Starting a conversation about the Vitebsk airport in the modern sense, it is necessary to mention its history and origins.
History of the airport
In Vitebsk, the airport was originally located in the southern suburbs. It was built for the use of the army air force. The first historical landing of an airplane took place back in 1914, in May. And for more than a hundred years, an airport has been operating in Vitebsk.
During the Great Patriotic War, Vitebsk Airport was a strategically important facility. A fighter regiment of Soviet aviation was stationed there. After the war, in peacetime, the airport in Vitebsk became one of the first Soviet airfields with artificial turf.
The main activity of the complex in the post-war period was sanitary assignments and postal flights. Already at the end of 1945, a regular air line was opened: the Minsk-Vitebsk flight. And in the middle of 1946, a new link appeared. Vitebsk Airport began to carry out agricultural flights.
From 1948, regular flights began to be carried outflights. At first it was "Minsk-Vitebsk-Minsk", then a few years later there was a direction to Moscow. Vitebsk Airport can be proud of its history and the people who worked there. Heroes of the Soviet Union worked at the enterprise at different times:
- Demidov V. A.
- Lyadsky T. S.
Many workers were awarded government awards for selfless work. The Soviet people worked with full dedication to revive their country.
Vitebsk "Vostochny": beginning
In 1977, the commissioning of the "Vitebsk Vostochny Airport" facility began. A year later, the first technical flight on the AN-24 was completed. A couple of years later, the Vitebsk airport turned into a large airfield with a large number of flight equipment:
- MI-2 helicopters – 35 units.
- An-2 aircraft – 32 units.
In the first period of its existence, Vitebsk Airport carried out only strategic technical flights for various works:
- Processing sanitary lands and fields.
- Protection of forest areas.
- Oil pipeline maintenance.
- Performing sanitation.
- Mail delivery.
In 1982, the first united Vitebsk Aviation Detachment was created, a mechanization base was built, and an aircraft repair hangar was put into operation. After the radar and radio beacon were put into operation, regular passenger flights began to operate from the Vitebsk Vostochny airport. The annual number of passengers per year began to be about 40thousand people.
From the Vitebsk airport facility, flights were operated in different directions: most often to Moscow, Kyiv, Odessa, Minsk, Leningrad, Sochi, Kaliningrad, Sverdlovsk.
In 1993, the first reconstruction of the airport was carried out, with the replacement of the lighting system and the installation of a second runway for receiving and taking off aircraft of the TU-154 and IL-76 type.
Already from the middle of 1996, the Vitebsk airport received international status and from the end of 1998 began to carry out charter flights to other countries: the Czech Republic, India, Finland, Turkey, Poland. For this, the latest navigation equipment was installed.
Currently
Since 2000, Vitebsk Airport has become part of the large state concern BelAeroNavigation. This reorganization took place through a merger.
To date, Vitebsk Airport is a structural subdivision of this enterprise, which performs important work on servicing passengers, cargo and strategic facilities. One of the important and permanent tasks performed by the Vitebsk airport is serving the guests of the international festival "Slavianski Bazaar". In addition, the company provides non-core services: storage and transportation of fuels and lubricants, customs storage of goods, car rental, provision of space for sports and entertainment organized events.
The capacity of Vitebsk Airport is up to 150 people per hour. The airport has everything you need tocomfortable waiting for the flight and reception of arriving passengers. There is a VIP-lounge in which the most convenient conditions for being at the airport are created. Under the condition of using business aviation, all actions for checking luggage and air tickets, as well as passing through border and customs control, take place separately from the total mass of passengers. The hall has a meeting room, internet, fax, telephones, a conference room, a lounge.
For the convenience of passengers with small children, there is a free room for mother and child. There are special sanitary facilities and comfortable waiting areas for people with disabilities.
Prospects
Vitebsk Vostochny International Airport is ready for mutually beneficial cooperation with various airlines and airlines of the world. Its convenient location - 15 kilometers from the city - makes the partnership of this company with the aviation alliances of the world profitable and promising.
In the future, it is planned to expand the territory and commission additional terminals. Now Vitebsk Airport can simultaneously receive and launch 6 aircraft into the air.
