Chelyabinsk is a city on the border of the Urals and Siberia, on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains. The seventh in the number of inhabitants and the fourteenth in the occupied area in the country.
Unfortunately, little is known to people who do not live in Chelyabinsk about the air communications of this city. The airport of this settlement is not so well known, for example, as Sheremetyevo or Pulkovo, although you can find out a lot of interesting information about it.
Chelyabinsk Airport. general characteristics
Currently, there is only one airport in Chelyabinsk, but during the years of the Soviet Union there were several. Moreover, one has local status, and the second has international status.
The modern Chelyabinsk airport, referred to as Balandino, is one of the five best airports in Russia. There are a lot of prerequisites for such a high status.
Firstly, there is an improved runway capable of accepting aircraft of all possible sizes. Its width is sixty meters and a length of 3200 meters. Secondly, it fully complies with the first category of the ICAO standard.
The airport is quite profitable. Built not far (in the northeast) from the capital of the South Urals. It is named after the nearby village - Balandino.
At present, the airport is divided into two transport hubs. One accepts domestic flights, and the second international
The first sector serving domestic flights is able to pass up to three hundred people per hour.
The second sector, which oversees international flights, serves about one hundred and fifty people per hour.
During the year, the airport is able to receive about 1.5 million passengers. And every year this figure is growing rapidly.
Airport History
The history of this transport hub began more than eighty years ago. The first plane to land here was called the U-13. He had a route from Sverdlovsk to Magnitogorsk, but with a change in Chelyabinsk. It happened in 1930.
The airport under the name Chelyabinsk opened in 1938 at the Shagol airfield. In 1953, a new Balandino airport was opened at this place. Here they built an air terminal, a radio center, an office building. For a long time he only took domestic flights.
In 1974, at the airport of Balandino in Chelyabinsk, it became possible to serve ships of various types, and in 1994 it became international.
In August 1999 , the Chelyabinsk region became the owner of a modern complex. A new international airfield was commissioned, and an updated artificial runway appeared.
In 2012, the passenger flow of Balandino Airport exceeded the one million mark, this was the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The next year, he grew by another hundred thousand people. And at that moment it was a historic maximum for this airport terminal. It was similar only in the eighties of the last century.
How to get to Balandino airport?
Of course, this object can be reached by car or use several types of public transport.
There is a bus number 1, 41 and 45. In addition, you can get to the airport using a shuttle bus number 82. This transport runs here regularly and you will not have to wait long.
Modern airport
Of course, progress does not stand still. Chelyabinsk is an industrial city. Changes of various levels are constantly happening here. In particular, this applies to the airport.
At the moment, Balandino Airport cooperates with fifty different companies and flies to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk and other cities. In addition, flights to Dubai, Barcelona, Phuket and not only are operated here.
Airport Services
In order to make your stay comfortable, Chelyabinsk Airport provides many services. We will talk about some of them below.
Firstly, the terminal has a business class and a VIP zone in the sector serving domestic flights, as well as in the sector serving international flights.
Secondly, at the airport the rooms of mother and child are perfectly equipped.
Thirdly, in the area of the terminal there are quite a few different restaurants and cafes where you can wait for your flight.
Fourthly, it is worth noting that the Chelyabinsk airport has a round-the-clock information desk, it works seven days a week.
Fifth, for the most modern travelers, the airport management has allocated several Wi-Fi zones.
There is also an equipped first-aid post where you can always be provided with first aid. In addition, you can consult your doctors about the flight.
By the way, if you want to leave your luggage, then this can be done around the clock within the walls of the Chelyabinsk airport.
Balandino Airport Scoreboard is open around the clock. This happens at all airports. Here you can see arrivals at Balandino airport and departures.
Parking
Like most airports in Russia, Balandino offers parking for its visitors. There is a short-term as well as a long-term parking.
For short-term parking, the first five hours will cost fifty rubles in half an hour, that is, about five hundred rubles in five hours. From the sixth hour, fifty rubles per hour, and the next day - three hundred rubles for the whole day.
Leaving the car for a long parking time is possible for 150 rubles per day. Three hundred meters from the airport there is free unguarded parking.
Conclusion
Chelyabinsk Airport is constantly evolving and there is no place. We hope that the management will delight its visitors constantly. Have a nice trip.