Russia tries to resume operation at Krasnodar airport, closed since beginning of the war

Russia hopes to resume flights from Krasnodar. On 15 December, the local airport, closed on 24 February 2022, received the first civilian flight since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine – so far, a technical one.

Source: Russian agency Interfax; Crimea.Reality 

Quote from Dmitrii Kirichenko, managing director of Krasnodar airport: "Today, the airport conducts technical flight training, and all services are operating normally. We are ready for a possible resumption of flights to the airport, and we are waiting for the decision of the aviation authorities."

Details: Kirichenko did not name a possible date for the airport's reopening, suggesting that additional technical flights will be conducted.

On Friday, an Azimuth plane carrying out a technical flight from Mineralnye Vody landed in Krasnodar.

Rosaviatsia (Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency) clarified that the working group planned the test flight without passengers to ensure the safety of regular flights of civil aircraft. The flight is necessary to check all aspects of the interaction between air traffic control and airport services.

"The aircraft's test flight to the Kuban capital will assess the readiness of air traffic control, the airfield and special services to operate passenger flights at Krasnodar airport. For the final decision-making, their work will be thoroughly analysed," said Dmitrii Yadrov, Head of Rosaviatsia.

According to Rosaviatsia, the airport's infrastructure is maintained in working order, and subsidies have been allocated for this purpose.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the airport in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai has been receiving military aircraft. The situation is similar in Simferopol (occupied Crimea): the airport that is closed for passenger flights is used as a transport hub for delivering military cargo.

In Russia, the airports of Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Gelendzhik, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don and Elista do not work due to the war against Ukraine. Only Sochi airport operates in the Southern Federal District of the Russian Federation. 

Background:

• On 13 December, the administration of Russia’s Krasnodar Krai announced that the Krasnodar airport may resume work after a test flight on 15 December. Aeroflot (Russian Airlines) is ready to start with four daily flights from Moscow to Krasnodar. Pobeda Airline (Aeroflot) also reported the possibility of resuming flights after the New Year holidays.
• Sergey Aksyonov, the puppet "head of Crimea", said there were no plans to reopen Simferopol's international airport for security reasons.
• On 14 December, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin called for a thorough analysis of the possibility of reopening Krasnodar's airport during his Direct line, a televised annual event during which the president responds to questions of Russian citizens live for several hours. He called passenger safety the main criterion for making a decision.

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