Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport

Constanța "Mihail Kogălniceanu" International Airport
Aeroportul Internaţional Constanța Mihail Kogălniceanu
Summary
Airport type Public / Military
Operator S. N. Aeroportul International Mihail Kogalniceanu Constanta S.A.
Serves Constanța
Location Mihail Kogălniceanu, Romania
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL 353 ft / 108 m
Coordinates 44°21′44″N 028°29′18″E / 44.36222°N 28.48833°E / 44.36222; 28.48833 (Constanța "Mihail Kogălniceanu" International Airport)Coordinates: 44°21′44″N 028°29′18″E / 44.36222°N 28.48833°E / 44.36222; 28.48833 (Constanța "Mihail Kogălniceanu" International Airport)
Website www.mk-airport.ro
Map
CND

Location of airport in Romania

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
18/36 3,500 11,483 Concrete
Statistics (2015)
Passengers 63,329
Aircraft movements 2,227
Source: Romanian AIP at EUROCONTROL,[2] Statistics[3]

Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport (IATA: CND, ICAO: LRCK) is situated in south-east Romania, in the commune of Mihail Kogălniceanu, 26 kilometres (16 mi) north-northwest of Constanța.[2] It is the main airport of Northern Dobruja region and it provides access to Constanța County, the Port of Constanța and Black Sea resorts. The airport is named in honour of Mihail Kogălniceanu, the 3rd Prime Minister of Romania.[4]

The military sector of the Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport is currently an annex of the 86th Air Base. Since 1999 it has occasionally been used by the United States Air Force.

History

Built in 1955, as a military airbase, Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport opened for civil operations in May 1960, when it replaced the old Palas Airport (founded in 1932).[5][6]

A passenger terminal with a capacity of 200 passengers per hour was inaugurated in 1962, followed, five years later, by an expansion to a processing capacity of 300 pax/hour. In 1974, a major expansion increased the processing capacity to 1,000 pax/hour.[7]

Use of the airport peaked at 778,766 passengers in 1979, when foreign tourism to the Romanian Riviera was at a high.[8][9] Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport handled 63,329 passengers in 2015,[3] which represents a 66.9% increase over the previous year.

Blue Air announced on 5th September 2016 that a base will be opened on 27th April 2017. One 737 will be based here.

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Blue Air Beauvais, Rome-Fiumicino, Bergamo, Brussels
Seasonal: Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Oradea, Timișoara
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk
Wizz Air London-Luton

Statistics

Constanta airport
Departures terminal

Traffic figures

Year Passengers[10][11][12][13] Compared to Previous Year
2005 110,900 -
2006 71,236 Decrease 35.7%
2007 42,331 Decrease 40.5%
2008 60,477 Increase 42.8%
2009 68,690 Increase 13.5%
2010 74,587 Increase 8.5%
2011 73,713 Decrease 0.1%
2012 94,641 Increase 28.4%
2013 73,301 Decrease 22.5%
2014 37,939 Decrease 48.2%
2015 63,329 Increase 66.9%
2016 94,594 Increase 49.4%

Busiest routes

Busiest routes at Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport
City Airport(s) Weekly Departures
(November 2015)		 Airlines
Istanbul Atatürk Airport
4
Turkish Airlines
Milano Bergamo Airport
4
Blue Air
London Luton Airport
2
Wizz Air

Military usage

U.S. Air Force F-22A Raptor taxis on the flightline at Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base

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 US 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. It was intended to become one of the main operating bases of United States Army Europe's Joint Task Force East (JTF-E), a rotating task force initially to be provided by the U.S. 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which was to eventually grow to a brigade sized force. The JTF-E concept has been reduced to the Army-only Task Force East, but the base still retains an important role, given added weight by the 2014 Crimean crisis.

