Bălți International Airport
Bălți International Airport (IATA: BZY, ICAO: LUBL), also known as Bălți–Leadoveni International Airport, (Romanian: Aeroportul Internațional Bălți-Leadoveni) is the second largest international civilian airport in Moldova and one of the two main airports in Bălți, serving the city of Bălți and northern Moldova for civil passenger and cargo flights. Bălți-Leadoveni International Airport was opened in 1989 to replace Bălți-City Airport particularly on international routes and to ease air traffic to Chișinău International Airport.
Bălți International Airport Aeroportul Internațional Bălți | |||||||||||
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View of the passenger terminal - departure (building in front) and arrival (building on the right) | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | Government of Moldova through the Public Property Agency | ||||||||||
| Operator | Moldaeroservice Soviet period: Bălți Flight Unit No 281 of Bălți Combined Aviation Unit | ||||||||||
| Serves | Bălți Moldova | ||||||||||
| Location | Corlăteni (Rîșcani District)
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| Opened | 1989 | ||||||||||
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| Built | 1987 | ||||||||||
| Time zone | EET (+2) | ||||||||||
| • Summer (DST) | +3 (+3) | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 231 m / 758 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 47°50′35″N 027°46′38″E | ||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||
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BZY location in Moldova BZY BZY (Moldova) BZY BZY (Europe) | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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Source: Airport-Data.com | |||||||||||
The second airport in Bălți is the first historic Bălți airport for scheduled flights - the Bălți-City Airport in the "Autogara" ("Bus Station") area, located in the eastern limits of the Bălți urban area, which after the commissioning of the Bălți-Leadoveni International Airport in its last years of active operation (late 1980s) was used as a regional airport used for emergency services, agriculture, aviation works and regional transport.
Bălți International Airport is capable of round-the-clock operation throughout the year and is located outside the Bălți city boundaries, in the village of Corlăteni, Rîșcani District, 15.1 kilometres (9.4 mi) from Bălți city centre (9.7 kilometres (6.0 mi) from the northern outskirts of the city district of "Dacia", or as it is called "Bam"), with direct access to the European route E583 / M5 expressway and the Republican Road R12. The location of Bălți International Airport runway is the most advantageous compared to airports and airfields in the region (i.e. compared to Chișinău International Airport and Marculesti military airfield), which ensures continuous operation of Bălți International Airport without long closures that can last several days at Chișinău International Airport and at Marculesti military airfield.
Since its opening, the airport has served as a hub for Moldovan branch of Aeroflot, then for Air Moldova, and as the main base for Moldaeroservice. In the history of civil aviation of the Republic of Moldova, only the Chișinău International Airport and the Bălți International Airport operated regular Tupolev Tu-134 flights.
The airport was certified and opened for passenger and cargo services, operating regular passenger flights from 1989 - the year the concrete runway was commissioned at the newly built Bălți-Leadoveni Airport - connecting Bălți with 14 cities of the former USSR with Antonov An-24, Tupolev Tu-134, Let L-410 Turbolet aircraft until 1993. In recent years, the airport is used primarily for domestic flights and occasional external flights.