Stănești Airfield

The closure was due to economic reasons. Stănești Airfield was a utility airfield primarily used for agricultural aviation (crop dusting, pest control) which was a state-sponsored activity during Romania's communist era. After the revolution, the state-run collective farms were dismantled, and the economic model for state-sponsored agricultural aviation collapsed. The demand for these services vanished almost overnight, rendering small, specialized airfields like Stănești economically unviable and obsolete.

The site is completely abandoned and has been reclaimed by nature. Satellite imagery shows the faint outline of the former grass runway, which is now overgrown and used as farmland or is simply fallow ground. There are no remaining hangars, terminal buildings, or any aviation infrastructure. The land has reverted to agricultural use, and for a casual observer on the ground, it would be difficult to identify it as a former airfield.

Stănești Airfield's significance was functional and local, not military or commercial. It was part of a large network of 'aviație utilitară' (utility aviation) airfields established across Romania to support large-scale agriculture. Operations typically involved rugged, single-engine aircraft, most famously the Antonov An-2 biplane, which was ideal for flying low and slow over fields. The airfield served as a base for these aircraft to treat the crops in the surrounding agricultural region of Gorj County. It played a vital role in the food production chain of the era but never handled passenger or significant cargo traffic.

There are no known plans, proposals, or prospects for reopening Stănești Airfield. The original economic reason for its existence is gone, and there is no modern demand for an airfield at this specific location. The lack of any remaining infrastructure and its remote location make any potential reactivation prohibitively expensive and without a clear purpose. Its status is considered permanently closed.