Otopeni

Otopeni
Otopeni
Town
	Bucharest Otopeni Airport
	Coat of arms
	Location in Ilfov County
	Otopeni Location in Romania
	Coordinates: 44°33′0″N 26°4′12″E / 44.55000°N 26.07000°E
Country	Romania
County	Ilfov
Government
• Mayor (2020–2024)	Constantin-Silviu Gheorghe (PNL)
Area	31.60 km2 (12.20 sq mi)
Population (2021-12-01)	21,750
• Density	690/km2 (1,800/sq mi)
Time zone	EET/EEST (UTC+2/+3)
Vehicle reg.	IF
Website	www.otopeniro.ro

Otopeni (Romanian pronunciation: [otoˈpenʲ]) is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, neighbouring the north of Bucharest along the DN1 road to Ploiești. It has 21,750 inhabitants, of which 99.0% are ethnic Romanians. One village, Odăile, is administered by the city.

Henri Coandă International Airport is located inside Otopeni. The head office of the airline TAROM is located inside the International Departures Terminal in the airport.^[3] In addition the head office of Țiriac Air is in Otopeni.^[4]

History

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
2002	10,515	—
2011	13,861	+31.8%
2021	21,750	+56.9%
Source: Census data

The oldest discovered human settlements in the region are very old. On the occasion of excavations in 1966 to expand the nearby Henri Coandă International Airport, archaeologist Margaret Constantiniu of the History Museum of Bucharest identified fragments of ancient pottery and other objects that belonged to an important human settlements existing since the first period of the Iron Age. In an overlay was discovered another settlement are dated to the 10th century.

By charter of 14 February 1587, Mihnea Turcitul – voivode of Wallachia – gave Holy Trinity Monastery half to the village of Islazul and half to the village of Hodopeni (today Otopeni) mills and gypsies.

On 20 May 1620, Maria, great Băneasa, Holy Trinity monastery was given back (later Radu Vodă) half the village Hodopeni with Rumani, given by Master Villa, commanding Ruman listen. Historian Constantin C. Giurescu argued that the name Hodopeni comes from Hodopa or Hodoba.

At the end of the 19th century, Otopeni town was part of Dâmbovița County, Ilfov province, consisting of two villages, Lower Otopeni and Upper Otopeni, with 851 inhabitants in total. The commune operated a school with 29 students and two churches (one in each village). The village chambers were then part of the town Bucoveni, with 125 inhabitants.

Otopeni was transformed into a city as part of Nicolae Ceaușescu's Systematization plan. It replaced the semidetached houses with four-story high apartment buildings.^[5]

Local government

The mayor of Otopeni is Constantin Silviu Gheorghe, as of 2020, from the National Liberal Party. The Otopeni Local Council has 17 councillors, even though before the 2008 local elections, it only had 15. It is considered to be a safe Liberal district, currently having the following party composition:

Party	Seats in 2004	Seats in 2008
National Liberal Party	11	13
Democratic Party	2	2
Social Democratic Party	2	2

Natives

Lucian Croitoru (born 1957), economist
Mihai Dobrescu (born 1992), footballer
Ioana Tudoran (born 1948), rower

References

^ "Results of the 2020 local elections". Central Electoral Bureau. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
^ "Populaţia rezidentă după grupa de vârstă, pe județe și municipii, orașe, comune, la 1 decembrie 2021" (XLS). National Institute of Statistics.
^ "Participation Announcement To The Tender Procedure For Public Procurement – Information Technology Services^{[permanent dead link‍]}." TAROM. 12 June 2008. Retrieved on 28 February 2010. "The headquarters of S.C. Compania Nationala de Transporturi Aeriene Romane TAROM S.A., placed in Otopeni, Calea Bucurestilor 224F, Ilfov County, Romania ( Henri Coanda International Airport-Bucharest, International Departures Terminal, 2nd Floor)." ^{[dead link‍]}
^ "Terms and Conditions Archived 2012-01-15 at the Wayback Machine" (Direct English link^{[dead link‍]}) Țiriac Air. Retrieved on 11 December 2011. "[...]SC Ion Tiriac Air SRL, headquartered in Romania, Otopeni, Ilfov, 224G Bucurestilor Str, PO BOX 21-17,[...]" – Romanian: "[...]Calea Bucureștilor nr. 224G, Otopeni, jud. Ilfov,[...]"
^ Darrick Danta, "Ceaușescu's Bucharest", Geographical Review 83, no. 2 (1993)

Aeroport Henri Coandă T1 train station
Aerial view of the airport
Țiriac Collection [ro] building in Otopeni

External links

Otopeni (in Romanian)

[1] "Results of the 2020 local elections". Central Electoral Bureau. Retrieved 8 June 2021.

[2] "Populaţia rezidentă după grupa de vârstă, pe județe și municipii, orașe, comune, la 1 decembrie 2021" (XLS). National Institute of Statistics.

[3] "Participation Announcement To The Tender Procedure For Public Procurement – Information Technology Services^{[permanent dead link‍]}." TAROM. 12 June 2008. Retrieved on 28 February 2010. "The headquarters of S.C. Compania Nationala de Transporturi Aeriene Romane TAROM S.A., placed in Otopeni, Calea Bucurestilor 224F, Ilfov County, Romania ( Henri Coanda International Airport-Bucharest, International Departures Terminal, 2nd Floor)." ^{[dead link‍]}

[4] "Terms and Conditions Archived 2012-01-15 at the Wayback Machine" (Direct English link^{[dead link‍]}) Țiriac Air. Retrieved on 11 December 2011. "[...]SC Ion Tiriac Air SRL, headquartered in Romania, Otopeni, Ilfov, 224G Bucurestilor Str, PO BOX 21-17,[...]" – Romanian: "[...]Calea Bucureștilor nr. 224G, Otopeni, jud. Ilfov,[...]"

[5] Darrick Danta, "Ceaușescu's Bucharest", Geographical Review 83, no. 2 (1993)

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v t e Ilfov County, Romania
Cities	None
Towns	Bragadiru Buftea Chitila Măgurele Otopeni Pantelimon Popești-Leordeni Voluntari
Communes	Afumați Balotești Berceni Brănești Cernica Chiajna Ciolpani Ciorogârla Clinceni Copăceni Corbeanca Cornetu Dărăști-Ilfov Dascălu 1 Decembrie Dobroești Domnești Dragomirești-Vale Găneasa Glina Grădiștea Gruiu Jilava Moara Vlăsiei Mogoșoaia Nuci Periș Petrăchioaia Snagov Ștefăneștii de Jos Tunari Vidra