What will happen to the Dnieper airport after nationalization

The absence of a normal airport is a long-standing problem of the Dnipro transport system. Since the institution was privately owned, and the actual monopolist abused his rights, from year to year the passenger traffic fell by about 100 thousand people.

As a result, during the years of independence the number of flights per day decreased from 70 to 3, and the airport itself could not become a full-fledged international airport (for this purpose it was reconstructed in 2004), as airlines banally refuse to go to the draconian conditions exhibited by the owner. Therefore, they fly from the Dnieper only in Ukraine and expensive.

From foreign destinations only Tel Aviv, Batumi, Tbilisi and Burgas are available in the summer season. And the cost of the transfer is much higher than from the airport in Zaporozhye, which can be reached by car in less than 2 hours. Of course, the problem is large for citizens, business, logistics business in particular.

Light at the end of the tunnel appeared only in early April 2017. By decision of the court the airport was transferred to the state property. Someone saw in this the desire to improve the urban infrastructure, someone “dekulakization” of the famous oligarch. But the fact remains, the air gates of the Dnieper now belong to the state, and city officials already had ideas for their development.

Plans for the future: attract lunacy, build a new terminal, get out on payback

We can say that the airport’s problems are caused by several reasons: the airstrip requires restoration, the terminal does not meet modern requirements, the loukoster do not use the services, so the available prices for air delivery and tickets on the directions of the Dnieper-European cities are not yet visible.

Now let’s talk about the hope for the best. In February, several deputies of the City Council drafted a decision “On the establishment of a communal enterprise” Dniprovsky Airport “. But, according to one of the authors of the document, the chairman of the budget commission of the City Council Artem Khlebnikov is only the first organizational step.

In the future, it is planned to build another runway and a new terminal. The fact is, a couple of hundred meters from the old terminal there is a land plot belonging to state enterprises – YUMZ and the Agrarian Institute. The issue with the delivery of passengers and cargo to the lane can be solved with the help of buses. Yes, but where to get the money?

According to Khlebnikov, the city has funds only for a technical justification and the creation of a project. With it, you can contact potential investors – the EBRD and the European Investment Bank. These structures charge a commission of 1.5-2% per annum, so credit funds can be considered an investment.

The next step is to introduce the principle of “open skies”. This means that any airline can use the services of the airport, and on the most favorable financial terms. If the price suits the famous loukosterov, dozens of more profitable ordinary passengers and logisticians of the colleagues will join the boring company “Dniproavia” and “UIA”, and in the Dnieper the “air window” to Europe will finally appear, fast and cheap delivery available to ordinary citizens tickets.

True, the project of the renovated airport is not going to subsidize from the budget. He is obliged to make a profit, so a natural question arises: will it turn out, or will the plans of the authorities for air gates of the city remain a shaking of the air?