Infrastructure The renewal of the Kamchatka air fleet has begun 25.01.2023

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky International Airport summed up the results of the work of the transport hub during the New Year holidays. Marina Yakutova CEO of the Development Corporation of Kamchatka is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Airport.

The press service of the airport reports that more than 17.4 thousand passengers passed through the air harbor from December 31, 2022 to January 8 this year, which is slightly less than the same period last year. Meanwhile the airlines note that their liners arrived and left Kamchatka with a maximum passenger load long before the beginning of the Christmas holidays.


The number of the passengers reached a peak of 3 thousand people per day on January 8. Most of these people were travelling between Petropavlovsk and Moscow using Aeroflot or Rossiya airlines. The leader in the number of takeoffs and landings was Aurora airlines. Its airplanes made 20 flights to the peninsula. During 9 days of New Year holidays Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport provided 83 flights to 17 destinations.


“The Airports of the Regions management company, a partner of the Corporation, has made a global reconstruction of the old terminal building. But still the building itself as well as the existing airfield areas have limited capabilities for servicing aircraft and passengers,” said Marina Yakutova. – “A cardinal change in air traffic will occur after the commissioning of a new airport complex, which is being constructing within the framework of the shareholder and investment agreements signed in November 2017 between the Corporation and Airports of the Regions Management Company. At the same time a new airfield infrastructure is also being formed at the Airport territory. It includes the construction of a main passenger platform for 9 parking spaces and an apron for three more small aircrafts. The new airfield complex will also provide for a taxiway and a service road.”


According to the federal agency for Modernization of Transport System of Russia (Rostransmodernizatsiya), the facilities are ready today for more than 70 percent. It is planned to complete the construction of a new platform and related infrastructure elements this year.


The Agency also notes that the modernization of the airfield infrastructure will not only increase the airport’s capacity to one and a half million passengers a year. It will also allow to improve the quality of passenger service to modern international standards and to strengthen transport security measures.


As far as Kamchatka is a region where passenger traffic is based mainly on air transport, the topic about regional aviation is highly important. Thereby, the beginning of this year was marked by one more long-awaited news. Aurora airlines, the part of the Unified Far Eastern Airline, begins a renewal of the air fleet of the Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise. One new helicopter has already arrived to Kamchatka. It’s Mi-8MTV-1 which differs from the early G8 modifications in its larger payload and flight range, as well as improved navigation equipment.


The helicopter was manufactured at the Kazan Aviation Plant. The advance payment was provided by the federal budget.
It is planned that the new helicopter will make one of its first flights to the Commander islands with a group of medical specialists from the regional hospital on board.