Number of passengers at Chisinau International Airport declining

The number of persons who used the services of the Chisinau International Airport in 2009 fell by 4.7%. However, it was among the four companies that sustained the smallest losses following the decrease in the number of passengers last year, Info-Prim Neo reports. The passenger traffic at the airport in Vienna fell by 8.3%, Verona – 9.8%, Budapest – 11%, Istanbul – 12.7%, Moscow – 16.4%, Tallinn – 25.7% etc. “The representatives of the Moldovan communities abroad constitute 50% of the total number of passengers,” said the Chisinau Airport's director Roman Podkorytov. A study made by a German company shows that the number of passengers at the Chisinau International Airport in 2014 will reach 1.3 million, while in 2025 – 2.7 million. The airport intends to cooperate with a number of airlines, including low-cost companies, in order to ensure free competition on the market. In another connection, Roman Podkorytov said the Chisinau International Airport has about 800 employees, as against 250 employees working at the airport in Timisoara, where the volume traffic is similar to that in Chisinau. In the future, the company plans to extend the terminal, implement an energy management system and construct a parking garage. “We need about €3-3.5 million for the garage. We could recoup this money during eight years. The Government is examining a project under which the garage will be leased out to a private investor for 18-20 years. Afterword, it will become property of the airport,” Podkorytov said.