Vitebsk Airport is always open for cooperation and glad to its customers

Starting a conversation about the airport of Vitebsk in the modern sense, it is necessary to mention its history and sources of existence.

Airport History

In Vitebsk, the airport was originally located in the southern suburbs. It was built for the use of army air forces. The first historical landing of the airplane took place in the distant 1914, in May. And now the airport has been operating in Vitebsk for more than 100 years.

During the Great Patriotic War the airport of Vitebsk was a strategically important object. There the fighter regiment of Soviet aviation was stationed. After the war, in peacetime, the airport in Vitebsk became one of the first Soviet aerodromes with artificial surface.

The main direction of the complex's functioning in the post-war period was sanitary tasks and postal flights. Already at the end of 1945 a regular air line was opened: the flight Minsk-Vitebsk. And in the middle of 1946 a new link appeared. The airport of Vitebsk began to carry out agricultural flights.

Since 1948, flight flights have started. At first they were "Minsk-Vitebsk-Minsk", then a few years later a direction appeared to Moscow. The airport of Vitebsk can be proud of its history and the people who worked there. At the enterprise at different times worked Heroes of the Soviet Union :

• Demidov V.A.
• Liadsky TS

Many workers were awarded government awards for their selfless work. Soviet people worked with full dedication to revive their country.

Vitebsk "East": the beginning

In 1977 the commissioning of the Vitebsk Vostochny Airport began. And a year later the first technical flight to AN-24 was completed. A couple of years later Vitebsk airport turned into a large airfield with a lot of flying equipment:

• Helicopters MI-2 - 35 units.
• Aircraft AN-2 - 32 units.

In the first period of its existence the airport of Vitebsk carried out only technical flights of strategic purpose for carrying out various works:

• Treatment of the sanugodia and fields.
• Protection of forest tracts.
• Maintenance of oil pipelines.
• Sanitary work.
• Mail delivery.

In 1982, the first unified Vitebsk aviation detachment was created, a mechanization base was built, and a hangar for aircraft repair was put into operation. After the launch of the radar and the beacon from Vitebsk Vostochny Airport, regular passenger flights began to be performed. The annual number of passengers per year was about 40 thousand people.

From the airport Vitebsk airport flights were carried out in different directions: most often to Moscow, Kiev, Odessa, Minsk, Leningrad, Sochi, Kaliningrad, Sverdlovsk.

In 1993, the first reconstruction of the airport was made, with the replacement of the light system and the installation of the second landing and take-off strip for receiving and taking off aircraft of the TU-154 and IL-76 type.

Since mid-1996, the airport of Vitebsk has received international status and since the end of 1998 it has been implementing charter flights to other countries: the Czech Republic, India, Finland, Turkey, Poland. For this purpose, the latest navigation equipment was installed.

At the present stage

Since 2000, the airport of Vitebsk has become a part of the large state concern BelAeroNavigatsia. This reorganization occurred by merger.

At the moment, the airport of Vitebsk is a structural subdivision of this enterprise, which carries out important work on servicing passengers, cargo and strategic facilities. One of the important and permanent tasks performed by the Vitebsk airport is the servicing of the guests of the international festival "Slavianski Bazaar". In addition, the company provides non-core services: storage and transportation of petroleum products, customs storage of goods, lease of vehicles, provision of venues for sports and entertainment organized events.

The capacity of the Vitebsk Airport is 150 people per hour. On the territory of the terminal there is everything necessary for comfortable waiting for the flight and reception of the passengers arriving. There is a VIP-hall in which the most convenient conditions for staying at the airport are created. Subject to the use of business aviation, all actions for the registration of baggage and air tickets, as well as the passage of border and customs control takes place separately from the total mass of passengers. In the hall there is a meeting room, internet, fax, telephones, conference room, rest room.

For the convenience of passengers with young children there is a free room for mother and child. For people with disabilities there are special sanitary units and places for comfortable waiting.

Prospects

Vitebsk International Airport Vostochny is ready for mutually beneficial cooperation with various airlines and airlines of the world. Its convenient location - 15 kilometers from the city - makes this company's partnership with the aviation alliances of the world profitable and promising. In the future, it is planned to expand the territory and put into operation additional terminals. Now the airport of Vitebsk can simultaneously receive and launch 6 aircraft into the air.