| Constanţa "Mihail Kogălniceanu" International Airport Aeroportul Internaţional Constanţa Mihail Kogălniceanu |
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| IATA: CND – ICAO: LRCK
CND
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| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military/Public | ||
| Operator | S. N. Aeroportul International Mihail Kogalniceanu Constanta S.A. | ||
| Location | Constanţa | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 353 ft / 108 m | ||
| Website | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 18/36 | 3,500 | 11,483 | Concrete |
| Statistics (2009) | |||
| Passengers[1] | 92,983 | ||
| Source: Romanian AIP at EUROCONTROL[2] | |||
Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport (IATA: CND, ICAO: LRCK) is situated in south-east Romania, in the commune of Mihail Kogălniceanu, 14 NM (26 km; 16 mi) north northwest of Constanţa.[2] It is the main airport of Dobrogea region and it provides access to the Constanţa County, the Constanţa city port and Black Sea Romanian resorts. The airport's maximum traffic capacity was reached in 1979, when the Romanian Riviera reached its highest number of foreign tourists; at that time CND served 778,766 passengers. It has been used as a base by US Military Forces since 1999, which has recently been allegedly exposed as the site of clandestine CIA interrogations.[3]
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The airport is capable of handling wide-body aircraft, its 3,500 × 45 m (11,483 × 148 ft) concrete runway also making it suitable for heavy cargo flights.
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Air Berlin | Seasonal: Nuremberg [begins 15 May] |
| Blue Air | Seasonal: Strasbourg |
| Carpatair | Timişoara Seasonal: Istanbul-Atatürk |
| Condor | Seasonal: Berlin-Bradenburg [begins 5 June], Düsseldorf [begins 24 May], Frankfurt [begins 22 May] |
| Luxair | Seasonal: Luxemburg |
| Ryanair | Pisa, Milan-Orio al Serio [resumes 25 March] |
| XL Airways | Paris-Charles de Gaule Seasonal: Strasbourg |
Several city bus lines link the airport to the Constanta Railway station. There are also few private bus lines operating buses to downtown Constanta or other Black Seaside resorts.A shuttle service is also available.
There are always cabs available outside airport terminal.The cost of a ride to Constanta is around $30 which is considerably higher than the bus rates which can be as low as $1.50.
MK Airport is easily accessible by car and is located in north-western part of Constanta,which can be accessed from the DN 2A/E60 Constanta-Harsova. The airport is also linked to A2 (Autostrada Soarelui) by county road DJ 222 passing through town of Cuza Voda and DN 22C from Medgidia to Cernavoda.There are also car rentals available.
There is free short and long term parking right outside airport terminal.
Currently the airport has no rail service.
The airport was home of the former Romanian Air Force 57th Air Base, which was the only unit operating the Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter aircraft. The base was disbanded in April 2004 and all the 18 MiG-29s remain in open storage at the airport. It has been used by the United States Military since 1999. In 2003, it became one of four Romanian military facilities that have been used by U.S. military forces as a staging area for the invasion of and ongoing counter-insurgency efforts in Iraq, operated by the 458th Air Expeditionary Group, and it is intended to become one of the main operating bases of U.S. Army Europe's Joint Task Force East, a rotating task force initially to be provided by the U.S. 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which will eventually grow to a brigade sized force.
As of October 2009 the US has spent $48 million modernizing the base. Plans are for the base to initially host 1,700 US and Romanian military personnel.[4]
It is also alleged to be one of the black sites involved in the CIA's network of "extraordinary renditions".
According to Eurocontrol data, it has been the site of four landings and two stopovers by aircraft identified as probably belonging to the CIA's fleet of rendition planes, including at least one widely used executive jet N379P (later registered, and more commonly cited, as N44982).[5] European (but not U.S.) media have widely distributed reports of a fax[6][7] intercepted by Swiss intelligence, datelined November 10, 2005, 8.24pm, that "was sent by the Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, in Cairo, to his ambassador in London. It revealed that the US had detained at least 23 Iraqi and Afghani captives at a military base called Mihail Kogalniceanu in Romania, and added that similar secret prisons were also to be found in Poland, Ukraine, Kosovo, Macedonia and Bulgaria."[8]
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