Build in Kuban: another major airport opened in the south of the country

Russia is increasing the activity of flights to the south: Krasnodar Airport has been open for flights since September 11. The resumption of its work was announced by the Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency. The first Aeroflot flight is scheduled for September 17, and S7 Airlines will join it later. Experts predict that with the opening of the airport, passenger traffic will reach several million people per year, and the growth of business activity and tourism will have a positive impact on the economy of the entire region. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

How much do tickets to Krasnodar cost?

Krasnodar Airport has opened after a three-year hiatus: both terminals, the airfield and special equipment are in full readiness, the Ministry of Transport reported. The first flight of Aeroflot will take place on September 17 from Moscow. At the time of publication of the article, tickets for this date at the economy optimum tariff cost from 20,629 rubles, on September 18 — from 15,529 rubles per person (and with luggage from 18,829 rubles). According to the airline's schedule, two flights a day will be operated from September 22. The stated flight time is almost four hours.

As the Aeroflot press service informed Izvestia, the geography of flights will expand in September: it will be possible to fly to and from the capital of Kuban from St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Ufa, Kazan and Novosibirsk. By the end of the month, the international flight program will be restored — planes will start flying to Yerevan, Istanbul and Dubai.

According to Dmitry Kravchenko, director of the airline's network and Revenue management department, at the initial stage, the frequency of flights between Moscow and Krasnodar will range from one to three per day, and then up to five. Flights to Krasnodar from St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg will be operated daily. Flights from Kazan, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk and Ufa are scheduled with a frequency of three to four flights per week.

Other companies will soon join Aeroflot. S7 Airlines and Smartavia have confirmed that they are interested in resuming flights and are conducting the necessary approvals. They will inform you about the start date of the flights additionally.

"We are currently awaiting official confirmation of the airport's regime, regulations and operating conditions, after which the airline will work out the flight program and begin implementing it," the Smartavia press service told Izvestia.

The possibility of flying to the capital of Kuban was confirmed by specialists of the State Corporation for Air Traffic Management, the Ministry of Transport reported. And an interdepartmental working group formed on the basis of the Federal Air Transport Agency worked on ensuring the safety of flights of civil aircraft to Krasnodar airport, which confirmed the possibility of accepting civil aircraft, the ministry added.

Krasnodar Airport has been closed since February 2022 for security reasons. However, for three years the air harbor has maintained a high degree of readiness. According to the Ministry of Transport, in the summer of 2024, an additional taxiway was repaired here, the airport forecourt and terminal facades were repaired. Navigation for passengers has been improved inside the airport, and the parking area has been updated.

As the press service of the air hub told Izvestia, during the forced downtime, the staff regularly underwent training and training so that specialists would not lose their skills and competencies. Some of the staff trained in Sochi.

"The airport operated according to approved regulations and regularly assessed the technical condition of the airfield equipment," the press service of the airport told Izvestia. — All these measures allow Krasnodar Airport to ensure high readiness for aircraft reception.

The opening of Krasnodar Airport is an important step in restoring air traffic in southern Russia, and residents of the region will receive direct flights to major Russian cities, which will reduce travel time and costs, Dmitry Tortev, a member of the expert council of the State Duma Committee for the Protection of Competition, said in an interview with Izvestia. The resumption of flights and the growth of passenger traffic will have a positive impact on the development of the hotel business, catering, transport services and retail trade, he noted.

The airports of Elista (in May 2024) and Gelendzhik (in July 2025) have already resumed operation. According to the Ministry of Transport at the beginning of September, the first served more than 43 thousand passengers this year, the second — over 77 thousand passengers.

Gelendzhik Airport received its first flight from Moscow on July 18, operated by Aeroflot. The opening of this air hub caused a stir among tourists — tickets for the first and next flights were sold out after the start of sales. On August 3, a Utair flight arrived at the airport from St. Petersburg, with a travel time of about 4.5 hours.

How will the opening of the airport affect the development of the region

Fyodor Borisov, chief expert at the Institute of Transport Economics at the Higher School of Economics, believes that flights from Krasnodar will be in high demand in Rostov, the Taman Peninsula and even in the Crimea. According to him, we are talking about several million passengers per year. In pre-modern times, this figure was more than 4 million people per year, Andrei Patrakov, founder of the RunAvia flight safety resource and aviation expert, told Izvestia.

Krasnodar Airport is a major transport hub, an entry point to the region, and a hub of business and tourist traffic. There is no doubt that it is in demand, said Oleg Panteleev, Executive Director of the Aviport agency.

According to Dmitry Gorin, Vice-president of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry, Krasnodar Region receives 18.5 million tourists annually.

"The airport has been closed since 2022, and residents of the region were forced to travel through transit airports," he said. — Therefore, the opening of this air hub is a big plus, first of all, for the population of the region.

Now residents of Rostov, Donetsk and Lugansk will no longer come to Mineralnye Vody, Volgograd, Stavropol or Sochi for flights, but to Krasnodar, said Aleksan Mkrtchyan, Vice President of the Alliance of Travel Agencies of Russia. Residents of Anapa, Novorossiysk, Gelendzhik and tourists from Crimea will also be able to use the airport, Sergei Romashkin, a member of the Russian Union of Travel Industry's committee on domestic Tourism and CEO of the Dolphin tour operator, added in a conversation with Izvestia.

According to Aleksan Mkrtchyan, due to the opening of the airport in Krasnodar, demand for travel is expected to increase not only in Russia, but also abroad. For example, to Dubai, Istanbul, Yerevan and Tbilisi.

Dmitry Gorin added that in order to cope with the increased tourist flow, airlines will need to adjust their flight programs, and Sergey Romashkin is confident that the tourist flow in the off-season will grow by at least 20-30%.