Policies and Measures to Support Air Transport in Romania

At the national level aeronautics had a history of over a century. The various policies for the development of this field have been influenced by the political orientations, of the historical periods, by the technical evolution of aircrafts and the marked periods of human history (world wars, economic crises, etc.). From these perspectives, this paper aims to highlight the effects of Romanian economic policies on air transport (activities and infrastructure) from the moment this mode of transport appeared in Romania until now. As a result of the analyses carried out, it was revealed that the air transport activity experienced an important development determined by the growth of the economy, the involvement of Romania in the international exchange of goods, in international tourism. At the same time, there were times of involution due to both unfavorable international conjunctures (war, oil and international economic crises, etc.) and the disastrous economic policies imposed at national level (economy of fuels, imports, e.g. in the socialist era or political interferences in the administration of state-owned airlines in the contemporary period). However, Romania’s accession to the European Union has managed, after long periods, to reinvigorate the air sector both in terms of activity and modernization of specific infrastructure. Methods of quantitative analysis of documents, statistical analysis of quantitative information, interpretative analysis of data (cumulative analysis of quantitative and qualitative data) and evaluation of processes and results were used in the analyses performed. The main series of statistical data were obtained from national institutions and other profile works.