Airport history

From 2011 to 2012

The Volgograd airport Director General was Gadzhiev Tagir Minetullakhovich, who was followed by Konovalov Sergey Ivanovich in 2012.

2001

Under conditions of never ending flights the runway complete overhaul was successfully accomplished on the landing field.
As a result of the work during 2001 the Volgograd airport won the “Intensively Developing airport” nomination and was awarded a cup and a Certificate of Merit.

December 1, 1992

Volgograd united flight detachment was reorganized into two state enterprises airport “Volgograd” and airline company “Volga”.

1986

The flight detachment got the first plane Yak-42. From 1986 the enterprise was under direction of Dmitriev Yuri Yakovlevich – the first class pilot, the honored transport worker of the RF.
Fomenko Nikolay Ivanovich became the commander of FD 231.

1971

Pavilion-700 was put into commission (domestic airlines terminal at present). Volgograd airport became one of the biggest aviation enterprise of the North Caucasian Department of civil aviation.

1960

The volume of passenger and cargo transportations was increasing from year to year. The route network enlarged. By early 60s the planes of Stalingrad aviation enterprise performed flights on 10 union lines: to Moscow, Rostov, Kiev, Astrakhan, Novosibirsk and many other cities. The number of personnel working at the airport amounted to about 900 people.

1950

The flights in all pre-war directions restarted.

1940

By 1940 Stalingrad air group planes conducted mail-carrying passenger flights to Elista, Urupinsk, Kamyshin, Nikolaevsk, Serafimovich and other populated areas of the region. Except Stalingrad region, sanitary and agricultural airplanes served Astrakhan region and Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The traffic volume was quickly increasing. In the pre-war year, the airport carried more than 3 thousand passengers by its transit airplanes. During the short period of existence, a big aviation enterprise was created under the command of M.Y. Bibikov – the first air group commander. There also was an airport passenger terminal, an airplane shed for planes servicing, a water supply line, a workshop for air engines repair and up to 50 units of planes PO-2, SP, Ya-6, PR-5. They were considerable achievements, but the most important one was staff training. The airport and the air group consisted of more than 60 people of engineering and technical staff, about 70 pilots and 50 ground service employees. And the first engineers А.М.Akimov, P.D.Matveev, I.А. Milovanov made a worthy contribution to the professional education of pre-war pilot staff.

10 February 1933

Stalingrad air group was created by order of Privolzhsky department of CA (civil aviation) dated February 10, 1933. It was based at the airfield near the railway station Voroponovo (today named after М.Gorky).

December 1, 2012

Volgograd International airport celebrated its 60th anniversary. In the same year, Golovin Alexander Nikolevich was appointed on the position of the Director general of the JCS «Volgograd International airport».

August 24, 2004

On this day, as a result of pre-planned acts of terrorism two crushes of  passenger aircrafts Tu-134 and Tu-154 happened, the planes were flying from Moscow airport “Domodedovo” to Volgograd an Sochi.
The plane Tu-134А of the  «Volga-Aviaexpress» airline company with 35 passengers and nine members of cabin crew on board, operating the flight  № 1303 «Moscow-Volgograd», took off from the capital airport at 22:20.
At 22:54,  radio contact was lost with the cabin crew and the plane vanished off the radar screen, which was at a height of 8100 meters at that moment above the territory of Tula region.
Yury Baichkin, the director general of «Volga-Aviaexpress» airline company was at the wheel. He was a professional and experienced pilot, who was in charge of the cabin crew during the passenger flights of the airline company.
A year after the crush, at Tu-134 disaster site, in Tula region, a commemorate plaque was erected  - a broken cube made of white marble and black granite, with surnames of people who had died in this crush, engraved on its surface. 43 birch trees alley was planted to commemorate each passenger and member of cabin crew.
In 2009 at crush site a chapel was consecrated.

1993

Aerial navigation withdrew from the airport membership, and it operates until the present time, but it is already an autonomous organization – Volgograd center OrVd Volgograd branch “Aerial navigation of the South”.

