In August, 757.79 thousand passengers (departures and arrivals) used the services of Chisinau International Airport. This is a new record. Compared to August 2024, the traffic increased by 46.6% (+240.73 thousand passengers).
In total, 2.457 million passengers passed through Chisinau airport in the first half of the year, which is 49.2% more compared to the same period of 2024. The route network was significantly expanded, direct flights were launched to ten new destinations: Alicante, Bremen, Katowice, Palma de Mallorca, Turin, Thessaloniki, El Daba, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Lyon.
The number of new destinations continues to increase. Wizz Air opened the Chisinau-Wroclaw route in August. And in September, Wizz Air announced that by March 2026 it will be allocated two additional airliners to expand its operating base at Chisinau Airport. Thus, there will already be five airplanes. This will allow Wizz Air to increase flight frequencies and fly 34 routes to 16 countries.
Sergiu Spoiale, Administrator of Chisinau International Airport, said: “The expansion of Wizz Air’s base in Chisinau is a clear signal of confidence in the potential of our market, good news for citizens who will have more travel options and affordable fares.
At the end of 2024, the airport served 4.142 million passengers. Recall that passenger traffic for 2023 totaled 2.83 million, showing that for the third year in a row, there has been a sharp increase in passenger numbers. According to preliminary estimates, by the end of 2025, the milestone of 5 million will be reached.
But this positive dynamics of passenger traffic faces the negative trend of equally rapidly deteriorating conditions for passengers. The airport is heavily congested. In the right part of the terminal, where check-in desks and entrance to border and customs control are located, it is sometimes literally difficult to push through. It is reminiscent of a rush hour bus. The left side of the terminal is freer, but there is not a single free place to sit down and rest. There are a lot of people both in the daytime and at night. And at certain hours, what is known as a “collapse” occurs.
There are positive things to note. Despite the extreme degree of congestion, it can be seen that the airport services work harmoniously, clearly and courteously towards passengers.
But the need to build a new terminal at the airport has become even more urgent. It was talked about 10-15 years ago. It will make it possible to expand the area of the airport terminal and departure hall, increase the number of check-in counters, passenger control zones for departure/arrival, create an additional baggage handling area. Accordingly, new technologies will be introduced.
In May 2024, the international conference “Aviation-Event 2024 RMO” was held at Chisinau Airport. A statement was made by the then Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spinu that “with the support of international investors, we will conduct a feasibility study for the construction of a new passenger terminal, as well as a parking lot”.
Andrei Spynu said that the feasibility study is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024. The necessary investments are estimated at least 250 million euros. A few days ago, on September 5, 2025, The Jerusalem Post published an article about the intention of investors from Israel to build a temporary terminal at the Chisinau airport to support thousands of its citizens who plan to make an annual pilgrimage to the holy shrines in the Ukrainian city of Uman. A possible investment amount of 20 million shekels has been named. Flights were scheduled from mid to late September.
Almost simultaneously, information appeared in another publication, Israel National News, where it is said about the difficulties of negotiations and new demands of Moldova. The negotiations have reached an impasse. It should be concluded that the investor will not build a terminal at our airport, and pilgrims will use the routes through Romania.
This once again emphasizes the acuteness of the problem and the need to start the construction of a new terminal at the Chisinau airport as soon as possible. Delay in solving this issue may lead to new losses – both image and financial. After all, passengers want comfortable conditions. And if Chisinau does not provide them, they will find alternative routes for traveling.
