Romania’s biggest airport is to be temporarily closed to big planes while the runways are fixed, after an incident exposed its poor infrastructure.
Romania’s biggest international airport in Bucharest is to ban jumbo jets for at least two months and repair both its runways, after an incident at the end of March revealed that its infrastructure may pose a risk to passenger and aircraft security.
Romania’s Civil Aviation Authority has offcially notofied the airport that jumbo jets should be restricted from landing on Henry Coanda Airport until June 1, 2018, after an NGO revealed that an Israeli El Al jumbo jet dislocated parts of the only operational runway while taking off on March 30.
At the end of November, Romania’s Airport Administration announced that the same runway had been rehabilitated and was fully operational. Repairs had started in July 2017, after heavy rain flooded it, causing delays.
On April 2, Pro-Infrastructura, an NGO that monitors infrastructure and construction in Romania, revealed the incident on social media, calling for the government to intervene and repair the infrastructure.
The NGO said it had signalled many times that the state of the two runways on the Henry Coanda Airport posed risks to passenger safety.
“The runway … which has been patched up numerous times with thin layers of asphalt is truly a safety risk,” the NGO said. It also said that the incident on March 30 was not the first, and that the authorities had been ignoring warnings and complaints from airlines.
The organization noted that the second runway, which is only operational for two-thirds of its length, was also closed at the time of the incident.
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