For the first time in its history, Novosibirk international airport in Siberia broke the three-million passengers mark already at the end of November.
NOVOSIBIRSK- On November 29th, for the first time in its history, Novosibirsk Tolmachevo International Airport passengers’ traffic reached three million within a year time. Sergey Savelyev from Novosibirsk, who was travelling to Moscow on a morning flight, became the lucky third-million passenger.
The passenger was presented with an open-date travel certificate for an international tour and an iPad by Novosibirsk International Airport and the holding company Novaport. During solemn celebrations he also received presents from the airport partners.
Festivities proceeded with partner airlines’ congratulations addressed both to the airport and the passengers. Representatives of Russian and foreign airlines S7 Airlines, UTair, Transaero, Rossiya, Ural Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Belavia handed over free tickets for the lucky draw event.
During its 55th anniversary Tolmachevo reached three million passengers mark, one month ahead of forecast, thanks to successful implementation of its development strategy. Evgeniy Yankilevich, Novosibirsk International Airport General Manager emphasized that the record was hit primarily thanks to cooperation with partner airlines in the development of the route network, while continuous improvement of airport services, business growth and tourism development in the region also contributed to this success.
It took just a decade for the airport to triple its traffic. Back to 2002, Novosibirsk Tolmachevo International Airport celebrated indeed its first million passengers,. In 2014, the airport expects to serve four million customers, while in 2017, according to Hochtief Airport forecasts, Tolmachevo traffic will exceed five million passengers.
In 2012 direct air services were launched from Novosibirsk Tolmachevo International Airport to Minsk (operated by Belavia), Istanbul (by Turkish Airlines), Dusseldorf and Sharjah (by Orenair), Hong Kong, Kulob and Fergana (by S7 Airlines) as well as Ganja (by AZAL). S7 Airlines is still expected to launch direct services to Munich on December 23rd. Frequencies increased on the scheduled routes to Prague, Frankfurt, Beijing, Dubai, Baku and Bangkok. Novosibirsk International Airport is also further negotiating on new routes to Tel Aviv, Seoul and Helsinki.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
