Closing its doors: Baneasa Airport

It’s official. Bucharest’s Baneasa Airport, widely considered one of the worst in Europe, is to close its doors to standard commercial traffic, although it will remain open as a private airport for the personal planes of the rich and famous.

All of the budget airlines currently making use of Baneasa will move operations to Otopeni on March 25th. This is great news for Bucharest.

First impressions count, and there can’t be too many people who have arrived in Bucharest at Baneasa and thought ‘What a modern, efficient place this is.’

Otopeni on the other hand (expensive taxis aside) is a decent airport, though the new departures area is eerily empty at the moment.

Not for long.

There are famously almost no motorways in Romania (and there are not likely to be for some time), and the country’s trains are notoriously slow (and surprisingly expensive). Getting from A to B in this country therefore takes far longer and costs far more than it should.

So bad is Romania’s transport infrastructure that – in jest – President Traian Basescu said earlier this year that until things improved, foreign visitors should ‘take a helicopter and avoid the roads’ if they wanted to see Romania.

It was a bad joke, in bad taste… but you know what? He was on the right lines.

For if taking a helicopter is out of reach of even the most free-spending tourist, that other, more common form of aerial transport: the aeroplane, is not.

Romania's new high-speed trains could look like this

Given that investment in the railways will be costly and take forever, with a few tweaks in pricing and more competition on main routes there is no reason why flying could not replace the train as the primary form of inter-city transport in Romania.

In fact, on a number of routes the plane is already very competitively priced when compared with the train. (We know because it’s that time of year when we start looking into these things ahead of our summer trip to the in-laws in the far north of the country).

Romania currently has no fewer than 13 operational airports (including our favourite, Satu Mare, ahem, International): Bucharest Baneasa, Bucharest Otopeni, Arad, Bacau, Baia Mare, Constanta, Craiova, Iasi, Oradea, Satu Mare, Sibiu, Suceava, Targu Mures, Timisoara.

However, just two airlines currently operate internal flights: national carrier Tarom (which flies from Bucharest to Baia Mare, Iasi, Oradea, Satu Mare, Sibiu, Suceava, Targu Mures and Timisoara) and Carpat Air (which flies from Timisoara to Arad, Bacau, Cluj, Constanta, Craiova, Iasi and Sibiu).

There are no flights to and from Brasov, which famously has no airport, and Tarom operates no internal flights that do not have Bucharest as the departure or arrival city.

We have no idea how much it will cost to build a high-speed rail network across Romania. Hundreds of billions of euros probably. To keep fares down huge annual subsidies would also be needed.

Instead, why not take a fraction of that money and use it to subsidise air travel instead? Bring down the price of a ticket to €20 or so each way and fly people around the country. Make the airports currently charging stupidly high landing fees (yes that’s you, Cluj) play ball or lose their licenses; Build cheap, basic airports at Brasov, Galati, and other places not currently served by air. Operating subsidies would not even fall foul of EU rules, as long as a separate company was hacked off Tarom to operate internal flights.

Even if this does not happen (and we are dreaming aloud here; it won’t) the plane is still a real option if you are visiting Romania and need to get from Bucharest to the provinces and vice versa. And do it quickly. No, the plane is not as romantic or enjoyable as the train, but then if you only have a week (or less) to see the best of Romania you do not want to spend half your time on trains moving at a snail’s pace.

You will need to book in advance to get the best prices, but €52 for a Bucharest – Satu Mare single is well worth a little forward planning. The train costs 188 lei and takes over 16 hours. Of course, you need to get to the airport and home again at other end, but even allowing two hours to do so, the plane is still 12 hours quicker than the train.

Other prices for internal flights in Romania this summer (all available for July, at the time of writing, and including all taxes/charges):

Bucharest – Cluj €52
Bucharest – Sibiu €44
Bucharest – Suceava €46
Bucharest – Targu Mures €44
Timisoara – Constanta 323 lei

Comparable train fares:

Bucharest – Cluj 137 lei (journey time 9 hours 51 minutes)
Bucharest – Sibiu 103 lei (journey time 6 hours 53 minutes)
Bucharest – Suceava 194 lei (overnight sleeper)
Bucharest – Targu Mures 133 (journey time 9 hours 56 minutes)
Timisoara – Constanta 190 lei (journey time 13 hours 3 minutes)

The plane it is then.

Given the level of media coverage which greeted the opening of a new extension to Bucharest’s Otopeni Airport last month (all of which was positive) you could be forgiven for thinking that the airport was now a one-stop shop for all sorts, from instant world peace to a cure for cancer.

In fact, as we discovered last week, the extension is nice, and a welcome improvement, but hardly merits the media love-in its opening provoked.

