New airport on Iturup Island to open in 2013
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK. July 17 (Interfax) - The construction of the first phase of a new airport on the island of Iturup in the South Kurile Islands is scheduled for completion in 2013, the regional government's press service said.
The new airport is supposed to begin receiving aircraft for landing and takeoff in 2013, it said. Work is now being finalized on the construction of the runway and taxi strip.
"Over the winter we will complete construction of the terminal building and the airport should start operations next year," the first deputy chairman of the regional government, Sergei Sheredekin, who toured construction projects in the Kurils last week, the press service reported.
The Iturup airport is being built under the federal government program Socioeconomic Development of the Kuril Islands for 2007-2015. Construction has been underway since 2009, financed with federal budget funding controlled by the Federal Air Transport Agency.
The airport will have international status and be outfitted with the latest equipment, capable of receiving planes in difficult weather conditions.
The first phase calls for the construction of a 1.8 km runway capable of handling An-24 class aircraft. The second phase, planned for completion in 2014, will involve extending the runway to 2.4 km to handle An-74 class planes.
The island is currently served by the Burevestnik airport on the ocean coast, which often closes due to heavy fog and obsolete equipment since it cannot support safe takeoffs and landings in such conditions.
The new airport is being built on the Sea of Okhotsk coast of the island, which has more days of sunshine and is not subject to such heavy fog. If necessary, it can support flights to Khabarovsk, Vladivostok and Japan, and can be used as a reserve airfield.
The Sakhalin Region government is and the Federal Air Transport Agency are now discussing the formation of a federation institutions that would operate at the new airport.