Khrabrovo Airport (IATA: KGD, ICAO: UMKK) is an international airport in Kaliningrad. Located 20 km northeast of the city center (along Alexander Nevsky street and the Primorsky ring highway, 15 km away), next to the village of the same name. It has the status of a federal airport.
It is a joint airfield - in addition to civil aviation, it is used by the aviation of the FSB of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Emergencies of the Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. In particular, the 398th separate transport squadron of the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy (An-24, An-26 aircraft) is based here.
General Director of CJSC "Airport Khrabrovo" (since May 14, 2015) - Alexander Semyonovich Korytny.
In the future, on the basis of the airport, it is planned to create a hub for airlines (mainly budgetary ones) carrying passengers from Russia to European countries. For the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which will take place in the Kaliningrad region and the rest of Russia, the airport plans to increase its passenger traffic to 5 million people a year.
History
Powunden airfield
After the First World War, when, according to the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, part of the territory of West Prussia, called the Polish Corridor, was transferred to Poland, East Prussia turned into a semi-exclave of the Free State of Prussia of the Weimar Republic. The global economic crisis that began in 1929 hit Germany especially hard. After the National Socialists came to power, led by Adolf Hitler in 1933, reforms began in the country aimed at restoring the economy. On March 16, 1935, Germany refused to comply with the provisions of the Versailles Treaty on demilitarization and regained its military sovereignty. In the same year, the militarization of the German economy began.
In 1935, in East Prussia, near the village of Povunden, which was part of the rural area of Königsberg (German) Russian, a runway of 1400x1200 m was built, an airfield Povunden (German) Russian was created. During the Second World War, from the summer of 1943 year, the fifth squadron of "night hunters" (German Nachtjagd) of the Luftwaffe was stationed on it.
Soviet military airfield
On January 27, 1945, during the East Prussian operation, Soviet troops occupied the Povunden airfield. From 5 to 25 February 1945, the Normandie-Niemen regiment was based at the airfield. Since 1945, the Povunden airfield began to be used by the Soviet Air Force. The airport of the civil air fleet in Königsberg was formed in October 1945 on the basis of the Devau airport, one of the oldest in Europe. In July 1946, both the village and the Povunden airfield were renamed to Khrabrovo, the city of Koenigsberg to Kaliningrad, and the airport, respectively, to Kaliningrad.
In the early 1950s, a concrete runway with a length of 2000 meters and taxiways were built at the Khrabrovo airfield.
Co-base airport
In the early 1960s, the civil aviation of the USSR began to introduce An-10 turboprop aircraft to replace the Il-14 piston aircraft. The Devau airfield turned out to be unsuitable for receiving the An-10, and for this it was decided to use the Khrabrovo airfield for civil aviation in conjunction with the military. In 1961, the Kaliningrad airport was merged into one enterprise with the 64th aviation squadron of the Belarusian Territorial Administration of Civil Air Fleet (BTU GVF).
On March 20, 1962, the first An-10 aircraft landed at the airport, opening the Kaliningrad-Minsk-Moscow line. In December 1976, the first Tu-134A aircraft landed at the Khrabrovo airport, which arrived at its permanent home base, and since January 1, 1977, it made its first flight on the Kaliningrad-Moscow line.
In 1979, a passenger terminal was built at the airport.
On July 17, 1979, the passenger terminal was opened, which was part of the new airport complex under construction. Since that time, passenger traffic began to be carried out from a new platform.
Since July 1987, the airport began to receive Tu-154 aircraft.
1992 - The enterprise is separated from the Vnukovo Civil Aviation Production Association and becomes an independent Federal State Unitary Enterprise.
1993 - The first regular international flights from Khrabrovo airport.
July 2004 - Work begins in connection with the construction of a new passenger terminal.
October 2004 - Beginning of reconstruction of the runway, the front of the airport, navigation equipment.
August 2007 - The first stage of the new air terminal complex at Khrabrovo airport was put into operation, with a capacity of 3,000,000 passengers per year.
December 2008 - "Freeze" of the airport reconstruction project due to economic difficulties of KD Avia.
October 2014 - Construction and installation work began as part of the second stage of the Khrabrovo airport reconstruction, which will result in an extension of the runway to 3.35 km and an extension of the apron.
November 2014 - The Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Maxim Sokolov made a decision to introduce the "open skies" regime with the fifth degree of "air freedom" for the Khrabrovo airport.
Accidents and incidents
- On October 1, 2008, there was an aviation incident with a Boeing 737 aircraft of the KD-Avia company. The aircraft with the tail number EI-DON made a belly landing on the runway without landing gear. There were no casualties or injuries, the aircraft was damaged in the fuselage and engine nacelles.
- On January 4, 2017, an incident occurred with the Aeroflot Airbus A321. When landing, the aircraft rolled out of the runway. The flight followed the route Moscow - Kaliningrad. Onboard there were 167 passengers and seven crew members. There were no casualties or injuries. People were evacuated through inflatable ramps. Three people turned to doctors for help. The liner received damage to the landing gear. The airport has temporarily stopped receiving and sending flights.
