The Vladivostok Airport was constructed in 1931 near the town of Artyom. Commercial flights began in the summer of 1932. In the decade after World War II, Po-2 and W-2 planes were widely used in air-chemical works and coastal exploration for fish in the service of geologists and forest patrols. Passenger flights on the Moscow - Vladivostok route began in 1948 using Ilyushin Il-12s. From 1959 to 1964, a complex of ground facilities was built to allow regular flights with larger planes after the closure of the Vtoraya Rechka Airport, encroached by the growing city.
Expansion and modernization
Domestic Terminal B of the Vladivostok airport underwent complete renovation during 2005-2006, which transformed it into one of the most comfortable and up-to-date airport terminals in Russia. The renovated terminal was re-opened on December 19, 2006. The federal and regional governments announced plans to rebuild Vladivostok International Airport prior to the APEC Russia 2012 Summit on Russky Island, south of Vladivostok. A new terminal was built in 2012, at a cost of 7 billionRUB. The capacity of this new terminal building is 3.5 million passengers per year. Runway 07R/25L was also reconstructed and lengthened, to, and this new runway is capable of accommodating every type of aircraft. The Terminal B has since closed and converted to an exhibition center.
Facilities
The airport consists of two passenger terminals: the old Domestic Terminal B and the new International Terminal A. It has two associated airfields, Lake Springs and Knevichi. ;Lake Springs Airfield The Lake Springs airfield was designed for aircraft operating on regional routes. It has two hard-surface runways wide each. One is in length and the second is. Currently, it is not used for regularly scheduled flights, and local aviation operates from there, instead. ;Knevichi The Knevichi airfield was designed for all types of aircraft and has two hard surface runways. Each runway is in length and in width.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Statistics
Annual traffic
Year
Passengers
% Change
2010
1,263,000
2011
1,457,000
15.4%
2012
1,624,000
11.5%
2013
1,853,000
14.1%
2014
1,792,000
3.3%
2015
1,698,178
5.2%
2016
1,850,311
9%
2017
2,179,000
17.8%
2018
2,634,000
21%
Transportation
Rail
Between 2012 and 2015, Aeroexpress used to go between Vladivostok Railway Station to Knevichi Airport. This was done for APEC Summit. However, even before the crisis that has occurred since 2014, the Aeroexpress did not bring enough demand, due to a high cost of the ride. In 2015, Aeroexpress shut down its service to the airport, with replacement of the new rail-express service "Express Primorya", with lower service frequency, to save the demand and comfort for passengers travelling to city center.
