Oradea launches local airline, connecting Western Romania with Europe

After two months of diligent work, local authorities are ready to officially let Air Oradea fly

Today, local authorities from the city of Oradea and Bihor County in Romania officially launched the local airline Air Oradea. The move was preceded by a joint declaration between the president of the Bihor County Council Ilie Bolojan and the mayor of Oradea, Florin Birta. The airline’s aim is to promote connectivity and mobility between Oradea and the Romanian capital, Bucharest.

Local leaders envision this project as a win on all fronts, as it is supposed to increase the country’s cohesion, link Oradea with key European capitals, increase interest in foreign investment and promote the city as a tourist destination.

This seems like a tall order for a single initiative, however, the joint endeavour has provided 3 million euros as a starting capital for the airline. When it comes to ownership, the city and county will share, with Oradea getting 60% of the share capital and Bihor County getting 40%.

L-R: Mayor Florin Birta, President of the Bihor County Council, Ilie Bolojan,
Source: City of Oradea

The promise of ‘mobility’

Mobility is extremely important, and Oradea has a geography and infrastructure problem. It is one of Romania’s larger cities, however, it is located closer to Budapest, the capital of Hungary, than to Bucharest.

This is coupled with the fact that there are no highways between the Romanian capital and the capital of Bihor County. Thus, Air Oradea can be extremely helpful to increase territorial cohesion in Romania

Furthermore, Oradea is trying to position itself as one of Europe’s centres for Art Nouveau architecture, carving out a unique image for itself both in the country and in the Danube region as a whole.

President of the Bihor County Council, Ilie Bolojan was quoted in a press release, saying: "In the autumn of this year, we will launch the tender procedure for renting the crews that will operate on the aircraft that will fly under the Air Oradea brand.

This is an important strategic project for Oradea and for Bihor County because by ensuring air connectivity with the capital of our country and with several European hubs, we will put Oradea on the global map of development and make it more attractive for investments in the coming years, so we can offer more opportunities, better salaries and a better quality of life.”