Krasnoyarsk Territory authorities are planning to join the runways of the neighboring Cheremshanka and Krasnoyarsk airports. Regional governor Alexander Uss said that it fits into the logic of creating the Krasnoyarsk air hub whose construction is now in full swing.
Efforts are currently focused on the new taxiway which is already 90 percent complete. It is due to be commissioned in late May and is expected to provide a twofold increase in the number of takeoffs and landings.
According to Uss, Russia’s flag carrier Aeroflot is considering Krasnoyarsk as its second base airport. Also, Volga-Dnepr, a major cargo airline, has begun to operate in the region.
"Passenger traffic at the airport has predictably declined, but Volga-Dnepr has increased cargo transportation 2.5 times. As a result, we met all financial targets. We would like to link the two parallel runways. These strategic ideas were earlier voiced by our predecessors," the governor said at a recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Cheremshanka is located a few kilometers from Krasnoyarsk with a federal highway in between. Unlike its international "neighbor" it mainly services regional flights. Until 2014, Cheremshanka was federal property. Then the Russian government transferred ownership to the region on the condition that the airport would be renovated. The new air terminal at Cheremshanka, launched in 2018, replaced the old building that burned down in 2011. The press service of Krasnoyarsk airport told wek.ru that runway connection would be time-consuming. There are still a lot of technicalities to think about. Of course, the runways will not be connected physically. Rather, their technical services will be combined. In short, this project will run for the next decade.
Completion of the apron upgrade and building storage facilities and a system of centralized aircraft refueling are among the priorities.
"The estimated project deadline is 2030. Options are still being worked out. I would like to add that Cheremshanka has been under the operational management of Krasnoyarsk Airport since December 2019. In fact, we are already functioning as a single production complex," said Andrey Metzler, CEO of the international airport.
As for the Krasnoyarsk territory aviation in general, KrasAvia and NordStar are now finalizing a regional consortium. Nornickel which owns Nordstar, passed five medium-range ATR-42-500 aircraft to KrasAvia as part of the deal. The partners agreed to divide their duties within the consortium: NordStar will continue to perform long-haul flights while KrasAvia will fully provide regional flights.
"A year-round regular air link between Norilsk and the "mainland" is the most important social task of the territory. Its solution requires the special attention of federal and regional authorities and businesses. The agreement provides for a clear road map to take further actions and create guarantees for passengers," said Alexander Neradko, head of the Federal Agency for Air Transport.
Experts believe that after the launch of the hub, Krasnoyarsk will be able to attract passenger transfer flows to the airport. It will see an exponential growth of transportation and revenues for the airport and all servicing companies. Last year showed how important all-cargo service was for the global market. Therefore, market players, including Krasnoyarsk Airport began to pay more attention to this segment.
As for other regions, preliminary work to modernize the Irkutsk international airport is slowly ongoing. Irkutsk region acting Minister of Transport and Road Construction Olga Zolotareva said that industry majors Renova, Novaport, Basel Aero, and Airport Development have expressed their desire to participate in the project. It is necessary to attract at least 20 bln rubles ($272.4 mln) for the construction of a new airport complex on public-private partnership terms. The budget of the Irkutsk region has so far earmarked only 50 mln rubles ($681,000) for project development.