From the first civil flights of 1926 and Bălți’s historic airfields to Bălți-Leadoveni, Moldaeroservice and contemporary initiatives to revive the airport.
On 24 June 1926, the first regular passenger flights to Bessarabia began. In the 1930s, the development of the air network envisaged the integration of Bălți into the Bucharest–Galați–Chișinău–Bălți route, as civil aviation expanded and new interwar air connections were established.
During the Second World War, Bălți became an important centre of military aviation in Bessarabia. Its airfields hosted Soviet, Romanian and German aviation units, including medical aviation, and were involved in air operations and combat involving fighter aces.
After the war, civil aviation returned to Bălți, and Bălți-City Airport developed into a regional hub for passenger, mail and cargo transport. In 1954, a new passenger terminal entered service, marking a new stage in the development of air transport.
In 1958, the Bălți Civil Aviation Squadron was established, marking the beginning of an institutional continuity that, through successive reorganisations, would lead to today’s S.E. “Moldaeroservice”.
From 1961, Bălți-City Airport was able to accommodate Il-14 aircraft, opening a new stage in passenger transport and enabling the development of longer-distance air connections.
In 1966, Bălți Civil Aviation Detachment No. 281 was established, operating aircraft such as the An-2 and Yak-12 and strengthening Bălți’s role within the civil aviation system. It operated both domestic services within the Moldavian SSR and flights to other destinations across the USSR.
From 1969, the Bălți Civil Aviation Detachment was in operation. Bălți-City Airport became one of the main hubs of regional aviation, with an extensive network of destinations and activities encompassing passenger and cargo transport, medical and agricultural aviation, and other aerial operations.
Planned and developed from the second half of the 1970s, Bălți-Leadoveni Airport entered service in 1989 with a 2,240 × 42 m concrete runway, enabling the regular operation of higher-capacity aircraft.
Bălți-Leadoveni Airport operated regular passenger flights to numerous destinations within the USSR, including services using Tu-134 and An-24 aircraft, providing the municipality of Bălți and northern Moldova with direct access to an extensive air network.
In 1994, S.E. “Moldaviaservice” was established, and in 1996 the enterprise was renamed “Moldaeroservice”, continuing Bălți’s institutional tradition of civil aviation and the management of its airport infrastructure.
In the early 2000s, the Bălți–Istanbul international passenger service was operated. During the same period, new international connections from Bălți-Leadoveni to Moscow and Frankfurt am Main were envisaged, but were never operated.
In 2010, airport operations at Bălți-City ceased with the transfer of the airport’s land and assets for the expansion of the Bălți Free Economic Zone, a transfer associated with the creation of replacement assets at Bălți-Leadoveni Airport.
Between 2012 and 2015, Bălți-Leadoveni Airport continued to handle international charter passenger flights, including services to Romania, Austria and Germany, before the airport’s certificate was suspended in 2015.
In September 2015, the Bălți-Leadoveni Airport operator certificate was suspended, marking a break in the operation of the airport infrastructure and the beginning of a new chapter in the history of aviation in Bălți.
The public petition launched in December 2015 and the 2016 report opened a new chapter, followed by pre-feasibility and feasibility initiatives, investment proposals, and public, administrative and legal efforts to revive Bălți-Leadoveni International Airport.
