A new pilot project in Romania aims to help people overcome their fear of flying. It is the first time when such a project is being carried out in Romania.

The project, which is called I am aerophobe, but I’ll heal (Sunt aerofob, dar ma tratez), will start in mid-October and will last for six weeks. The sessions will be organized on Saturdays, and will last between two and four hours. The Bucharest Airports Company launched this project, in partnership with Romanian airline Tarom.

“We initiated this project because we wanted to offer high-quality services to clients, taking into account that statistics show that 1 in 5 people suffer from aerophobia,” said Valentin Iordache, Public Relations director within Bucharest Airports Company, cited by local Mediafax.

There will be six sessions called “The fear and being afraid",” People who work in aviation”, “The plane and its technical characteristics”, “Successful strategies for eliminating fear of flying”, “Get ready to fly”, and “Let’s fly.” Those who will attend these meetings will learn about the technical features of an aircraft, and how the plane behaves during fog, storms, or turbulences. At the end of the project, they can also attend a flight of up to 40 minutes.

Further courses might be organized in Romania, for those who suffer from aerophobia, depending on the pilot project’s results. Those courses will not be free, however.

Bucharest’s Henri Coanda airport, fourth in terms of air traffic

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com