Novaport to invest 30 bln-40 bln rubles in new terminals at Russian airports by 2026
NOVOSIBIRSK. Sept 15 (Interfax) - Novaport Holding, which is controlled by Russian businessman Roman Trotsenko, expects to invest 30 billion-40 billion rubles in the construction of new terminals at Russian airports in the next six years, the company's CEO, Sergei Rudakov told reporters in Novosibirsk on Tuesday.
"This six-year program will be carried out for approximately 30 billion-40 billion rubles," he said.
Novaport's investment program has been "pushed back by six months" due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said. "We had approved it starting from 2020. But 2020 passed, by six months, but we probably won't rearrange, we'll manage," Rudakov said.
He recalled that Novaport is now building terminals at the Kemerovo, Tomsk and Ulan-Ude airports, and is starting a project in Novosibirsk.
"We're specifically building domestic terminals, and the pandemic has confirmed [that this is the right decision]. Our main passenger traffic is in Russia," Rudakov said.
The company also has projects to build terminals in Volgograd and Murmansk, he said.
"Next year we'll start to renovate an already built terminal in Tyumen. Tyumen is growing well, volumes are good, there are two anchor airlines - Yamal and UTair , so we plan to almost double the area of the terminal in Tyumen," Rudakov said.
Commenting on the Covid-19 situation and the suspension of flights, he said that large hubs with a high share of international flights were hit hardest by this.
"Russia has almost recovered, including in Novosibirsk. But the international Novosibirsk is sitting idle, there are just two flights a day," Rudakov said, adding that the airport's international traffic as of the start of September was down by 15%, while domestic traffic was up by 6%.
"International flights in Russia, according to our estimates, should recover by the summer of next year. This is related to the extent of the pandemic in other countries and the emergence of vaccines," Rudakov said.