Baikal International Airport

"UUD" redirects here. For the Undang-Undang Dasar Republik Indonesia 1945, see Constitution of Indonesia.

Baikal International Airport (Russian: Международный аэропорт "Байкал", Mezhdunarodnyy aeroport "Baykal"), formerly Ulan-Ude Airport (Russian: Аэропорт Улан-Удэ, Aeroport Ulan-Ude) (IATA: UUD, ICAO: UIUU) is an international airport located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of Ulan-Ude, Russia. The airport has two terminals with customs and border control facilities with a capacity of 400 passengers per hour. In 2021, the airport served 540,094 passengers on more than 20 scheduled international and domestic destinations. The airport is named after the nearby Lake Baikal.

Baikal International Airport Международный Аэропорт Байкал
IATA: UUD ICAO: UIUU
Summary
Airport type	Public / Military
Owner	Russian Federation
Operator	Novaport^[1]
Serves	Ulan-Ude
Location	Ulan-Ude, Russia
Focus city for	Angara Airlines^[2] Hunnu Air^[3] IrAero Pegas Fly SiLA
Coordinates	51°48′27″N 107°26′25″E / 51.80750°N 107.44028°E / 51.80750; 107.44028
Website	airportbaikal.ru/eng/
Map
UUD Location of airport in Republic of Buryatia
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 08/26 3,400 11,154 Concrete
Source: DAFIF,^[4]^[5] airport website^[6]

History

1925–1971

In 1925, the airport began its first passenger service with the first aircraft traveling from Moscow to Beijing, with pilots Volkovoyinov and Polyakov participating in it. On 1 August 1926, the first flights started: Ulan-Ude – Ulan-Bator; in addition, the airport was a place for technical landing for flights from Irkutsk, Chita, Moscow, and Vladivostok. In 1931, the construction of the first air terminal began, where in 1935, the construction finished. From 1966, the airport began to accept Antonov An-24 and Tupolev Tu-104 aircraft.

1971–1991

In 1971, a new runway was constructed which optimized the airport to accept larger aircraft like the Ilyushin Il-18 from Moscow, where from 1980 to 1981, the runway was expanded by 800 metres, and it opened by accepting the first Tupolev Tu-154. In 1983, the first terminal stopped operating due to the opening of a new one. From September to October 1983, the airport was accepting transit flights from and to Chita, due to its closing, because of the runway re-construction. In 1988 and 1989, the airport started to serve a number of transit flights, including the international (Moscow – Pyongyang, including Air Koryo; Moscow – Ulan-Bator), shifted from Irkutsk, due to runway re-construction. That situation led to a huge optimization of the airport, where every day the airport accepted 70 flights, which 30 of them were served by Tupolev Tu-154. In 1990, the airport transferred 800,000 passengers in a year.

1991–2006

Until 2011, the airport was serving flights from Irkutsk and Chita when these airports had issues with construction or weather. There were no international flights until 2011.^[7][8]

2006–2011

 

Airport's hall before reconstruction, that began in 2011.

In 2006, the airport underwent an overhaul of its runway, costing RUR 330 million (US$10 million). In 2007, the airport underwent renovations of its taxiways and parking areas, at a cost of RUR 230 million.^{[citation needed]}

2011–2017

 

General view of the Ulan-Ude airport building

In March 2011, the renovation of the external terminal complex began, after when Metropol bought the airport. The reconstruction finished in August 2011. Till now in the airport are in process small reconstructions inside the terminal complex. The last renovation was expanding the second floor and making it a boarding zone, in addition the zone of check-up and passport check moved to the second floor. Also, the arrival and departure exits and entrances are now in different locations.

2017-today

In September 2014, the government of Russian Federation, which owns the airport infrastructure, announced plans to build a new runway, with a cost of $157 million, parallel to the current. The latter will become a taxiway.

