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Infrastructure : Henri Coanda Airport's capacity doubles as new departure terminal opens
The new departure terminal of the Henri Coanda International Airport was opened on Tuesday in the presence of Prime Minister Victor Ponta, Transport Minister Ovidiu Silaghi and Interior Minister Mircea Dusa.
'With the opening of the new departure terminal of the airport we are virtually doubling the operation capacity, to 4,500 passengers in rush hours. Thus, we are sitting comfortably in the world's ranking of top airports and we could even become a regional hub,' said Director General of the Bucharest National Airports Corporation Cristinel Smadu.
The new terminal will take over this evening all the domestic flights and also solve the problem of boarding gates for the Schengen Area.
The new terminal is part of a third stage in a programme called 'The development and modernisation of the Henri Coanda International Airport of Bucharest.' Construction started in July 2011 and ended in a record time of 17 months.
On the newly built area of the terminal of 19,600 square metres, passengers and airliners are offered highly performing facilities supported by state-of-the-art technology, all integrated in a modern and expressive design.
The terminal was designed to meet the requirements incumbent on Romania for accession to the border-free Schengen Area. It also provides services to all the domestic flights, which passengers can avail of high-class services, including a VIP lounge located close to the boarding gates.
The new terminal doubles the processing capacity of the airport, adding 52 more check-in counters to the existing 52, and the passengers can now self check in at 8 such points.
The check-in is performed using the best performing systems that guarantee the highest levels of security in the world.
There are several shops, restaurants and bars in the new terminal covering 400 square metres. The parking lane for automobiles and buses before the terminal was reconfigured and resized and 244 additional parking places for the parking of passenger's vehicles were added.
On March 25, the Henri Coanda took over the low-cost flights from the Baneasa Airport, boosting by 45 percent the landings and by 30 the take-offs at the airport.