New passenger terminal operational at Volgograd airport

Construction of the new terminal was completed in advance of the 2018 FIFA World Cup (Photo by Oleg Chebotaryov / Volgograd Airport)

A new international terminal (Terminal C) at Volgograd Airport, built in preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, has started handling passengers.

The two-storey building with the total floor area of 10,000 square meters has the capacity of 300 passengers per hour, which equals the cumulative capacity of the older terminals A and B, writes Interfax newswire. The terminal is equipped with up-to-date security systems.

The terminal will be used initially for domestic lines, but once a new terminal for domestic passengers, which is currently under construction, is ready the Terminal C will handle international passengers.

Construction of the new 2800 by 45 m runway (ICAO cat. II), was completed in July. The old runway is no more in use. Further modernization plans include reconstruction of the taxiways and the airport’s power supply system, construction of a new apron with 20 aircraft parking slots and a deicing area. “In just a year and several months there will be a new apron and a landing system that will enable all-weather operations,” said Sergey Rudakov, head of Novaport holding (owns 51% of Volgograd airport), Interfax cites.

In the future the airport will be transformed into a multi-modal hub. The respective project, which is currently being elaborated, implies turning one of the older terminals into a long-haul bus terminal and extending a railway line to the airport.

According to Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, in Q1 2016 Volgograd airport handled 175,300 passengers, up 12.6% year-on-year. At the end of last year passenger traffic through the airport declined 17.1% YOY to 491,000 passengers.