Romanian airline AnimaWings has officially inaugurated the direct route between Cluj-Napoca and Athens, marking a significant milestone in expanding Transylvania’s regional connectivity to major European hubs. Operated with state-of-the-art Airbus A220-300 aircraft, the new connection targets both the business and leisure segments, providing easy access to the connection network for the Greek islands and strengthening the position of Cluj airport as an economic development pole.<\/p>\n
The first flight on the Cluj-Napoca \u2013 Athens route took place on April 5, 2026, with year-round operations scheduled twice weekly, on Thursdays and Sundays. AnimaWings, part of the Memento Group, is implementing a full-service model on this route, utilizing 148-seat Airbus A220-300 aircraft. The operator’s expansion in Cluj also includes the launch of seasonal flights to Thessaloniki, starting June 2, and Zakynthos, starting June 4, consolidating a portfolio of six destinations from “Avram Iancu” International Airport, alongside Bucharest, Istanbul, and Olbia-Sardinia.<\/p>\n
Marius Pandel, CEO of AnimaWings, emphasized that Athens is becoming a strategic hub for regional connections and tourism. From a technical standpoint, the operator’s fleet currently numbers 8 aircraft, including four new A220 models received in the last six months, with the goal of reaching 18 units by the end of 2027. David Ciceo, General Manager of Cluj Airport, noted the company’s accelerated expansion just one year and three months after the debut of regular flights. AnimaWings’ global network currently totals 56 destinations, with the new routes being supported by local authorities for their impact on the county’s competitiveness and the development of relations with the Attica region.<\/p>\n
When did the Cluj-Napoca \u2013 Athens route launch?<\/strong><\/p>\n The inaugural flight took place on April 5, 2026, with a frequency of two flights per week on Thursdays and Sundays.<\/p>\n What type of aircraft does AnimaWings use for this route?<\/strong><\/p>\n The route is operated using state-of-the-art Airbus A220-300 aircraft with a capacity of 148 seats.<\/p>\n What are AnimaWings’ fleet expansion goals?<\/strong><\/p>\n The airline currently operates 8 aircraft and aims to expand its fleet to 18 units by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Romanian airline AnimaWings has officially inaugurated the direct route between Cluj-Napoca and Athens, marking a significant milestone in expanding Transylvania’s regional connectivity to major European hubs. Operated with state-of-the-art Airbus A220-300 aircraft, the new connection targets both the business and leisure segments, providing easy access to the connection network for the Greek islands and strengthening…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":125402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2856],"tags":[5419],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-125503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conectivity","tag-memento-group"],"article_style_override":"on","post-style":"style2","post_via":[{"title":"airportcluj.ro | 09.04","post_source_url":"https:\/\/www.airportcluj.ro"}],"post-top-image":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/transport-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125503"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=125503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}