Blue Air Plans Iasi Expansion

Credit: Rob Finlayson

Blue Air has unveiled plans to station two aircraft in the city of Iasi in eastern Romania, close to the border with Moldova.

The new base at Iasi International (IAS) will allow the ULCC to operate 13 routes during the summer 2022 season, offering connections to destinations including Barcelona (BCN), Dublin (DUB) and Munich (MUC). Overall, the airline plans to provide up to 46 departing flights per week and about 8,800 weekly departure seats.

Blue Air CCO Krassimir Tanev revealed that further expansion is planned for summer 2023 when the carrier expects to base four Boeing 737-8s in Iasi and fly to 25 destinations from the airport.

In a statement, Blue Air said the Iasi base also “represents its commitment to Moldova.” The airport is located about 25 km away from the Romania-Moldova border and around 125 km from Moldova’s capital Chișinău. Moldova closed its airspace in February following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The country, which neighbors Ukraine, has since partially reopened its airspace but traffic remains low.

BlueIASI
Credit: Blue Air

Romeo Vatră, general manager Iasi Airport, said: “We will inaugurate the air base this summer, travel to new destinations, and from next year we will have even more flights operated by Blue Air in our route network.

“We are sure that the new routes will be well received by our passengers, many of which are in high demand. Iasi Airport is the second regional airport in the country in terms of annual passenger numbers, and every partner company that invests in Iasi contributes directly to traffic growth.”

Vatră said that IAS handled 120,000 passengers in March 2022 and the airport expects to top 1 million passengers by the end of the year.

“The growth of Blue Air's operational base in 2023 will be achieved at the same time as the expansion of the airport infrastructure, when we will benefit from double operating capacity through the new Terminal 4 and become more attractive to companies and travelers,” he added.

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David Casey

David Casey is Editor in Chief of Routes, the global route development community's trusted source for news and information.