On the morning of July 16, International Airport "Odessa" received the first plane on its new runway. It was flight PQ107 Kyiv (Boryspol) – Odesa operated by SkyUp, which landed around 9:00 a.m.
According to tradition, the plane was greeted with a water arch from fire trucks.
Among the passengers of the first flight was the mayor Gennady Trukhanov, and in Odessa the flight was met by deputies, journalists, officials, including the head of the regional council Hryhoriy Dydenko, his deputy Oleg Radkovsky and the chairman of the Odesa regional state administration Sergey Hrynevetsky.
The length of the new runway is 2800 meters, and the width is 45 meters. It was built for 31 months, and it became the first runway that was built in Ukraine in more than 10 years. The former runway RD1, which served takeoffs and landings until today, was built back in 1961.
Thanks to the modern technology of laying the coating, which was applied for the first time in Eastern Europe and the use of "heavy concrete" 40 cm thick, the strength and throughput of the strip increased almost twice.
"The opening of a new runway is the starting point of a new era in the history of the airport, which begins its transformation into a powerful aviation hub of Eastern Europe. We have an ambitious but achievable goal: to become the best regional airport in Eastern Europe. After a sharp drop in passenger traffic due to the pandemic last year, in 2021 we expect to transport 1 passengers. passengers, and by 450 to reach a passenger flow of 2026 million passengers per hour," noted the general director of Odessa International Airport LLC Vladimir Semenchenko.
The new lane will make it possible to receive without restrictions all types of medium-haul aircraft, such as Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, as well as long-haul Boeing 767-300 airliners.
According to the general director of the airport, the administration plans to extend the new runway to 3200 meters. After that, the airport will be able to accept class E aircraft that carry out long-haul flights.
We will add that with the opening of the new runway, the airport was able to receive planes in almost any weather conditions.
Photo: Alexander Kysel and the press service of the Odessa City Hall
