At the moment 229 airfields and five helicopter landing sites of civil aviation are included in the State Register of the Russian Federation, 79 of them are open for international flights. There are also about 2,430 landing sites in Russia. These figures were given by the Federal Air Transport Agency in its congratulation to the 100th anniversary of civil aviation of Russia.
The airport of Norilsk (Alykel) was one of the last to receive international status. The initiative to make one of the most northern airports of Russia and the world available for international flights was proposed by Norilsk Nickel, the company operating the airport complex in the south of the Taimyr Peninsula. For Norilsk, aviation is the only year-round means of communication with the mainland. Nornickel plans to upgrade the infrastructure of the airport itself before the opening of international flights. Reconstruction of the airport terminal is scheduled to start in April 2023 and be completed in the first quarter of 2025.
In December 2022, the modernisation of four airports in Yakutia was completed at once: Belaya Gora, Deputatsky, Khandyga and Sangar. With a minimum design capacity (from 35 passenger/hour), Yakutia’s airports bear a huge social burden, providing sometimes no alternative transport links to populated areas.
By the end of 2023, reconstruction of the infrastructure of 18 airports will have been completed, and 16 more will be completed in 2024. Significant resources from the federal budget have been allocated for this purpose: 40 billion roubles will be allocated in 2023 and 35.5 billion next year. This was announced by President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with representatives of the aviation industry in early February.
The federal project «Development of regional airports and routes» as part of the comprehensive plan for the development of backbone infrastructure in the Russian Federation involves reconstruction of runways, rehabilitation of taxiways, aprons and other supporting infrastructure. Taking into account the already reconstructed facilities, by the end of 2024 work is planned to be carried out on 52 airport infrastructure facilities: 32 runways and 20 auxiliary facilities at 49 airports.