Indeed, the fact that the prime minister himself, Little Emil Boc, was on hand to open it speaks volumes about how low the Romanian government’s ambitions now are when it comes to transport infrastructure. Boc went as far as to say the opening of this modestly-sized extension (which he called a ‘terminal’) was a victory ‘over the nihilism of those who say the government achieves nothing.’

Given that he appears to be on borrowed time (although, having said that, he has appeared to be on borrowed time ever since he was first named PM back in 2008) Boc was probably keen to be seen having actually done something before he gets kicked out for good. As he will not be opening any motorways anytime soon (or even a direct rail/metro link to Otopeni) the new Otopeni ‘terminal’ offered him the perfect opportunity to say ‘look what I did.’

Even if he didn’t.

Anyway, what’s new at Otopeni? Well not a lot really. The extension has been tacked on to the departures terminal, and will, if Romania finally gets round to joining the Schengen Bloc, serve non-Schengen passengers (i.e. those who will have to show their passports). For now its usefulness is limited, as are the facilities: there is a Duty Free shop here and there, and the priciest Burger King in Romania, but that’s about it.

The children’s play area must be considered a work in progress, unless of course a small space boasting, erm, a carpet, now counts as a playground.

Basically, the new ‘terminal’ is a medium-large sized building. Lit up at night it is mildly impressive. Yet in turning up for its opening and holding it up as proof of the government ‘getting stuff done’ Little Emil really has found the bottom of the barrel and is scraping like crazy.

Don’t be surprised to see him pay you a visit and cut a ribbon with the press in tow the next time you succesfully assemble an IKEA wardrobe.

Met some foreigners last night who had paid over 150 lei to get from Bucharest’s Otopeni Airport into the city centre. Silly boys.

The interesting thing was however, that they did not realise they had paid too much until we pointed out to them what they should have paid (no more than 50 lei). After all, if you have just arrived on a plane from Frankfurt (or London, or Paris) then paying the equivalent of €40 for a ride into town will not seem extortionately expensive.

The fact remains however that it is extortionately expensive, as even though most taxi companies (but not all) have recently increased their tarif from 1.39 lei/km to 1.69/km, there should never, ever be an excuse for paying 3.50 lei/km:

How much?

We should point out that the taxi above (which we pictured yesterday near our home, not at the airport, by the way) is official and legitimate, and as the Aeroport logo suggests it is officially sanctioned by the city’s airport authorities to pick up fares right outside departures. It is still a rip-off though. An officially sanctioned one.

We are not just being cheap here. (Or are we?)

The price for a taxi in Bucharest is from from 1.39 lei/km to 1.69/km. Anything more is too much. Would you pay more for a beer in a Bucharest bar than you were asked to because ‘it’s so much cheaper than at home?’ Of course you wouldn’t. You think yourself lucky and pay the market rate for a beer.

Anyway, all of this is more proof that the much-hoped reform of taxis at Otopeni was little more than hot air.

Nevermind, with a Bucharest In Your Pocket erm, in your pocket, you need never pay over the odds again. Here is what we suggest when arriving at Otopeni:

The easiest way to get a cheap taxi is simply to walk through to departures (turn right as you exit baggage claim) and take a regular taxi as it drops off somebody else. There is a regular stream of these and you should never have to wait too long.

More on arriving at Otopeni here. More on Bucharest’s taxis here.

According to reports in the local press, as of November 15th, all remaining restrictions preventing standard Bucharest taxis picking up passengers at Otopeni/Henri Coanda Airport will be lifted.

The only caveat is that taxis will have to pay a six lei entrance fee. This will of course be passed on to clients, but even so a ride with a standard taxi plus six lei is still a lot less than the extortionate amounts the taxis who currently sit outside Otopeni arrivals charge.

However, while we would like to think that this move will welcome in a new era of cheap, no hassle, taxi rides from Otopeni in to town (you could always get a cheap taxi before, but you had to wait for it, or head over to departures) experience – and the fact that this is Romania – leads us to believe that it is all just a bit too good to be true.

There has to be a catch.

(These previous posts) on much the same subject might make worthwhile reading.

One potential problem is that the report we read clearly says ‘any licensed Bucharest taxi driver’ can pick up passengers at the airport. That includes a right few shysters who think nothing of charging 3.50 lei per kilometre. That these chaps will have free rein at the airport is not good news. We know a normal taxi from an expensive one, but does a new arrival, never before in Bucharest?

(The first thing they should do is: (read this post very carefully).

Coming soon to an airport near you?

Our guess is that a few heavies will also be stationing themselves in and around the arrivals hall making sure that only those taxi drivers who pay the necessary ‘fee’ will be allowed to take passengers.

Anyway, as luck would have it, we will be using the airport on the 15th, so will let you know exactly what happens.

Our money is on chaos.

UPDATE: Monday, supposedly the day of the so-called revolution, we could see no discernable difference to the status quo. We would appreciate any other experiences of taxis at Otopeni since then…