Chelyabinsk is a city on the border of the Urals and Siberia, on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains. Seventh in terms of population and fourteenth in terms of area in the country.
People who do not live in Chelyabinsk, unfortunately, know little about the air service 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 the status of local significance, and the second has international status.
Modern Chelyabinsk Airport, referred to as Balandino, is one of the five best airports in Russia. There are quite a few prerequisites for such a high status.
Firstly, there is an improved runway capable of handling aircraft of all possible sizes. Its width is sixty meters and its length is 3200 meters. Second, he is completelycorresponds to the first category of the ICAO standard.
The airport is quite favorably located. It was built not far (in the northeast) from the capital of the Southern Urals. It is named after the nearby village - Balandino.
To date, the airport is divided into two transport hubs. One accepts domestic flights, and the second international
The first sector, serving domestic flights, is capable of passing up to three hundred people per hour.
The second sector, which provides oversight of international flights, serves about one hundred and fifty people per hour.
For the year, the airport is able to receive about 1.5 million passengers. And every year this figure is growing rapidly.
History of the airport
The history of this transport hub began more than eighty years ago. The first plane that landed here was called Yu-13. It had a route from Sverdlovsk to Magnitogorsk, but with a change in Chelyabinsk. It happened in 1930.
The airport terminal called Chelyabinsk opened in 1938 at the Shagol airfield. In 1953, a new Balandino airport was opened on this site. An air terminal, a radio center, and an office building were built here. For a long time, it only accepted domestic flights.
In 1974, the Balandino airport in Chelyabinsk had the opportunity 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 put into operation, as well asan updated artificial runway appeared.
In 2012, the passenger traffic of Balandino Airport exceeded the one million mark, for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The following year, it grew by another hundred thousand people. And at that moment it was a historical maximum for this terminal. Similar was only in the eighties of the last century.
How to get to Balandino Airport?
Of course, this object can be reached by your own car or use several types of public transport.
Bus No. 1, 41 and 45 runs here. In addition, you can get to the airport using the shuttle bus No. 82. This transport runs here regularly and most likely you won’t have to wait long.
Airport today
Of course, progress does not stand still. Chelyabinsk is an industrial city, there are constant changes at various levels. In particular, this also 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. It also flies to Dubai, Barcelona, Phuket and more.
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 area in the sector,serving domestic flights, as well as in the sector serving international flights.
Secondly, the mother and baby rooms are superbly equipped on the territory of the airport.
Thirdly, there are quite a lot of different restaurants and cafes in the terminal area where you can wait for your flight.
Fourthly, it is worth noting that 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 a well-equipped medical center where you can always get first aid. In addition, you can consult with doctors about the flight.
By the way, if you want to leave your luggage, then within the walls of the Chelyabinsk airport it can be done around the clock.
The Balandino airport scoreboard works 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. It has both short-term and long-term parking.
With short-term parking, the first five hours will cost fifty rubles for half an hour, that is, about five hundred rubles for five hours. From the sixth hour, fifty rubles per hour, and the next day - three hundred rubles for the whole day.
It is possible to leave the car for a long parking for 150 rubles per day. Three hundred meters from the airport there is a free unguardedparking.
Conclusion
Chelyabinsk Airport is constantly evolving and does not stand still. We hope that the management will delight its visitors constantly. Happy travels.
