# George Enescu International Airport

George Enescu International Airport (IATA: BCM, ICAO: LRBC) is an airport located in Bacău, Romania. Named after the Romanian composer George Enescu the airport shares its runway with RoAF 95th Air Base, and Aerostar, a major Romanian aerospace and defence company. The airport is located 5 km (3.1 mi) south of the city centre of Bacău.

## History
### Foundation and early years

Bacău Airport opened for passenger service in 1946. A modern terminal building with a control tower began construction in 1970, and was completed in 1971. In 1975, it received international status.

### Development since the 2000s

A 2005 renovation/expansion remodeled the terminal building. In 2018, a new terminal was opened and the old one demolished.
In 2009, Bacău Airport became the first Romanian airport to be privately administered by a nongovernmental company. BlueAero, its administrator, was 100% owned by the fully private airline Blue Air. The new company that took over the airport is nowadays the main operator. Other airlines that operated here were TAROM, which withdraw its flights, and Carpatair, which canceled all its scheduled flights. When Blue Air was sold because its parent company's holding went into bankruptcy, the airport was returned to the local government administration. The modernization promised in the takeover contract was completed to a less than 10% status due to financial problems in the holding. Since June 2021, TAROM had been operating flights from the airport again, starting with the charter flight to Antalya, Turkey, with direct flights to several major Romanian cities planned to be introduced at a later date.
In February 2014, the new owners, a 50-50 joint venture between the city and county public administrations, started a new modernization program. The project involved the construction of a passenger terminal, a control tower, a parking area, and an intermodal bus terminal, as well as the refurbishment of the runway. In November 2017, the new passenger terminal, with a processing capacity of 450 pax/hour and four boarding gates, was inaugurated.

## Military usage

The airport is home to the Romanian Air Force 95th Air Base, home of the 951st Advanced Air Training Squadron, operating the IAR 99 Șoim, and of the 952nd Helicopter Squadron, operating IAR 330L and IAR 330 SOCAT.

## Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Bacău Airport:
| Airlines | Destinations |
| Aeroitalia | Seasonal: Rome-Fiumicino |
| Dan Air | Brussels, Dublin, London–Luton, Turin Seasonal: Barcelona, Beauvais, Bergamo, Bologna, Dortmund, Madrid |
| Sky Express | Seasonal charter: Heraklion |
| Wizz Air | London–Luton, Rome–Fiumicino |

## Statistics
### Traffic figures

| Year | Passengers | Change |
| 2003 | 21,020 | 66.2% |
| 2004 | 27,574 | 31.2% |
| 2005 | 36,261 | 31.5% |
| 2006 | 40,601 | 12% |
| 2007 | 112,854 | 178% |
| 2008 | 116,492 | 3.2% |
| 2009 | 195,772 | 68% |
| 2010 | 240,735 | 23% |
| 2011 | 336,961 | 40% |
| 2012 | 393,352 | 16.7% |
| 2013 | 307,488 | 21.8% |
| 2014 | 313,376 | 1.9% |
| 2015 | 364,492 | 16.3% |
| 2016 | 414,676 | 13.8% |
| 2017 | 425,733 | 2.7% |
| 2018 | 447,531 | 5.1% |
| 2019 | 468,455 | 4.7% |
| 2020 | 123,019 | 73.7% |
| 2021 | 379,947 | 208.8% |
| 2022 | 556,327 | 46.4% |