Date: 201810
Local time of day: 0601-1200
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: VMC
Light: Dawn
Aircraft: Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Takeoff / Launch
ATC / advisory: CTAF ZZZ; Center ZZZ
Reporter organization: Government
Reporter function: Enroute
Reporter qualification: Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Human factors: Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown
Second reporter function: Pilot Not Flying; First Officer
Anomaly: ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Incursion Runway; Ground Incursion Taxiway
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control
When detected: In-flight
Result: Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert
Contributing factors: Airport; Chart Or Publication; Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure
Primary problem: Ambiguous

Narrative: Early in the morning before Approach Control opened; the pilot of Aircraft X requested an IFR Clearance from ZZZ. On his initial call up; I did not catch his call sign; so I asked the pilot to repeat the call sign. The pilot repeated the call sign and again asked for a departure clearance. I asked the pilot how long it would be before he was ready to depart to ensure that he was airborne before Approach opened so that he wasn't holding up other departures if Approach Control were to open and he wasn't airborne yet. He responded with '5 minutes; Runway XX'. When the pilot read this back; I was listening specifically for a time to be airborne so as to issue a proper Clearance Void Time that would ensure the aircraft was airborne before Approach Control opened for the day. Being an enroute facility; we do not issue a runway to depart; and expect the pilot reviews published NOTAM's and weather before departure; so I issued an IFR departure clearance to the pilot and the pilot departed Runway XX which was NOTAM'd closed. I was aware the runway was closed; but since I did not catch that this was the runway he was departing and as an enroute facility we do not specify a runway for departure; I did not advise him that it was closed. Shortly after the aircraft departed; Approach Control called my sector to take back their airspace and open for the day. When they did; they asked me to find out what runway Aircraft X had departed. I informed Approach of the runway and then released the airspace to them. This is when I was notified that the aircraft had departed a closed runway.Upon further review of the situation and listening to the transmission a few minutes later; I learned that the pilot used a closed taxiway and closed runway at the airport; both which were NOTAM'd closed. I was also informed by my Supervisor after the occurrence that during the takeoff of Aircraft X there was a vehicle on the runway as the aircraft was departing; and that this same aircraft had departed on the same closed runway the day prior to this incident as well.


Second narrative: The crew went through the ticket counter and walked outside to the plane and I notice vehicles with flashing lights on the short Runway. We got in the plane and set everything up like normal. The only exception was we did not get clearance yet. Tower was closed and [would open soon]. We powered out of gate one minute before our scheduled time. I made a call on CTAF stating [aircraft] taxiing from terminal to Runway XX [the longer runway]. I picked up our clearance with Center as we are approaching the end of Runway XX and stated that we will be taking off of Runway XX and will be ready in approximately 5 minutes. We did not see any signage like X's painted on a runway or a lighted X stating a runway was closed on the taxi there. We took the runway few minutes before [tower was to open]. After takeoff; I contacted Center like normal and a few minutes later Center came back and asked what runway we took off from. I stated XX. A few more minutes went by and Center came back and said Runway XX was NOTAM'd closed.Some causes that may have contributed to this is the crew deadheaded in [and] the flight was delayed several hours. I went to pick up my bag with a valet tag and it was not in the jet bridge; along with about 10 other passengers' bags. Gate agents told the passengers and I to go to baggage claim to pick up the bags. I tried asking why they would be going there if we had valet tags on the bags. After walking out and checking those two places; the ticket counter told me to go back to gate to pick up bag. It was not at gate and sent it to baggage claim. Roughly 30 minutes later; I finally got my bag and headed to the hotel. I did not sleep well and had to get up for a van. The van was a couple minutes late coming back to the hotel to pick us up after dropping off a passenger. The Captain and I went over the maintenance book and release together and then he briefed me. We did notice Runway XX was NOTAM'd closed; but we both misread it. We had a jump seater so we had to play with the numbers to get correct amount of ballast for CG. The flight was scheduled for a time when the only runway we are able to take off from was closed. We also had takeoff data for Runway XX. I picked up clearance close to end of the runway with Center and told them we would be taking off of [Runway] XX and would be ready in approximately 5 minutes.


Synopsis: Air carrier flight crew; Dispatcher and Center Controller reported an aircraft departed from a closed runway at an airport where the Tower had not opened.