January 1, 1987

The air crew № 42340, under command of the instructor pilot G.A. Gontar performed the first flight to Moscow.

1972

The aviation enterprise started to operate the planes Tu-134, and later Yak-40. In this interesting and eventful period from 1960-1974 the aviation enterprise was headed by Redkin Nikolay Ivanovich – a first-class pilot, under whose leadership the personnel repeatedly overcame difficulties and made major gains.

1963

The reconstruction and extension of runway system was launched in order to receive jet planes. Engineering and technical personnel was sent to the civil aviation plants to Perm and Kharkov to study the jet plane Tu-124. After that, the flying personnel had transition training.

1952

The launch of flights by planes An-2. Pre-war level of air carriage and air-chemical operations increased by more than twofold. By this time, the pre-war factories rehabilitation was accomplished in Stalingrad. They started to build new ones. The city population was quickly growing and the Voroponovo civil airport, located near Stalingrad could not manage the increased volume of passenger and cargo traffic. That same year, the North Caucasian Department of civil aviation took a decision to transfer the airport and the personnel assets to the airfield of Gumrak, where a transport air unit had been created. The Voroponovo airport, which stopped receiving the union airlines planes, started to implement the control of agricultural aviation of the 80th air squadron.

1941

The soviet people’s peaceful life was intervened by Nazi invaders.
During the first days of the war 70 % of the airport flight officers joined the front and fought fearlessly in the Red Army forces and made a big contribution to the overthrow of the enemy

1935

In 1935 Stalingrad air group passed to the command of Moscow department of CA and was renamed into CA air group 243. Comrade Mordvin was appointed the group Commanding officer.
During this period the air group got the new materiel equipment: 3-seater PO-2, sanitary planes S-1, S-2, Po-2 с with a closed cabin and hack barrow, sanitary limousine-plane Ya-6, 4-seater passenger planes PR-5 (with a water cooling engine).

From April 9 to April 12, 2013

A contest entitled “Best employee – 2013” for operations services members was held at Sochi airport. The contest consisted of 5 nominations:  passenger inspection, aircraft inspection, aircraft cleaning, passengers check-in, luggage acceptance and drop off. Teams from airports of Gelendzhik, Krasnodar, Ufa, Sochi, Anapa and Volgograd took part in the contest.
Members of Volgograd airport staff took part in all 5 nominations. The main evaluation criterions  were speed and quality of the work performed.
Following the results of the contest,  the aviation security service tool the first place in nomination  “passenger inspection”. In the remaining 4 nominations Volgograd team was a prize winner, showing that they have a solid grounding of personnel and a high service grade.

In April 2010

The «Volga-Aviaexpress» airline company ceased to exist.

December 1993

Aviation engineering service was created at the airport.

1988

After the runway extension up to 2500 meters and its reinforcement, the airport started to receive transit aircrafts Tu-154, and then Il-76. In that same year the new class “B” lane construction was launched, that would be able to receive aircrafts of at least IInd ICAO category, but because of the Soviet Union break up and lack of funding the construction works were stopped in 1995.

1974

The 80th special flight detachment was transferred from Voroponovo to the Gumrak airport. Since then, there were two flight detachments composed of the OAO Volgogradsky: 231st FD –command pilot V.I. Dugin and 80th FD – command pilot B.I. Chernyshev its number was estimated about 3300 people.
By order of the Civil aviation Ministry, the airport was ranked as a first class airport.
The USSR first class engineer-pilot, the Honored pilot, Andreychik Nikolay Vasilievich was appointed as a VOAO commander, and the detachment was under his leadership from 1974 to 1986 yrs.

1964

The staff of the trust Privolzhtransstory accomplished the construction of the new runway, which gave a possibility to receive in severe weather conditions and handle not only the in-house planes but also transit aircrafts. Intensive flights of An-10, Il-18 and other types of planes started.

December 1, 1952

Subject to the order of the CA Main Directorate Chief, Panfilov Ivan Trofimovich, the honored pilot, holder of an Order of Lenin, who was the Berlin Sheinfeld airport deputy manager at that time, was appointed the Stalingrad airport manager.

