Sibiu International Airport

Sibiu International Airport

Aeroportul Internațional Sibiu
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorSibiu County Council
ServesSibiu, Romania
Opened1943 (1943)
Focus city forWizz Air
Elevation AMSL1,520 ft / 460 m
Coordinates45°47′09″N 024°05′08″E / 45.78583°N 24.08556°E / 45.78583; 24.08556 (Sibiu International Airport)
Websitesibiuairport.ro
Map
SBZ is located in Romania
SBZ
SBZ
Location of airport in Romania
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 2,630 8,629 Concrete
Statistics (2018)
PassengersIncrease 673,657
Aircraft movementsIncrease 8,529
Source: Romanian AIP at Eurocontrol,[1] Sibiu Airport[2]

Sibiu International Airport (Romanian: Aeroportul Internațional Sibiu) (IATA: SBZ, ICAO: LRSB) serves the city of Sibiu. It is located in southern Transylvania, 3 km (1.9 mi) west[1] of Sibiu and about 260 km (160 mi) northwest of Romania's capital city, Bucharest.

History

Foundation and early years

In 1943, the flying activities have been developed on a field (with grass) of 174 ha surface. The Lockheed operating planes belonged to the first Romanian operating airline - LARES. The first routes were Bucharest – Sibiu – Arad and Bucharest – Sibiu – Oradea. In 1944, Sibiu was connected by air with some other cities like Bucharest, Brasov, Deva, Oradea and Targu-Mures. In 1959, it was inaugurated the airport building with two floors, a control tower, a waiting room for 50 passengers on each way (embarking and debarking) and a store-room.[citation needed]

In 1970, the airport was capable to operate during the night, due to the approach and runway guiding lights that have been installed. The concrete runway was 2000m long and 30m wide. In 1975, radar facilities became operational and later in 1992, the airport was opened for international traffic, with flights to Stuttgart and Munich. [citation needed]

In 2006 - 2008, the airport passed through the most important rehabilitation program in its history, a 77 million investment in a new terminal building and in runway upgrade.

Development since 2010

In 2013, Sibiu International Airport handled 189,300 passengers, which represents an increase over the previous year, while in 2014 the number of passengers increased to almost 216,000 and two new destinations to London and Dortmund have been introduced. In 2015, the total traffic grew up to 276,533 embarked-disembarked passengers, while the number of aircraft movements increased to 5,468.[2]

In December 2016, Lufthansa announced its plans to increase operations on Munich – Sibiu route, as the airline scheduled up to 19 weekly flights from 26 March 2017. The airline operates this route with CityLine CRJ900 aircraft.[3]

In November 2017, Wizz Air, announced that it will further expand its Sibiu operations, adding a second Airbus A320 aircraft to its local fleet in June 2018. At the same time, WIZZ will launch five long-awaited routes from Sibiu and increase frequencies on four popular services adding a total of 21 incremental flights to its schedule. Together with the new connections to Copenhagen, Charleroi, Paris Beauvais, Basel and Frankfurt Hahn, starting in June 2018, Sibiu's low fare network will be expanded to a total of 11 routes to 8 countries. The additional aircraft will also allow WIZZ to increase the frequency of flights on four services from summer 2018: London-Luton route will become daily; Memmingen Munich and Dortmund flights will increase to five, while the connection to Nuremberg will be operated four times per week.[4]

In February 2023 the airport tripled its capacity and terminal size by modernizing and expanding the old terminal.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Sibiu Airport:

AirlinesDestinations
Austrian Airlines Vienna[5]
Lufthansa Munich
Sky Express Seasonal charter: Heraklion[6]
Wizz Air Dortmund, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, London–Luton, Memmingen, Nuremberg

Statistics

Traffic figures

Parking lot and terminal
Check-in area
Control tower
Annual passenger traffic at SBZ airport. See Wikidata query.
Annual traffic without transit
Year Passengers[2][7] Aircraft movements[8]
2005 45,494 3,500
2006 Increase 63,618 3,818
2007 Increase 105,654 5,014
2008 Increase 141,012 5,995
2009 Increase 154,161 6,419
2010 Increase 198,751 6,077
2011 Decrease 176,908 4,824
2012 Decrease 176,503 4,574
2013 Increase 189,300 4,834
2014 Increase 215,951 4,908
2015 Increase 276,533 4,552
2016 Increase 366,065 5,342
2017 Increase 503,906 7,714
2018 Increase 673,657 8,529

Busiest routes

Busiest Routes from Sibiu International Airport (2015) & (2016) & (2017)
Rank Airport Passengers 2015 Passengers 2016 Passengers 2017 Carriers
1 Germany Munich
145,223
142,391
164,778
Lufthansa
2 United Kingdom London
40,424
59,660
75,162
Wizz Air
3 Germany Stuttgart
43,859
51,717
56,521
Blue Air
4 Germany Dortmund
36,531
40,850
44,930
Wizz Air
5 Germany Nuremberg
-
-
40,406
Wizz Air
6 Austria Vienna
36,385
35,808
35,212
Austrian Airlines
7 Spain Madrid
-
-
33,992
Wizz Air
8 Germany Memmingen
-
-
24,805
Wizz Air
Source:Eurostat [1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b EAD Basic
  2. ^ a b c Statistici Aeroportul Sibiu
  3. ^ "Lufthansa expands Sibiu flight options in S17".
  4. ^ "WIZZ – Dream more. Live more. Be more".
  5. ^ "Austrian NW24 Europe Frequency Changes – 26MAY24". Aeroroutes.
  6. ^ "SKY EXPRESS NS24 ROMANIA CHARTER NETWORK EXPANSION".
  7. ^ Anna.aero database
  8. ^ ORDIN 169/1.801. Planul national de actiune privind reducerea emisiilor de gaze cu efect de seră în domeniul aviatiei civile (in Romanian)

Media related to Sibiu International Airport at Wikimedia Commons