Alexeni airfield was a

military airfield An airbase (stylised air base in American English), sometimes referred to as a military airbase, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base, is an aerodrome or airport used as a mi ...

of the

Romanian Air Force The Romanian Air Force (RoAF) () is the air force branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. It has an air force headquarters, an operational command, five air bases, a logistics base, an air defense brigade, an air defense regiment and an ISR (Intel ...

located in the Alexeni commune near the

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Urziceni Urziceni () is a municipiu, city in Ialomița County, Muntenia, Romania, located around north-east of Bucharest. Geography The city is situated at the western edge of the Bărăgan Plain, on the banks of the Ialomița (river), Ialomița River ...

Ialomița County Ialomița County () is a county () of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Slobozia. Demographics In 2011, the county had a population of 258,669 and the population density was 58.08/km2. Romanians make up 95.6% of the population, t ...

, at north-east of the

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Hosting the 94th Helicopter Regiment since 1965, the base was closed in 2001. Following its closure, the Ministry of Transport proposed the airfield as a new low-cost airport for

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. After the project's failure, the airfield was given to the Ialomița County Council, which leased it in 2024 to a Romanian-Ukrainian

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

. Under the current plan, Alexeni will be turned into a cargo and passenger hub capable to take over a significant part of the traffic from the Otopeni airport.

History

Military base

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a landing ground was set up on the outskirts of Alexeni for the German ''

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

'' fighter units which were intercepting Allied

bombing raids A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...

targeting

and

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Ble ...

. After the war, the area was determined to be suitable for fast military interventions and exercises as it was located close to the capital. Under the supervision of General Nicolae Fulga, an airfield was built at Alexeni with the construction being finished in 1954. In 1958, the 227th Jet Aviation Regiment (''Regimentul 227 Aviație Reactivă'') equipped with

MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful jet fighters to incorporate s ...

s was moved to the base. In 1960, the Regiment changed its name to the 49th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment (''Regimentul 49 Aviație Vânătoare-Bombardament'') and remained deployed to Alexeni until 1965 when it was transferred to the Ianca airfield. On 16 June 1968, the

organized an important

air show An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are trade fair, exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without which they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground. The ...

Băneasa Băneasa () is a borough () on the north side of Bucharest, in Sector 1, near the Băneasa Lake (). Like every north-side district of Bucharest, it is relatively sparsely populated, with large areas of parkland. Bordering on Băneasa Fores ...

. For this show, 32

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...

s and MiG-15s were brought to Alexeni. After the air show, more fighters were stationed at Alexeni in preparation for the 23 August parade. With the

Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The in ...

, the jet fighters stationed at Alexeni received the task of defending the capital in case of attack. After 23 August, the fighters returned to their bases. From 1965 to 2001 a

military helicopter A military helicopter is a helicopter that is either specifically designed for or converted for usage by a military. A military helicopter's mission is a function of its design or conversion. The most common use of military helicopters is airlif ...

unit, the 94th Helicopter Regiment, was based on this airfield. The regiment was equipped with Soviet and Polish helicopters including

Mil Mi-4 The Mil Mi-4 (USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 36", NATO reporting name "Hound")'' Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1963-1964'', p. 303 is a Soviet transport helicopter that served in both military and civilian roles. Design and development The Mi ...

and

Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. Russian production of t ...

, and

PZL SM-1 The Mil Mi-1 (USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 32", NATO reporting name "Hare") was a Soviet three- or four-seat light utility helicopter. It was the first Soviet helicopter to enter serial production. It is powered by one Ivchenko AI-26V radial ...

and SM-2. In 1975, the regiment received the IAR-built

IAR 330 The IAR 330 is a licensed production, licence-built version of the Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma helicopter, manufactured by the Romanian aerospace manufacturer Industria Aeronautică Română. The IAR 330 was produced under a licensing agreement w ...

helicopters. In July 1975, the airfield hosted a parade and a military equipment presentation during which the

IAR-93 Vultur The Avioane Craiova IAR-93 Vultur (vulture/eagle) is a twinjet, subsonic, close support, ground attack and tactical reconnaissance aircraft with secondary capability as low level interceptor. Built as single-seat main attack version or combat ca ...

was officially unveiled in the presence of

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

Present airport

After the closure of the air base, the airfield was handed over to the Ministry of Justice which further placed it under the National Penitentiary Administration. In 2007, then-

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

Radu Berceanu suggested the location for

's new low-cost flights airport (as the operational tariffs for

's previous low-cost hub,

Aurel Vlaicu Airport Aurel may refer to: Places * Aurel, Drôme, France * Aurel, Vaucluse, France Other uses * Aurel (given name) * Aurel Awards, a Slovak music award * AuRel, a dragon in E. E. Knight's ''Age of Fire Age of Fire is a series of fantasy/Adventure ...

, were set to grow). However, some analysts considered the project unrealistic and doomed to fail due to the poor conditions of the infrastructure in the area. AllBucharest's low-cost flights were moved to

Henri Coandă International Airport Henri is the French form of the masculine given name Henry, also in Estonian, Finnish, German and Luxembourgish. Bearers of the given name include: People French nobles * Henri I de Montmorency (1534–1614), Marshal and Constable of France * ...

in March 2012. Ialomița County Council, which is the airfield's owner since 2017, launched the auction for the airport concession in August/September 2022, three potential investors expressed their interest, but no one submitted the tender offer at the end of the legal period. The authorities expect the value of the investment needed at cca. €150 mil. The airport concession bid was announced again in December 2022, with eight potential investors who expressed interest. In 2024, the airport has been officially leased to a Romanian-Ukrainian joint-venture for a period of 49 years. The operator assumed the obligation to invest €400 mil and to open the airport in 2028. It will be the first private operational airport in Romania and the first energetically independent airport in the world. The Romanian company Avant Airports confirmed that it will develop Alexeni into the largest cargo hub in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

together with the Ukrainian Automagistral-Pivden company. The airport is to accommodate all types of aircraft and will include a passenger terminal as well as a cargo terminal. Other planned constructions for the future airport include a photovoltaic park, an

aviation school Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

, a

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

, a hotel and recreational areas.

References

{{authority control 1954 establishments in Romania Former Romanian Air Force bases Airports in Romania

History

Military base

Present airport

See also

References