figure would more than double the current passenger flow, which is expected to reach 3.4 million by the end of 2025.
In order to support this additional growth, the airport will invest in its physical infrastructure, including a runway extension which will enable the arrival of larger aircraft. In fact, while the intra-European low-cost is expected to remain the bread and butter of Cluj-Napoca International Airport, its managers are already scouring opportunities much further away.
Talking with AeroTime at the Aviation Event CLJ 2025 conference, at which it acted as host, David Ciceo, CEO of Cluj-Napoca International Airport, shared some insights about this growth and the future projects on one of Eastern Europe’s most ambitious airports.
