Romanian carrier Blue Air is to introduce the only direct air service between North West England and the country’s capital city, Bucharest when it launches flights to Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport from December 15, 2014. The three times weekly service from Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport will operate Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through to the end of the 2014/2015 winter season in late March 2015.

There is already high demand for services from Bucharest to the North of England with strong business links and a growing leisure market and a lack of direct air services linking the Romanian capital to the North of England. Strong business links already exist between the two regions assisted by the Romanian Consulate in Liverpool

The announcement of the route follows on from the successful Romania Gateway 2018 event recently held at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport. This was aimed at promoting closer links between UK and Romanian central and local government with a diverse range of organisations across the North West looking to explore business opportunities in Romania.

“It is great to be able to welcome a new operator to the Airport and particularly pleasing to see the commencement of this important route after having worked closely with the Romanian Consulate and the recent Romania Gateway 2018 initiative. By working locally with these partners, we have been able to demonstrate to Blue Air a real desire for this service from Liverpool,” said Mark Povall, director of air service development for Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

We can also reveal that key discussions to bring this route to fruition took place at our Routes Europe forum in Marseille, France in April this year. “The meeting at Routes Europe was pivotal to this route being announced,” added Paul Winfield, air service development manager, Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Our analysis shows every year over 20,000 passengers are travelling on flights between the Northwest of England and Romania, the majority to and from the capital, Bucharest. These passengers previously have had to access expensive connecting flights via the major European gateways, or travel down to London for direct flights, many to Luton, Blue Air's only other UK destination.