The runway commenced its service at night of 12 December 2018, with a flight of S7 Airlines to Beijing.^[9]

In September 2017, the airport was sold by Metropol to Novaport. Novaport allowed the airport to get the status of open sky, moreover, the airport will allow more ambitious plans, like construction of a new passenger terminal.^[10] Currently, due to unlimited status of open sky, international airlines such as Air China, China Eastern Airlines, Lucky Air, MIAT Mongolian Airlines and Spring Airlines are interested in starting flights to Ulan Ude.^[11] Moreover, Russia's flag carrier Aeroflot, announced that it will resume the flights to Ulan-Ude in 2018 or 2019, the plans are delaying due to FIFA-2018, also the airline explained the reason of exiting from this route, by low-quality runway.^[12]

On 7 December 2017, the Buryatia governor Alexey Tsydenov announced that by the end of 2018, the construction of the new terminal will commence. The land for construction is being found, currently, the project is being created, therefore, the final amount will be calculated for the construction financing.^[13][14] The first stage will be the full reconstruction of the current terminal, and then by 2022, the new terminal will be constructed. Construction of the new terminal began on 28 April 2018, and is about to finish in 2023.^[15]

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Angara Airlines	Chita,^[16] Krasnoyarsk–International,^[17] Nizhneangarsk, Novosibirsk,^[18] Taksimo,^[19] Vladivostok^[20]
Aurora	Krasnoyarsk–International,^[21] Vladivostok^[22]
Ayana	Krasnoyarsk–Cheremshanka, Kyzyl, Nizhneangarsk^[23]
Hunnu Air	Ulaanbaatar^[24]
Ikar	Seasonal charter: Phuket^[25]
IrAero	Blagoveshchensk, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk–International, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok^[26] Seasonal: Ulaanbaatar
NordStar	Chita,^[27] Krasnoyarsk–International
Pobeda	Moscow–Vnukovo^[28]
Red Wings Airlines	Omsk,^[29] Tomsk, Yekaterinburg^[30]
S7 Airlines	Irkutsk,^[31]^[32] Moscow–Domodedovo, Novosibirsk
SiLA	Chita,^[33] Irkutsk^[34]
Smartavia	Moscow–Domodedovo^[35]^[36]
Ural Airlines	Seasonal: Moscow–Domodedovo,^[37] Yekaterinburg^[38]
Yakutia Airlines	Yakutsk Seasonal: Khabarovsk

Annual passenger traffic

Year	Passengers	% Change
2010	167,126
2011	187,770	+12,4
2012	267,502	+42,5
2013	300,654	+12,4
2014	312,794	+4,04
2016	242,955	−22,3
2017	269,700	+11,0
2018	376,774	+39,7
2019	478,448	+27^[39]
2020	340,997	−28.7^[40]

Busiest routes

Busiest routes at Baikal International Airport (by number of passengers) 2018^[41]

Rank	City	Region	Country	Airports	Airlines	Number of passengers
1	Moscow	Moscow /   Moscow Oblast	Russia	Domodedovo & Vnukovo Airports	Globus Airlines, Pobeda, S7 Airlines, Ural Airlines	223,713
2	Irkutsk	Irkutsk Oblast	Russia	International Airport Irkutsk	Angara Airlines, IrAero, RusLine	32,765
3	Novosibirsk	Novosibirsk Oblast	Russia	Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport	IrAero, S7 Airlines	26,532
4	Beijing		People's Republic of China	Beijing Capital International Airport	S7 Airlines	15,316
5	Khabarovsk	Khabarovsk Krai	Russia	Khabarovsk Novy Airport	IrAero, Yakutia Airlines	12,797
6	Yakutsk	Republic of Yakutia	Russia	Yakutsk Airport	Yakutia Airlines	10,708

