Bucharest airports’ renationalisation intrigue: Infamy! Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me

Numerous attempts have been made to attract at least a partial level of privatisation to Romania's airports over the past decade or so, but without much success.

One exception was a private organisation operating under the auspices of the government, which exists to compensate individuals whose properties were confiscated during the communist regime - namely Fondul Proprietatea (FP). It was a 20% shareholder in CNAB, the operator in the two main airports in Bucharest.

But following what now seems to have been a rash statement encouraging an IPO on the airports made in Nov-2025, FP has been summarily removed from its ownership equity.

Essentially, the state has renationalised the airport, and not for the first time in recent years in this part of the world.

There is an exception to every rule, and here that is the Avant Alexeni Airport which is under construction close to Bucharest, together with a Ukrainian company; Avant being the operator.

It will be a serious challenge to the two state-operated airports, especially in the freight field.

The irony is that with such a degree of recent interest in Eastern European airports by major investors and operators (and despite previous privatisation failures over the years in that region), Bucharest's Henri Coandă International Airport (a.k.a. Otopeni Airport) at least would be an attractive proposition to them.