Arad International Airport

Arad International Airport (IATA: ARW, ICAO: LRAR) is located 4 km (2.5 mi) west[1] of Arad, in western Romania, in the historical region of Crișana. The airport is located only 60 km (37 mi) north of Timişoara Airport. Arad International Airport also has a cargo terminal, the largest and most modern in western Romania. It is located 250 km from Budapest and 300 km from Belgrade. It is located near the border with Hungary, only 30 km from the closest point for crossing the border - Turnu and 20 km away from the closest railway point for crossing the border - Curtici. The airport also serves as the SMURD regional air ambulance base for the five western counties that form the region (Arad, Bihor, Timis, Hunedoara and Caras-Severin). SMURD Arad operates 1 Eurocopter EC135 converted for the air ambulance role. Arad Airport is directly connected to the A1 motorway (part of the Pan-European Corridor IV), one of the most important and heavily used motorways in Romania.

Arad International Airport

Aeroportul Internațional Arad
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorArad County Council
ServesArad, Romania
Opened14 November 1937 (1937-11-14)
Elevation AMSL352 ft / 107 m
Coordinates46°10′36″N 21°15′43″E
Websiteaeroportularad.ro
Map
ARW
Location within Romania
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 2,000 6,561 Concrete
Statistics (2019)
Passengers18,739 64.8%
Aircraft movements (2017)2,568
Source: Romanian AIP at EUROCONTROL,[1] Statistics[2] airportaar.ro[3]

History

On the land of the Gai suburb there already was an infrastructure with a runway, hangar and a terminal, from the military campaign from 1917. Here, on 14 July 1912, a big meeting took place when Aurel Vlaicu, a pioneer in Romanian aviation, returned from Aspen Vienna and he was seen by his fellow citizens as a national hero.

As a result of some negotiations that took place in order to build a new airport, on 30 May 1935 the civil municipal aviation give the land from the Ceala suburb where the constructions will start for building the infrastructure. The construction work ended in 1936 and the official inauguration of the new airport took place on 14 November 1937. From that moment all the air traffic was conducted on this location and the landings and taking off happened on a grass runway. In 1953 a concrete runway, 2000 meters long, was built, as the increased traffic demanded it. The A and D taxiways were built at the same time as the runway. The lighting system was rebuilt in 1954 using Elba lamps.

The current runway is east-west, concrete, with dimensions of 2000 × 45 m, and is endowed with a state-of-the-art IDMAN lighting system consisting of marginal and axial light, threshold lights, approach lightings on both directions of operation and a Category II instrument landing system.

Future Development
Arad Airport platform on a busy day, back in 2013: a Wizz Air Airbus A320, a TAROM ATR 72 and a Moldavian Fokker 100

A runway extension to 2500 m (8202 ft) has been proposed for the past couple of years, however no viable financial solution has been found. The extension would allow heavier cargo aircraft to operate, making better use of the cargo terminal's capabilities.

Recent projects have taken into consideration the conversion of an unused part of the cargo terminal into a passenger departures terminal to attract more airlines to the airport. A passenger terminal extension or overhaul is deemed absolutely necessary for the development of the airport.

In June 2014, a contract was signed for the extension and re-design of the passenger terminal, including the conversion of unused space in the cargo terminal in a designated departures terminal. Once completed, the extension will bring more than 4,200 square meters of space for departures use and allow an additional increase in passenger flow of over 200,000 passengers/year. The existing passenger terminal will be used only for arrivals, while the new space will be transformed in a departures terminal. The cargo terminal will thus be reduced to 700 square meters of space, but the operator declared there still is sufficient space in the surrounding areas for future growth. Construction works are estimated to last 12 months.[4]

Facilities

Cargo Terminal

The Arad Airport Cargo Terminal, the largest of its kind in western Romania, is a major component of the Arad International Airport and is located nearby the Arad Free Zone, being able to take the air freight traffic that connects Western Europe to the Middle East. It is located close to the Hungarian border.

The Arad International Airport Cargo Terminal and platform seen from the A1 motorway.

Its location permits easy access for the companies operating in the counties near Arad (Bihor, Alba, Hunedoara – Romania and Békés, Csongrád – Hungary) for transporting cargo.

This objective can take over the air freight traffic, with all the facilities on the air-road transport, by making use of the operating - parking Cargo type platforms, the covered area for depositing the cargo that permits also the customs checking, the parking platform for the airplanes, and it provides the specific units for both the air and land transporters. The apron is 16020sqm, 41/R/C/W/T and offers the possibility of parking 3 class "C" and "D" ICAO airplanes at the same time. The terminal has a total surface of 5000 sqm, 13 access gates to the auto loading/unloading ramp and 4 access gates to the airplane loading/unloading ramp. Its capacity for depositing (arrival, departure) is 300 to/day and the traffic capacity (arrival, departure) is 50 to/hour. The parking area of a surface of 8430 sqm can offer parking spaces for 32 cars and 5 cargo trucks, having also 2 oil separators.[5]

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
Animawings[6]Seasonal: Antalya
Blue Air Seasonal charter: Antalya
Corendon Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya[7]
Lumiwings Forlì (begins 23 April 2021),[8] Perugia (begins 1 June 2021)[9]
Nouvelair Seasonal charter: Monastir
Tailwind Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya

Statistics
ARW traffic
Year Passengers (total) Change Aircraft movements Change Cargo (tonnes) Change
2008 128,835 3,383 537
2009 88,174 31.6% 2,832 16.3% 673 25.3%
2010 21,878 75.2% 1,937 31.7% 754 12%
2011 11,174 49% 1,417 26.9% 883 17.1%
2012 14,844 32.8% 2,276 60.6% 772 12.6%
2013 39,901 168.8% 2,442 7.2% 1,004 30%
2014 28,280 29.2% 2,568 5.1% 1,079 7.4%
2015 8,530 69.8%
2016 0
2017 10,817
2018 11,367 5.1%
2019 18,739 64.8%

Sources:[2][10][11][12][13]

See also

References
  1. "EUROCONTROL - The European AIS Database: Introduction to EAD Basic - Home". ead.eurocontrol.int. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  2. Arad Airport in 2013 Archived 1 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine (in Romanian)
  3. Traficul total de pasageri pe Aeroporturile din România pe anul 2018 (in Romanian)
  4. "Aeroportul din Arad va fi extins. Cum va arăta investiţia de aproape două milioane de euro - VIDEO". mediafax.ro. 22 June 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  5. "Cargo Arad", aeroportularad.ro, 6 septembrie 2013 Archived 8 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Flight schedule". animawings.com.
  7. Liu, Jim. "Corendon Airlines S20 Network expansion". Routes Online. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  8. "Lumiwings: three new routes from Perugia and Forli to Arad and Craiova starting in the summer". boardingpass.ro.
  9. "Lumiwings: three new routes from Perugia and Forli to Arad and Craiova starting in the summer". boardingpass.ro.
  10. ORDIN 169/1.801. Planul national de actiune privind reducerea emisiilor de gaze cu efect de seră în domeniul aviatiei civile (in Romanian)
  11. Topul aeroporturilor din Romania in 2012 Archived 17 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine (in Romanian)
  12. newsair.ro, "SUB 30,000 DE PASAGERI LA AEROPORTUL ARAD ÎN 2014" Archived 14 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, accesat la 09 aprilie 2015 (in Romanian)
  13. newsair.ro, "AEROPORTUL ARAD, PE LINIA DE PLUTIRE GRAȚIE ZBORURILOR CHARTER" Archived 6 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine, accesat la 05 ianuarie 2018 (in Romanian)

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