Romania’s first private airport attracts Swiss capital

The project of Romania’s first private airport, being developed in Alexeni near Bucharest, has attracted a strategic investor from Switzerland. According to Romanian media reports, the partner is expected to provide not only financing, but also sector-specific expertise to accelerate implementation of the project, whose total declared investment volume is estimated at around EUR 400 million.

The official announcement of the transaction is expected after the completion of the relevant legal and administrative procedures, including those related to foreign investment control. In practical terms, this means that the project is moving from a conceptual and concession-based stage toward a more structured investment phase.

The future Alexeni International Airport is being positioned as a multifunctional aviation and logistics platform combining passenger and cargo operations. Romanian sources indicate that the project is currently advancing through urban planning and approval procedures, including the preparation of the zonal urban plan and related authorizations. Depending on the pace of approvals and the finalization of the financial structure, construction is linked to the next development phase in 2027.

The airport is planned on the site of the former Alexeni military airfield in Ialomița County. The facility was built in 1954, abandoned in 2001, and officially decommissioned in 2002. The concession contract for the development of the new airport was signed in March 2024, while the overall implementation period was initially defined as four years from the launch of the project.

In addition to the Romanian developer Avant Airports, the concession consortium also includes the Ukrainian company Avtomagistral Pivden, which has already been involved in infrastructure works in Romania, including projects related to airport infrastructure. This gives the initiative additional relevance in the context of regional cooperation and the growing participation of Ukrainian business in strategic transport projects in neighboring states.

The project’s architecture reflects the ambition to create not merely a new airport, but an integrated multimodal hub. At the time of the concession signing, the concept included a 20,000 sq. m cargo terminal, a 30,000 sq. m passenger terminal, aircraft maintenance facilities, customs infrastructure, fueling stations, an aviation academy, and a photovoltaic park intended to support the platform’s energy autonomy. At the same time, more recent reports from 2026 focus primarily on the cargo-logistics function of the future hub and on the increasing interest of foreign investors, rather than on revised technical specifications. Therefore, some of the earlier design parameters should still be regarded as indicative.

Comment by the Institute of Danube Research 

The entry of Swiss capital into the Alexeni project is a significant signal for the broader transport and logistics space stretching between the Danube region, the Black Sea, and Central Europe. This is not merely about the construction of a new airport near Bucharest; it is about the emergence of a potential alternative cargo aviation center in Eastern Europe. If effectively integrated with road and rail infrastructure, such a hub could strengthen Romania’s role as a redistribution platform for trade flows between the EU, the Black Sea basin, and the eastern flank of Europe.

For Ukraine, the participation of Avtomagistral Pivden is of particular importance. It demonstrates that Ukrainian infrastructure actors remain capable of integrating into major cross-border projects even under wartime conditions. In the longer term, such cases may enhance not only Ukraine’s economic presence in the region, but also its inclusion in a new architecture of transport resilience and logistics security in South-Eastern Europe.