# Chelyabinsk Airport

Chelyabinsk Airport (Balandino) (IATA: CEK, ICAO: USCC) is an international airport in Russia located 18 km north of Chelyabinsk. It services large airliners and can park up to 51 aircraft. It also serves as a secondary hub for Ural Airlines and Yamal Airlines.

## History

Passenger flights to Chelyabinsk were served by Chelyabinsk Shagol Airport from 1938 until it was repurposed for military only use.
The current Chelyabinsk airport, initially called Balandino Airport, was opened in late 1953 with a passenger terminal and a dirt runway. The runway was paved in December 1962. A year later, the first jet plane (a Tu-104) arrived at the airport.
A new terminal was built in 1974 which remains in service to this day as one of the terminal buildings. In 1994, the government-owned airport was privatized and started its first international flights.
Passenger traffic reached 1.1 million and declined heavily during the 1990s. In 2013, the airport handled 1.2 million passengers, breaking the Soviet-time record.
The new, longer runway was built in 1999, while the old runway was repurposed as a taxiway. The airport can accept heavy aircraft including the Boeing 747 and the An-225.

### New terminal construction and airport expansion

The construction of the new passenger terminal is planned at Chelyabinsk Airport, this is done for BRICS summit in 2020. The project includes the construction of the new terminal, which was scheduled to commence in summer 2018 and finish by December 2019. The complex will be able to handle 2,5 million passengers per annum. The next plan for the airport is to take the third category of ICAO. This category in Russia is owned only by Moscow's Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo Airports and Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg.

## Airlines and destinations
### Passenger

| Airlines | Destinations |
| Aeroflot | Moscow–Sheremetyevo |
| AlMasria Universal Airlines | Seasonal charter: Sharm El Sheikh |
| Azimuth | Mineralnye Vody |
| Azur Air | Seasonal charter: Phuket |
| Ikar | Sochi |
| Nordwind Airlines | Saint Petersburg, Sochi |
| NordStar Airlines | Norilsk |
| Pobeda | Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Moscow–Vnukovo, Saint Petersburg, Sochi |
| Red Wings Airlines | Kazan, Makhachkala, Minsk, Nizhnevartovsk, Norilsk, Samara, Volgograd, Yerevan |
| Rossiya | Krasnoyarsk-International, Saint Petersburg |
| S7 Airlines | Novosibirsk |
| Smartavia | Kaliningrad, Saint Petersburg, Sochi |
| Ural Airlines | Dushanbe, Khujand, Moscow–Domodedovo, Osh, Sochi, Yekaterinburg |
| Utair | Surgut |
| UVT Aero | Nizhny Novgorod |

### Cargo

| Airlines | Destinations |
| Grizodubova Air Company | Moscow–Vnukovo |

## Passenger statistics

Chelyabinsk Airport statistics :
| Year | Total passengers | Change | Domestic | International | Aircraft departures |
| 2000 | 274 236 | +0,1% | 208 912 | 65 324 | 2 656 |
| 2001 | 297 198 | +8,4% | 325 077 | 62 121 | 3 205 |
| 2002 | 302 626 | +1,8% | 234 495 | 67 701 | 3 152 |
| 2003 | 359 822 | +18,9% | 282 186 | 77 636 | 3 439 |
| 2004 | 404 151 | +12,3% | 307 231 | 96 920 | 3 550 |
| 2005 | 386 115 | −4,5% | 333 206 | 52 909 | 3 096 |
| 2006 | 432 034 | +11,9% | 357 733 | 74 301 | 3 167 |
| 2007 | 675 141 | +56,3% | 534 796 | 140 345 | 5 050 |
| 2008 | 685 408 | +1,5% | 561 649 | 123 760 | 4 832 |
| 2009 | 581 555 | −15,2% | 477 507 | 104 048 | 3 499 |
| 2010 | 664 184 | +14,2% | 510 314 | 153 870 | 4 416 |
| 2011 | 833 780 | +25,5% | 594 087 | 239 693 | 5 150 |
| 2012 | 1 000 753 | +20,0% | 679 920 | 320 833 | ≈5 800 |
| 2013 | 1 210 388 | +20,1% | 799 288 | 339 609 | ≈6 380 |
| 2014 | 1 404 238 | +16,0% | 964 887 | 364 075 | ≈7023 |
| 2015 | 1 239 212 | -11,8% | 990 868 | 248 344 | no data |
| 2021 | 1 827 951 | +57,0% | 1 683 432 | 144 519 | 8 227 |

## Accidents and incidents

* On 26 January 2008, an S7 Airlines Airbus A319 landed on the taxiway by mistake. There were no injuries or damage.
* On 26 May 2008, an Antonov An-12 operated by Moskovia Airlines crashed shortly after takeoff when trying an emergency landing. All nine crew members on board died.
* On 17 July 2015, an An-12BK of the Russian Air Force registered RF-94291 diverted to Chelyabinsk Airport after flying into severe thunderstorm and hail. Three out of four engines failed. The aircraft landed on the grass outside the runway and sustained substantial damage. There were no injuries.

## Miscellaneous facts

* An NDB beacon transmits on 412 kHz.