Perm International Airport

Perm International Airport Международный аэропорт Пермь
IATA: PEE – ICAO: USPP
Summary
Airport type	Public/Military
Operator	Perm Airlines
Serves	Perm, Perm Krai, Russia
Elevation AMSL	m / 397 ft
Coordinates	57°54′52″N 056°01′16″E / 57.91444°N 56.02111°E / 57.91444; 56.02111Coordinates: 57°54′52″N 056°01′16″E / 57.91444°N 56.02111°E / 57.91444; 56.02111
Website	www.aviaperm.ru
Maps
Perm Krai in Russia
PEE Location of the airport in the Perm Krai
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 03/21 3,206 10,518 Asphalt
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 1,319,253
Sources: Airport Guide,[1] GCM,[2] STV[3]

Perm International Airport (Russian: Международный аэропорт Пермь) (IATA: PEE, ICAO: USPP) is an international airport located in Perm Krai, Russia located 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) southwest of Perm, in the village of Bolshoye Savino. It is the only airport in Perm Krai with scheduled commercial flights. There are bus and minibus services during daytime to Perm's main bus terminus.

It is a joint civil-military airfield with a small number of fighter and bomber pads. It is operated by 764 IAP (764th Interceptor Aviation Regiment), the only regiment of combat aviation in the 5th Army of VVS and PVO's area (and successor of the 4th Army of PVO in the USSR). However, according to Air Forces Monthly, July 2007, the 764th Regiment reports directly to Russian Air Force headquarters.^[4]

History

Construction of Bolshoye Savino took place in 1952 under the personal control of Marshal Zhukov, who was exiled by Stalin after World War II into the Urals to take command of the Ural Military District. On May 1, 1960 the pilots of 764 IAP Boris Ajvazyan and Sergey Safronov were involved in the interception of the United States U-2 spy aircraft; unfortunately Safronov, piloting a MiG-19, was shot down by friendly fire and died.^[5]

The year 1965 marked a major change in the airfield's operation. Bolshoye Savino became a joint civil airport, servicing medium-sized airliners, now with 39 parking spots near terminal and cargo area.

During the Cold War the airfield operated up to 38 MiG-25 interceptors, with a number of Yak-25, and Yak-28 aircraft and received modern MiG-31s in 1991.^[6] In 2002, the runway was lengthened from 2,500 to 3,200 meters.

Airlines and destinations

Accidents

• Aeroflot Flight 821, operated by Aeroflot-Nord in a service agreement with Aeroflot,^[8] crashed on approach on September 14, 2008, killing all 88 people on board. One of the pilots was found to be intoxicated by alcohol.^[9][10]

Reconstruction and new airport

In 2012, with increasing traffic and the need for regional flights, the government started making plans for an improvement project that would include a new passenger terminal with an annual capacity of 2 million passengers by 2020, as well as other minor improvements. Further expansion by 2035 was going to include doubling the floor are of the terminal, as well as building multi-level car parks, office space, hotels, a shopping mall and an aircraft hangar.

References

External links

• (Russian) Official Site
• Airport information for USPP at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
• NOAA/NWS current weather observations
• ASN Accident history for USPP
• (Russian) 60th Anniversary of the 4th PVO Army - Russian but contains information on airfield history