Romania has a rich tradition in aviation. At the beginning of the 20th century, pioneers such as Henri Coandă, Aurel Vlaicu, Traian Vuia and George Valentin Bibescu made important contributions to early aviation history, building revolutionary airplanes and contributing to the international scene.
In the present, the Romanian Civil Aeronautical Authority oversees all the aviation activities.
History
Pioneers
George Valentin Bibescu was a Romanian aristocrat who became an early aviation pioneer and international figure. He flew a balloon named "Romania" brought from France in 1905. Later, he tried to teach himself how to fly a Voisin airplane, also brought from France, but without success. After Louis Blériot's demonstrative flights in Bucharest on October 18, 1909, Bibescu went to Paris and enrolled in Blériot's flying school where, in 1910, he obtained International Pilot License number 20. After returning from France, Bibescu organized the Cotroceni Piloting School in Bucharest where and Nicolae Capșa were licensed. On May 5, 1912, he founded the Romanian National Aeronautic League. Bibescu would later be instrumental in founding the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the international regulatory body for aeronautics. Between 1927 and 1930, he was its vice-president, becoming president in 1930 and remaining so until 1941.
thumb|[[Vuia 1]]
Traian Vuia was a Romanian inventor and aviation pioneer. He constructed his first powered, fixed wing aircraft with wheeled undercarriage, and in 1906 he flew short hops in it at Montesson near Paris, France. On March 18, he flew about 12 metres at a height of 1 foot, and on 19 August he flew for 24 metres. Although unsuccessful at true flight, Vuia's aircraft has been credited as "the first man-carrying monoplane of basically modern configuration" and influenced the more successful Brazilian pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. Vuia went on to experiment with another monoplane and two helicopters but none was successful.
Aurel Vlaicu was born in Transylvania, then part of Austria-Hungary. Having constructed a glider with his brother, he moved to the Kingdom of Romania in 1909. His first aircraft, the A Vlaicu I, was constructed at the Army Arsenal in Bucharest and was first flown on 17 June 1910, a day still celebrated <!-- as of 1971 --> in Romania as National Aviation Day. Vlaicu later constructed two more aircraft, fatally crashing the second in 1913 while trying to cross the Carpathians before the third had flown.
Henri Coandă exhibited the Coandă-1910 at the Second International Aeronautical Exhibition in Paris around October 1910, and built his first flying aircraft in 1911. Later, he worked in the UK to design aircraft, a number of Bristol T.B.8 and Bristol Coanda Monoplanes being purchased by the Romanian Army and Government. Three months later, they engaged in reconnaissance sorties over the Bulgarian border at the start of the Second Balkan War. During the same war, the Romanian airmen also flew reconnaissance and leaflet drop missions over the Bulgarian capital, the Romanian Aeronautics Service thus becoming the first air arm to fly over an enemy capital city.
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|Animawings
|Henri Coandă International Airport
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|Carpatair
|Traian Vuia International Airport
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|Dan Air
|George Enescu International Airport
|Former Just Us Air
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|Fly Lili
|Aurel Vlaicu International Airport
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|HelloJets
|Aurel Vlaicu International Airport
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|HiSky Europe
|Henri Coandă International Airport
|Founded in Moldova as HiSky, launched its operations in Romania as HiSky Europe
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|Legend Airlines
|Henri Coandă International Airport
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|Air taxi carrier
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|ROMCargo Airlines
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|Air cargo carrier
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|Aurel Vlaicu International Airport
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|Țiriac Air
|Henri Coandă International Airport
|Corporate jet carrier
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|Toyo Aviation
|Aurel Vlaicu International Airport
|Corporate jet carrier
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Former Romanian carriers
- Acvila Air
- Alfa Air Services
- Air Bucharest
- Angel Airlines
- Bees Airlines – Trademark was bought from the Ukrainian Bees Airline
- Blue Air
- Dac Air
- Jaro International
- Jetran Air
- LAR Romanian Airlines
- Romavia
Airports in Romania
Romania has a well-developed airport infrastructure compared to other countries in Eastern Europe, but still underdeveloped compared to Western countries standards. There are 16 commercial airports in service today, most of them opened for international traffic. Four of the airports (OTP, BBU, TSR, CND) have runways of in length and are capable of handling jumbo jets. Six of the airports (BCM, CRA, IAS, SBZ, SCV, SUJ) have runways of in length, while the rest of them have runways of in length.
In 2011, air traffic reached 10.7 million passengers, 5.1% more than the previous year when there were 10.2 million people flying by plane.
Manufacturing
The industrial facilities for aircraft building and maintenance are located in Bacău (Aerostar), Brașov (Industria Aeronautică Română), Craiova (Avioane Craiova) and Bucharest (Romaero, Turbomecanica).
Future development
Following the ascending curve of the economy growth, the air transportation in Romania experiences a favorable trend. Carpatair is the Romanian airline with the most spectacular growth; the national carrier TAROM is recovering from a difficult period at the beginning of the 2000s, 2004 being the first profitable year in the last 10 years, but with a price: the cancellation of the long-haul flights to New York, Chicago, Montreal and Beijing. In 2006 the company started a fleet update program with the acquisition of 4 new Airbus A318 airplanes, 2 new ATR 72 turboprops in 2009 and two new Boeing 737-800 NG in 2017. The first Romanian low-cost airline, Blue Air, is going through a development phase, while other low-cost airlines are ready to start their operations.
There are many investment projects also in airport infrastructure: the upgrading of the existing airports (major rehabilitation programs for OTP, TSR, CLJ, CND, the airports with the most significant traffic growth) and the construction of three new airports in Brașov, Galați – Brăila (a 600,000 inhabitants urban area without airport access) and Deva – Alba Iulia (Southern Transylvania).
Currently (dec. 2006) the most advanced project is the construction of the new Brașov Airport, the construction site opening was planned for March 2007 but construction was halted. Construction restarted in April 2013. The project consists of a 1 mil. passengers/year terminal and a runway of 2,800 m long.
Cultural significance
thumb|Aurel Vlaicu on the [[Fifty lei|50 Romanian lei bill]]
National Aviation Day is celebrated on 17 June, the anniversary of Aurel Vlaicu's first flight.