History
The first flights in the Băneasa area took place in 1909 and they were carried out by the French pilot and aviation pioneer Louis Blériot. In 1912 the first flight school in Romania was opened on Băneasa airfield. This makes Băneasa airport the oldest continuously operating airport in Eastern Europe, and among the oldest five airports in the world.
In 1920, the airport headquartered the first aviation company in Romania, and one of the earliest in the world, the CFRNA (The French – Romanian Company for Air Navigation), the precursor of the Romanian national airline, TAROM. In 1923 the CFRNA built the industrial facilities for aircraft maintenance in Băneasa; on that base the aerospace company Romaero was created in the 1960s.
The current terminal building was designed in the late 1940s and opened in 1952. At that time it was considered one of the finest architectural features of Bucharest. The building consists of a central dome with three distinct wings which represents an airplane propeller with three blades.
During the communist period (1947–1989), Băneasa Airport was TAROM's domestic hub, while Otopeni Airport was used as an international hub. In the early 2000s (decade), TAROM moved all of its activities to Otopeni (renamed Henri Coandă International Airport). Today, the airport is becoming an increasingly important hub for business aviation and for low cost airlines, being the main hub of Blue Air.
Read more about this topic: Aurel Vlaicu International Airport
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.... It is not “history” which uses men as a means of achieving—as if it were an individual person—its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“[Men say:] “Don’t you know that we are your natural protectors?” But what is a woman afraid of on a lonely road after dark? The bears and wolves are all gone; there is nothing to be afraid of now but our natural protectors.”
—Frances A. Griffin, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 19, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“The only history is a mere question of one’s struggle inside oneself. But that is the joy of it. One need neither discover Americas nor conquer nations, and yet one has as great a work as Columbus or Alexander, to do.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)