Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tofan visited Chisinau International Airport to assess how the infrastructure is coping with peak-hour passenger traffic.
“Today I went to Chisinau Airport to see directly how it is coping with traffic during peak hours,” Tofan wrote.
Between 5:00 and 7:00 a.m. alone, the airport handled 16 flights, with the infrastructure operating at the limit of its capacity during those hours. Passenger traffic has doubled in just two years, and the airport is expected to exceed 7 million passengers this year, despite having been designed to handle roughly half that volume.
Tofan called for several measures that could be implemented quickly, including additional waiting areas, mobile coffee and food points to reduce queues, and additional resources at security and passport control lines during peak hours.
The prime minister also called for Moldovan products, including wines, sweets and other local goods, to be moved into the airport’s central commercial area, where the largest flow of passengers passes.
“It is not normal for our wines to be placed at the back of the hall while imported whisky occupies the area with the highest traffic. The airport is also one of the first showcases of our country,” Tofan said.
However, according to the prime minister, these measures would only provide temporary relief and would not address the underlying problem: the airport is too small for the amount of traffic it handles today.
For this reason, Tofan said the reconstruction and expansion of the existing terminal must begin no later than October, noting that the procurement process has already been delayed by appeals.
“We need a larger and more modern airport – to make better use of the growth in passenger traffic, but also simply to treat passengers with respect and provide them with normal conditions,” Tofan concluded.