Arkhyz (airport)

History

2025: ₽12 billion earmarked for airport construction

The Russian government is allocating ₽12 billion for the construction of the Arkhyz airport in Karachay-Cherkessia. This became known at the end of January 2025. According to the decree published by the Cabinet of Ministers, the funds will go to the republic in tranches from 2026 to 2029. Financing is provided for the implementation of infrastructure projects related to the launch of a new airport complex under a concession agreement.

According to RBC, the facility is being built with the participation of JSC UK "Airports of the Regions," with which the regional authorities signed an agreement in July 2024. As part of the agreement, federal funds will be directed to the construction of air navigation facilities, and the regional budget will finance the design and construction of external communications, including access roads.

Private investments will ensure the construction of a passenger terminal with an area of ​ ​ 24 thousand square meters. m, a runway 3 thousand meters long and 45 m wide, as well as an apron for 10 parking places with the prospect of expansion to 23. The terminal capacity will be 1 thousand passengers per hour. It will be equipped with three teletraps and four boarding gates. For the convenience of motorists, parking is provided for 300 seats. According to calculations, the new airport will be able to serve up to 2 million passengers annually.

According to the newspaper, the implementation of the project will significantly reduce travel time to the Arkhyz ski resort. Construction of the airport is scheduled to begin in 2025, with completion of all work scheduled for late 2028. The facility is planned to be commissioned in early 2029. The total cost of construction is estimated at ₽28 billion.

The launch of the airport in 2030 will provide a twofold increase in tourist flow to the Arkhyz resort, bringing it to 2 million people a year. In the first seven months of 2024, Arkhyz visited 750 thousand tourists, and the total volume of tourist flow in Karachay-Cherkessia reached 1.5 million people.^[1]

2024

The cost of building the airport increased to 28 billion rubles

In mid-July 2024, it became known that the construction of the new Arkhyz airport complex began in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. The total cost of construction is about ₽28 billion, and the completion of the work is scheduled for 2028.

According to RIA Novosti, the concession agreement on the construction of the airport was signed within the framework of the Caucasian Investment Forum by the head of the KCR Rashid Temrezov and the general director of the Airports of the Regions Management Company Yevgeny Chudnovsky. Under the terms of the agreement, a terminal, a runway with taxiways, an apron, lighting equipment and other aerodrome infrastructure will be built within the framework of the project.

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Фото: Unsplash

The regional government will additionally finance the design and construction of external communications for the airport and build an access road, and air navigation facilities will be created at the expense of the federal budget. The head of the republic expressed confidence that this strategically important agreement will go down in the history of Karachay-Cherkessia as the start of the largest investment project, which will have a multiplier effect for the entire economy of the region and will become a key factor in the development of the tourism cluster.

Therefore, this is a very important project for us not only in the development of transport infrastructure, but also in the socio-economic development of the republic, "he said.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister of RFAlexander Novak, by 2030 it is expected that the tourist flow in the region will reach 3 million people. Novak noted that the construction of its own airport will be an important factor in the development of the entire tourist cluster of the republic, an increase in the mobility of local residents, and will also have a positive impact on the economy as a whole - this is an increase in passenger traffic, and the construction of new infrastructure, and the creation of new jobs, and the development of production.^[2]

Start of airport construction

On April 23, 2024, information appeared that the Airports of the Regions holding was starting the construction of the first airport in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic (KCR). The implementation of the project will cost approximately 25 billion rubles.

As of 2024, Karachay-Cherkessia is the only region of the North Caucasus where there is no air harbor of its own. Meanwhile, the appearance of such an object is expected to increase the number of tourists in the region by about half by 2030. The head of the KCR Rashid Temrezov announced plans to build an airport at the end of 2023. As potential investors in the government, structures close to Roman Trotsenko, Oleg Deripaska, the former governor of the Krasnodar Territory, Alexander Tkachev, were discussed.

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Фото: Unsplash

They plan to build an air harbor near the village of Zelenchukskaya. The airport is expected to be international, with a 3.2 km runway. Pre-project proposals for the construction of the facility, as noted by Kommersant the newspaper "," by order of JSC UK "Airports of the Regions" was carried out by FSUE GPI and NII GA "Aeroproekt." Construction the airport, it is argued, should not have a negative impact "on objects, the AEROSPACE FORCES Ministry of Defense of Russia optical telescope of the SAO RAS and the Ratan-600 radio telescope," which are located in the immediate vicinity of the site for the future complex.

RBC reports that airports in the regions of the North Caucasus district are experiencing increased loads and record traffic growth amid the closure of 11 airports in the south and central Russia part from 2022. At the same time, some experts say that it will be possible to recoup the project of a new air harbor in the KCR only if countries Europe remain closed by 2030.^[3]

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