Zhukovsky International Airport (IATA: ZIA, ICAO: UUBW), also known as Ramenskoye Airport or Zhukovsky Airfield (Russian: Аэропорт Раменское, Аэропорт Жуковский), is Moscow's fourth international airport. It is located in Moscow Oblast, Russia 40 km southeast of central Moscow, in the town of Zhukovsky, a few kilometers southeast of the old Bykovo Airport.
After the 2014-2016 reconstruction there was the official opening of Zhukovsky International Airport on May 30, 2016. The declared capacity of the new airport was 4 million passengers per year. As of December 2016 flights from the Zhukovsky International airport are being served by 5 airlines to 6 destinations in Russia and CIS.
The airfield has served as a major aircraft testing facility since the Cold War years, with most of the major Russian OKBs having facilities there. It is also now used by the Ministry of Emergency Situations and cargo carriers. It was also used as a test site for the Soviet Buran Spacecraft.
Until June 2006, jet fighters flights for the public and international customers were available at the airport. The following two-seater jets were available for public flights on Zhukovsky: Aero L-39 Albatros, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Fishbed, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 Flogger, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 Foxbat, for Edge of Space flights, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum and Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. Since June 2006, no public flights are available in Zhukovsky, although it has been said since then that the flights will be available again. Today jet flights in Aero L-39 Albatros aircraft are possible in Russia with the team Vyazma Rus, flights with the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-31 Foxhound have been available on Sokol Airfield. At the moment, only the MiG-29 is available for flights.
On March 29, 2011, then Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin proposed moving all charter and low-cost flights to Ramenskoye Airport (as it was then called), to relieve to Moscow's Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports and reduce the cost of tickets. A new terminal was constructed and the airport scheduled to be opened on 16 March 2016, but was later postponed to unspecified date due to lack of interest and airport certification issues.[10] The airport was eventually opened on 30 May 2016.[11] The opening ceremony was attended by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
The Joint Venture "Ramport Aero" running the airport is formed by Lithuania's Avia Solutions Group (75%) and Russia state corporation Rostec (25%), who aimed to expand the airport in three stages.[12][13] While the opening of the new airport will be delayed and aircraft limit to Ramenskoye will be implemented,[14] Air France-KLM noted it tends to use Ramenskoye as a diversion airport to Sheremetyevo in case of emergency.[15]
The opening ceremony of the Zhukovsky International Airport was held on 30 May 2016 and the first commercial passenger flights were expected to begin on 20 June 2016.[16] It was originally named after the nearby town of Ramenskoye; but in 2016 the airport was officially named after the town of Zhukovsky, in which it is geographically situated. The town of Zhukovsky, in turn, was named after a pioneer of modern aerodynamics research, Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky.
The airfield is a part of the Gromov Flight Research Institute and hosts the biennial MAKS Airshow. The airport is also home to the world's second longest public-use runway, at 5,402 m (17,723 ft).
