Krasnodar airport receives test flight before opening for regular traffic

KRASNODAR. Dec 15 (Interfax) - A plane of Azimuth Airlines has landed at Krasnodar airport, having performed a technical flight before the airport opens for regular traffic, an Interfax correspondent reported from the airport.

The flight arrived from Mineralnye Vody in Stavropol Territory.

The Krasnodar territorial administration said earlier that Krasnodar airport might resume operation after the test flight scheduled for December 15.

Should the airport reopen, Aeroflot is ready to operate up to four daily flights from Moscow at the initial stage. Pobeda, part of the Aeroflot Group, also announced the possible resumption of flights after the New Year holidays.

Krasnodar airport closed in February 2022 for security reasons. Sochi is currently the only operating airport in the Southern Federal District. The airports of Anapa, Gelendzhik, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol and Elista, alongside Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk and Lipetsk in the Central Federal District, remain closed.

Krasnodar, Anapa and Sochi airports belong to the Aerodynamics Group. Krasnodar airport hit record passenger traffic of five million in 2021.

The fleet of Azimuth Airlines, based at Rostov-on-Don's Platov airport and the airports of Krasnodar and Mineralnye Vody, comprises 20 Superjet 100 planes.