References

1. ""Новапорт" купил аэропорт Улан-Удэ". ato.ru. 5 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
2. . airportbaikal.ru. 22 February 2016. Archived from the original on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
3. "Hunnu Air откроет авиарейс из Улан-Удэ в Манчжурию". gazeta-n1.ru. 20 May 2018.
4. . World Aero Data. Archived from the original on 5 March 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Data current as of October 2006. Source: DAFIF.
5. Airport information for UUD at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
6. Lake Baikal Airport 10 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine, official site
7. ru:Байкал (аэропорт)^{[circular reference]}
8. . Archived from the original on 31 October 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
9. "Первый самолет взлетел с новой полосы в аэропорту Улан-Удэ". arigus.ru. 12 December 2018.
10. "НОВЫЙ ВЛАДЕЛЕЦ АЭРОПОРТА УЛАН-УДЭ РАССКАЗАЛ О СВОИХ ПЛАНАХ". aviaport. 11 October 2017.
11. "Режим открытого неба в Улан-Удэ сделали бессрочным". ato.ru. 2 November 2017.
12. ""Аэрофлот" намерен возобновить полёты из Москвы в аэропорт "Байкал". Но не скоро". blogrb.ru. 21 December 2017.
13. "Новый терминал в аэропорту Улан-Удэ начнут строить в 2018 году". tass.ru. 7 December 2017.
14. "В аэропорту Улан-Удэ построят новый терминал в 2018 году". irk.ru. 8 December 2017.
15. "Директор аэропорта "Байкал" рассказал, куда чаще всего улетают жители республики". Номер один. 22 January 2022.
16. . Airport Baikal. 12 April 2019. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
17. Рейс из Улан-Удэ до Красноярска открывает авиакомпания "Ангара» Полная версия. gazeta-n1 (in Russian). 18 January 2019.
18. "Авиакомпания "Ангара" открыла рейс "Новосибирск – Улан-Удэ - Владивосток"". AVIAPAGES. 2 March 2020.
19. . airportbaikal.ru. 22 February 2016. Archived from the original on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
20. "Авиакомпания "Ангара" открыла рейс "Новосибирск – Улан-Удэ - Владивосток"". AVIAPAGES. 2 March 2020.
21. "Авиакомпания "Аврора" объявила о запуске регулярных рейсов по маршруту Якутск — Улан-Удэ". NewsYkt. 7 January 2022.
22. "Жители Бурятии смогут летать из Улан-Удэ во Владивосток за 5700 рублей". InformPolis. 21 July 2021.
23. . airportbaikal.ru. 2 August 2017. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
24. Liu, Jim (15 June 2017). "Hunnu Air adds new Russian routes in June 2017". Routesonline. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
25. "Прямые чартерные авиарейсы Улан-Удэ - Пхукет откроют в декабре 2019 года". TASS. 10 October 2019.
26. . airportbaikal. 16 February 2015. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
27. . airportbaikal.ru. 23 November 2017. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
28. ""Победа" с апреля возобновит рейсы из Москвы в Улан-Удэ". tourism.interfax.ru. 18 February 2021.
29. "Авиакомпания "Red Wings" возобновляет рейсы в Омск". airportbaikal.ru. 14 January 2022.
30. "Улан-Удэ и Томск свяжут постоянные рейсы". Informpol. 23 March 2021.
31. Liu, Jim (23 April 2019). "S7 Airlines schedules new domestic routes in S19". Routesonline. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
32. "S7 Airlines начинает полеты из Иркутска в Улан-Удэ". s7. S7 Airlines. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
33. "Авиакомпания "СиЛА" запустит дополнительный субсидируемый рейс из Читы в Улан-Удэ". aviapages.ru. 6 July 2020.
34. "Аэропорт "Байкал" в Бурятии обретет "Силу"". MK Ulan-Ude. 29 December 2018.
35. "SmartAvia в Бурятии. Первый полет состоится в июне". Arig Us. 10 April 2019.
36. "С авиамаршрута Улан-Удэ – Москва ушёл один перевозчик". Baikal Daily. 11 September 2020.
37. "В Бурятию прибыл первый туристический чартерный рейс". Airport Baikal. 5 July 2020.
38. "Чартерная программа на Байкал может быть расширена, если правительство субсидирует рейсы". Interfax Tourism. 22 December 2020.
39. "Аэропорт Улан-Удэ раздал шуточные номинации авиакомпаниям". BaikalDaily. 12 January 2020.
40. "Международный аэропорт «Байкал» подвел итоги работы за 2020 год". Airport Baikal. 15 January 2021.
41. "Аэропорт Чита подвел итоги 2016 года". Baikal-Daily. Retrieved 21 January 2019.

External links

  Media related to Baikal International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• (in Russian)
• Accident history for UUD at Aviation Safety Network
• Current weather for UIUU at NOAA/NWS