Vladivostok International Airport (russian: Международный аэропорт "Владивосток" ''Mezhdunarodnyi aeroport Vladivostok'') is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer r ...

located near

Artyom Artyom (russian: Артём) is a male given name common in Russia and other Slavic-speaking countries. The name uses the " ё" letter, which can be transcribed to English as "e" but still has the "yo" sound. The Belarusian spelling is Арцё� ...

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai (russian: Приморский край, r=Primorsky kray, p=prʲɪˈmorskʲɪj kraj), informally known as Primorye (, ), is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia, located in the Far East region of the country and is a part of t ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, roughly an hour's drive () north of the center of the city of

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, ...

. It was formerly known as Knevichi Airport, named after the village of Knevichi.

History

The Vladivostok Airport was constructed in 1931 near the town of Artyom. Commercial flights began in the summer of 1932. In the decade after World War II, Po-2 and W-2 planes were widely used in air-chemical works and coastal exploration for fish in the service of

geologists A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

and forest patrols. Passenger flights on the Moscow - Vladivostok route began in 1948 using

Ilyushin Il-12 The Ilyushin Il-12 (NATO reporting name: Coach) was a Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft, developed in the mid-1940s for small and medium-haul airline routes and as a military transport. Design and development The Il-12 was developed as a priva ...

s. From 1959 to 1964, a complex of ground facilities was built to allow regular flights with larger planes after the closure of the Vtoraya Rechka Airport, encroached by the growing city.

Expansion and modernization

Domestic Terminal B of the Vladivostok airport underwent complete renovation during 2005–2006, which transformed it into one of the most comfortable and up-to-date airport terminals in Russia. The renovated terminal was re-opened on December 19, 2006. The federal and regional governments announced plans to rebuild Vladivostok International Airport prior to the

APEC Russia 2012 The APEC Russia 2012 ( rus, Саммит АТЭС Владивосток-2012, Sammit ATES Vladivostok-2012) was the 24th annual gathering of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC leaders. Leaders from the member economies met on Russky Island, ...

Summit on Russky Island, south of Vladivostok. A new terminal (Terminal A) was built in 2012, at a cost of 7 billion RUB. The capacity of this new terminal building is 3.5 million passengers per year. Runway 07R/25L was also reconstructed and lengthened, to , and this new runway is capable of accommodating every type of aircraft. The Terminal B has since closed and converted to an

exhibition center A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

Facilities

The airport consists of two passenger terminals: the old Domestic Terminal B and the new International Terminal A. It has two associated airfields, Lake Springs and Knevichi. ;Lake Springs Airfield The Lake Springs airfield (approximately 2 miles south-west of the main terminal) was designed for aircraft operating on regional routes. It has two hard-surface

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

s wide each. One is in length and the second is . Currently, it is not used for regularly scheduled flights, and local aviation operates from there, instead. ;Knevichi The Knevichi airfield was designed for all types of aircraft and has two hard surface runways. Each runway is in length and in width.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Annual traffic

Transportation

Rail

Between 2012 and 2015,

Aeroexpress Aeroexpress Ltd. (russian: ООО "Аэроэкспресс") is the operator of airport rail link services in Russia. It is founded in 2005 and is owned by Russian Railways (50%), TransGroup AS (25%), Iskander Makhmudov (17.5%), and Andrei Bo ...

used to go between Vladivostok Railway Station to Knevichi Airport. This was done for APEC Summit. However, even before the crisis that has occurred since 2014, the Aeroexpress did not bring enough demand, running at the constant loss, due to a high fare and heavily automobilized population: most locals could rely on friends and family members to give them a ride, or had their own cars parked at the airport. Additionally, several bus routes offered the ride for significantly lower cost than the express, drawing off some of the visitors who found the rail and taxi fares excessive. In 2015, Aeroexpress shut down its service to the airport, and was replaced by an ordinary commuter express run by the regional commuter rail company "Express Primorya", with reduced cost and frequency to match the demand and save on the expenses of the operator.

References

External links

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Airport information on the Vladivostok Avia website
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Airport Vladivostok
Aviateka.Handbook {{authority control Airports in Primorsky Krai Buildings and structures in Vladivostok Transport in Vladivostok Basel Aero