During the first three months of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the airport was transited by 1,300 cargo and personnel transports towards Iraq, comprising 6,200 personnel and about 11,100 tons of equipment.[14]

As of October 2009 the US has spent $48 million upgrading the base. Plans are for the base to initially host 1,700 US and Romanian military personnel.[15] Since 2009 the US operates a Permanent Forward Operating Site (PFOS) several times larger than the temporary base housed in the former 57th Air Base; the new base has 78 buildings and uses the land of the former Romanian 34th Infantry Brigade base.[14]

It is also currently home to the 863rd Helicopter squadron which operates IAR-330L's.

With the closure of the Transit Center at Manas in Kyrgyzstan, The United States military transferred processing operations for military deploying to Afghanistan and other locations to the base. The United States Army 21st Theater Sustainment Command and Air Force 780th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron are responsible for US operations there.[16]

Involvement in "extraordinary renditions"

It is also alleged to be one of the black sites involved in the CIA's network of "extraordinary renditions".[17]

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).[18] European (but not U.S.) media have widely distributed reports of a fax[19][20] 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."[21]

Ground transportation

Bus

Several city bus lines link the airport to Constanta railway station. There are also few private bus lines operating to downtown Constanta or Romanian Black Sea resorts. There is no shuttle service available.

Taxi

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.

Car

The 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 or A4 motorway (Romania) until Ovidiu. The airport can be reached from A2 (Autostrada Soarelui) by exiting towards Cernavoda driving on DN22C towards Medgidia then through county road DJ 222 passing through Cuza Voda all the way to town of Mihail Kogalniceanu where the airport is located.Alternatively from A2 (Autostrada Soarelui) there is another exit towards Medgidia on DJ381 and then continue on DJ222. Car rentals are also available. There is free short and long term parking right outside airport terminal.

Accidents and incidents

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Blue Air opens Constanta base in S17".
  2. 1 2 "EAD Basic - Error Page". eurocontrol.int.
  3. 1 2 Aeroportul Internațional ”Mihail Kogălniceanu” și-a reluat creșterea at newsair.ro (in Romanian)
  4. ↑ Noua denumire a aeroportului aflat în comuna Mihail Kogălniceanu
  5. ↑ Iliusin Il-18V, YR-IMB – O scurta istorie (in Romanian)
  6. ↑ Comorile Constanţei: Aerogara ascunsă a Constanței (in Romanian)
  7. ↑ Constructii si Instalatii at iptana.ro
  8. ↑ De ce a pierdut Constanța războiul aerian cu Clujul at romanialibera.ro (in Romanian)
  9. ↑ Cartea de Aur a comunei Mihail Kogalniceanu (in Romanian)
  10. ↑ 2012 Activity Report of Romanian Ministry of Transportation at mt.ro (in Romanian)
  11. ↑ ORDIN 169/1.801. Planul national de actiune privind reducerea emisiilor de gaze cu efect de seră în domeniul aviatiei civile (in Romanian)
  12. ↑ Constanța Airport in 2013 at newsair.ro (in Romanian)
  13. ↑ Press release for 2013 (in Romanian)
  14. 1 2 "Zece ani cu US ARMY. Cu ce s-au ales românii - Romania Libera". RomaniaLibera.ro.
  15. ↑ Associated Press, "U.S. Base In Romania To Become Permanent", San Diego Union-Tribune, October 24, 2009, p. 6.
  16. ↑ Nickel, SSG Shawn (August 22, 2014). "Romania air base replaces Transit Center Manas". Air Forces Central Public Affairs. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  17. ↑ Carvajal, Doreen (2006-01-12). "Swiss Investigate Leak to Paper on C.I.A. Prisons in Eastern Europe". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  18. ↑ Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners (November 16, 2006). "Working Document No. 8" (PDF).
  19. ↑ US-Folter-Camps: Der Beweis! - Aktuell - SonntagsBlick - Blick Online
  20. ↑ unknown (January 9, 2006). "Egyptian Fax Throws Light on "Black Sites"". Der Spiegel.
  21. ↑ Scotland's Sunday Herald, March 2, 2003
  22. ↑ https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=196111

References

Media related to Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport at Wikimedia Commons
Media related to Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base at Wikimedia Commons

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