Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport has temporarily limited capacity at the border control points.
Confirming that the new changes will last until March 31, Bucharest Airports Company has announced that the decision has been taken in order for the implementation of the necessary measures for partial Schengen Accession.
The automatic border control gates on the international departures flow have already been relocated to the non-Schengen departures flow. At the same time, regarding the international arrivals flow, there is ongoing work to relocate some border control booths.
The work at Romania’s busiest international airport is being carried out in order to reduce passenger inconvenience on the days left before the partial accession to the Schengen Zone.
The Bucharest Airports National Company and the Border Police are making all efforts to minimize the discomfort of passengers in the remaining four days until the accession to the Schengen area, days in which all passengers travelling in/out of the country must present themselves at the border control.
Bulgaria’s International Airports Ready for Schengen Access
Bulgaria and Romania will join the Schengen Zone from March 31, 2024, by air and sea, following Austria’s “Air Schengen” Proposal. However, land border accession for these two countries has not been finalized yet.
Recently, the Minister of Interior of Bulgaria, Kalin Stoyanov, ensured that the airports in the country are ready to enter Schengen by air and begin applying new passport-checking rules from March 31, 2024.
Ahead of partial Schengen accession, Sofia Airport, on March 6, introduced electronic self-scanning for boarding passes, facilitating the travel process. The system aims to streamline the passenger experience, thus minimizing wait times and enhancing efficiency during the security check process.
In January this year, Romania’s Henri Coandă International Airport and Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport declared their full preparedness for operation on separate Schengen and non-Schengen flows.
The announcement was confirmed through a press release issued by the Bucharest National Company (CNAB).
Through a statement, CNAB said that a large part of the terminal infrastructure at the Henri Coandă International Airport was designed for use in the Schengen/non-Schengen system, and, in the period since then, CNAB has to make special efforts to ensure the processing of passenger traffic, which in the last 11 years has doubled.