Departure
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport (LRCK) is a joint civil-military aerodrome in southeastern Romania, some 26 kilometres north-northwest of Constanța, home to both scheduled airline traffic and the Romanian Air Force's 57th Air Base. Its single very long concrete runway, originally built for Cold War-era fighter operations, still gives it one of the longest paved surfaces in the country, making it an interesting and distinctive destination for the simulator pilot exploring the Black Sea coast.
Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport, named after Romania's third Prime Minister, serves the city of Constanța and the wider Northern Dobruja region while doubling as a military airfield hosting the Romanian Air Force's 57th Air Base and, since 1999, periodic United States Air Force deployments. For a simulator pilot the field offers an unusual combination of a busy but modest civil terminal alongside an active military flying operation, all built around a single, exceptionally long runway inherited from its Cold War fighter-base origins.
The airport lies at 44.3622N, 28.4883E in the commune of Mihail Kogălniceanu, about 26 kilometres north-northwest of Constanța city, close to the Danube-Black Sea Canal, the Black Sea resort coast and roughly 100 kilometres from the Danube Delta. Approach control is provided by Bucuresti Radar, reflecting the field's position within Romanian controlled airspace under Bucharest area control.
The airport has a single physical runway, 18/36, oriented almost exactly north-south. It is 11,457 feet (3,500 metres) long with a hard (concrete) surface and is lit for night operations. An ILS is available for approaches to runway 36.
Pilots can expect to work Bucuresti Radar on APP 122.9 MHz for approach and departure. Field ATIS is broadcast on 118.75 MHz, and the tower operates on 120.45 MHz. An ILS is fitted to runway 36 for instrument approaches.
The airfield sits close to the Danube-Black Sea Canal and within reach of the Black Sea resort coastline, both useful general reference features when navigating toward the field from the south or east; the Danube Delta lies roughly 100 kilometres to the north.
The airfield was built in 1955 as a military airbase and opened for civil operations in May 1960, taking over from the older Palas Airport, which had been founded in 1932. A passenger terminal opened in 1962 with a capacity of 200 passengers per hour, expanded in 1967 to 300 pax/hour and again in 1974 to 1,000 pax/hour. Civil traffic peaked in 1979 at 778,766 passengers, during the height of foreign tourism to the Romanian Riviera. On the military side, the field has long been home to the Romanian Air Force's 57th Air Base, historically the sole operator of the Mikoyan MiG-29 in Romanian service; the base was disbanded in April 2004 and reestablished in 2018, and it has hosted United States military forces since 1999. It currently hosts the 572nd Helicopter Squadron flying IAR 330L helicopters. The airfield has seen two notable accidents: on 7 December 1970 a TAROM BAC One-Eleven, diverted from Bucharest and flying from Tel Aviv, crashed on approach in poor weather five kilometres from the runway, killing 19 of the 27 occupants; and on 12 June 2017 a Romanian Air Force MiG-21 LanceR crashed on approach eight kilometres from the airport, with the pilot surviving despite serious injury.
Mihail Kogălniceanu remains a joint civil-military airport, permanently open to air traffic throughout the year, and is a member of ACI Europe and the Association of Romanian Airports. Civil passenger traffic has been recovering in recent years, reaching 119,426 passengers in 2025, with scheduled and charter services operated by carriers including Wizz Air, Turkish Airlines, Corendon Airlines and Fly Lili. Work began in 2023 on modernising the airport's infrastructure, including the control tower and passenger terminal. Given its continuing role as a NATO and Romanian Air Force base, with plans to expand it into one of the largest NATO airbases in Europe, prior permission is required for any flying activity involving the military side of the field.