August 1942

Voroponovo Airport  stopped its operation because of Nazi army air strikes.
The days of fight, 14th Nazi tank corps, in the area of todays Volgograd airport, met with resistance of soviet 1077th regiment air defense battery,  under command of lieutenant-colonel V.S. German and some  10th division units of NKVD troops.
From August, 23 until the beginning of September the units of  1079th anti-aircraft artillery regiment and 23rd tank  corps of 62nd army of the Southeast front were holding the line there.

1936

In 1936 Moscow department of civil aviation, to which Stalingrad airport was subordinate to, opened the flights by planes «Stal-3» on the airline «Moscow-Voronezh-Stalingrad-Astrakhan», with aircrafts servicing at the Stalingrad airport.

October 29, 2013

Boeing - 767-200, which performed the flight on a route “Hurghada – Volgograd – Hurghada” arrived to the airport of Volgograd. It was the first landing of an aircraft of this type at Volgograd airport.

August 2010

LLC «Novaport» acquired control of JCS «Volgograd International airport».

August 12, 1994

After the reconstruction of the airport passenger terminal – 200 for handling international flights, by the RF Government decree №1303-р the Volgograd airport was assigned a status of an “international” airport.

August 1957

The 231st allied air-technical detachment (ATD) was formed and the first airplanes An-2, Li-2, Il-14 entered operational service.
The first pilot-in-command performed vertical sounding of the atmosphere and by the end of the year proceeded to implement a regular schedule of passenger flights “Stalingrad-Voronezh-Moscow” and back.
The number of arriving Li-2 planes increased.

September 7, 1942

Nazi troops breached defense of the soviet units in the area of Gumrak and occupied the settlement. The enemy remained within the territory until January 25, 1943. Before then, Nazis arranged a military airfield there and built a concrete take-off runaway. It still exists at the present time.

1937

In 1937 cargo flights «Moscow-Stalingrad» on four-engine planes Г-2 were launched.

February 2014

Volgograd International Airport staff took an active part in meeting the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games guests.

From 2006 to 2011

The enterprise was under management of Ilyashenko Sergey Aleksandrovich.

1998

The airline company «Volga» was renamed as airline company «Volga-Aviaexpress».

1959

The airport passenger terminal-200 was built (international airlines terminal at presetnt).
The 1960s

January 25, 1943

The units of 51st division of guards and 173rd rifle division of the 21st Donskoy front army retook Gumrak.

1938

In 1938 new mail-carrying passenger airlines were open from Moscow via Stalingrad to Astrakhan, Baku, Ashkhabad. The flights were operated on planes PS-40, PS-84, PS-89. These best “Aeroflot” planes servicing was committed to the Stalingrad airport technical staff. Flight service successfully performed radio-equipped planes flight control.

April 2014

Rapidly growing passenger volume traffic and preparations for the World Football Championship in 2018 required the passenger complex enlargement. The construction of a passenger terminal for international airlines was launched.

September 1998

The Volgograd international airport, among the first airports of federal importance was issued a Certificate of Conformity.

1943

The Voroponovo airport rehabilitation started. The war was still being waged but just after Nazis drive from Stalingrad, the aviation workers in the rear were sent to reconstruct the airport. There were piles of broken bricks and twisted metal in place of buildings. Mine studded aviation field was buried in broken planes, tanks and cars. But the stalingradians did not flinch. They started to rehabilitate the airport dedicatedly. They lived in dug out shelters. There was neither water, electricity, necessary materials nor enough foodstuffs. Thus, their moral courage and hard work helped to create in no time all the necessary conditions for flights servicing. By the middle of 1943 planes and flight officers arrived and mail and passenger carrying operations recommenced.

August 17, 2014

A memorial plaque in memory of Volgograd squadron honored pilots was put at the entrance space of the domestic airlines terminal.

September 2014

The airfield complex reconstruction was launched. A new runway, with the estimated length of 2800 meters will be equipped accordingly to ICAO III category.