Bucharest airports receive facelift

With over 100 million Euro set for investments from the Ministry of Transport, Bucharest's two airports, Baneasa and Otopeni, will see an upgrade, including repairs made to the runways.

The Baneasa 'Aurel Vlaicu' airport will be closed for two months this Summer to allow for an 18 million Euro investment plan to take hold, said the airport's communication manager Stefan Mladin. "The money will be used to repair the runway, and the air traffic will be transferred to the Otopeni 'Henri Coanda' airport," he added.

But the bigger brother of the small Baneasa airport is also undergoing massive investment programmes, with about 85 million Euro targeted to be spent in two new programmes.

This money will be used mainly to upgrade the runway, but also to extend the boarding hall, the arrivals terminal and modernise one of the landing areas. The two programmes will be finalised following a draft decision by the Ministry of Transport which stipulates that boarding areas and the arrivals terminal must be extended by 2009.

There is a wider programme in relation to the rehabilitation of the entire infrastructure for the airport, which is scheduled for completion by 2018.

thediplomat.ro