Aviation in Romania
After returning from France, Bibescu organized the Cotroceni Piloting School in Bucharest where Mircea Zorileanu [ro] and Nicolae Capșa were licensed.
Bibescu would later be instrumental in founding the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the international regulatory body for aeronautics.
He constructed his first powered, fixed wing aircraft with wheeled undercarriage, and in 1906 he flew short hops in it at Montesson near Paris, France.
[1][2][3] Although unsuccessful at true flight, Vuia's aircraft has been credited as "the first man-carrying monoplane of basically modern configuration" and influenced the more successful Brazilian pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont.
On 1 April 1913, it became the Military Aeronautics Service (Serviciul de Aeronautică Militară); the Corps of Permanent Airmen (Corpul Aeronauților Permanți) was also established on this date.
During the ensuing defeat of Romanian forces, the Air Corps was chronically short of serviceable aircraft and supplies and was reorganised several times.
[7] As World War II loomed in 1939, Romania found itself in a precarious position and made many treaties with its neighbours.
One result of this was a change of supplier; a number of German aircraft were procured and IAR licensed production of the Junkers Jumo 211Da aero engine.
In response, Britain began supplying frontline aircraft, although only a few Hawker Hurricanes and Bristol Blenheims arrived in the few days left before hostilities would begin.
[7] Following the outbreak of war and the German invasion of Poland, over 100 surviving aircraft of the Polish Air Force joined the ARR.
Following a long and bloody campaign, by the summer of 1943 emphasis was beginning to switch to the air defence of Romania and especially the oil wells and refineries which supplied Germany, the ARR giving a good account of itself during the American Operation Tidal Wave bombing raids.
Although by now possessing less than 200 operational combat aircraft organised in the 1st Air Corps, the ARR joined in the attack on German forces.
Despite chaotic conditions, exacerbated by the Soviet demand for Romanian mechanics to maintain their aircraft, IAR continued a low level of production and the ARR began to rebuild its strength.
The expansion slowed after the withdrawal of the last Soviet forces in 1958, and the FR-RPR ended its participation in Warsaw Pact exercises in 1962 (see De-satellization of the Socialist Republic of Romania).
1962 saw the introduction of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 fighter, while in 1965 the Czech Aero L-29 Delfin jet trainer also entered service.
Four of the airports (OTP, BBU, TSR, CND) have runways of 3,100–3,500 metres (10,171–11,483 ft) in length and are capable of handling jumbo jets.
In 2006 the company started a fleet update program with the acquisition of 4 new Airbus A318 airplanes, 2 new ATR 72 turboprops in 2009 and two new Boeing 737-800 NG in 2017.
