Romanian low-cost airline Blue Air carries 73% more passengers in the first nine months

Romanian low-cost airline Blue Air carried a record number of passengers in the first nine months of this year, namely 2.62 million passengers, up 73% compared to the same period in 2015, according to data sent by the company to the local News.ro. Blue Air thus remains the second largest airline in Romania based on the number of passengers, after Wizz Air, which carried over 4 million passengers in the first nine months of this year. Romanian state-owned airline Tarom ranks third, with 1.9 million passengers transported between January and September this year. Blue Air increased its fleet to 24 aircraft in the first three quarters of this year, compared to 15 aircraft one year ago. This year, the company also increased the number of routes to 69, up 77% compared to the same period last year. The airline has recently announced that it would begin operating the route Cluj-Napoca - Birmingham three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, thus increasing the number of destinations from the Cluj International Airport to 11. The company will allocate a new Boeing 737-800 aircraft to its operational base in Cluj-Napoca in the summer of 2017, with the aim to increase its hold on the Transylvania market. Low-cost airlines Wizz Air, Blue Air, and Ryanair, and regular airlines Tarom and Lufthansa are the biggest passenger carrier in Romania. Blue Air opens operational base in Cluj-Napoca editor@romania-insider.com