Brest (airport, Belarus)

Brest Airport is an airport in Belarus . Located near the city of Brest . The airport is located 15 km east of the city center, between the village of Shebrin (from the south) and the M1 motorway (from the north) ^[1]

The first phase of the airport was built in 1976 , and since 1986 the airport complex has been operating ^[2] .

The airport of the first category has one runway with a length of 2620 m and a width of 42 m, which allows you to receive heavy airliners with a take-off weight of up to 191 tons. In 1999, the airport was granted international status. The airport has a customs warehouse for temporary storage.

The airport complex, with a capacity of 440 passengers per hour, includes left-luggage offices, a first-aid post, a mother and child room, a hotel with 50 seats and a parking lot (after renovation in 2016). Also, for servicing passengers on a paid basis, there is a VIP lounge, which provides services for check-in for a flight, baggage reception, check-in, border and customs control and passenger transport on board an aircraft.

The airport serves year-round cargo aircraft (IL-76, An-12, An-26) of Belarusian and Russian airlines (such as TransAviaExport, Ruby Star, Geneks), as well as charter passenger and cargo transportation of foreign airlines.

In May 2017, the planned runway reconstruction (first stage) was launched, which was completed in July 2018. During the reconstruction, pockets for turning aircraft at the ends of the runway were changed, which increased in size and changed their shape (from semicircular to trapezoidal), the asphalt concrete pavement was replaced and its strength was increased. Also, the enclosing fence along the perimeter of the airport and lighting equipment were completely replaced. The second phase of the reconstruction began in July 2018 and included the replacement of asphalt concrete pavement for parking lots for aircraft, a partial reconstruction of the airport complex, and parking for cars for passengers and guests of the airport. The full reconstruction is planned to be completed by 2020.

In connection with the reconstruction at the airport, the expansion of the city and the rapid growth of the population of Brest and its environs, the potential passengers of Brest and, as a result, tour operators and investors increased interest in the airport. At the beginning of 2019, active negotiations began on attracting low-cost airlines from abroad to Brest, as well as opening regular flights with such cities as Moscow, Warsaw, Munich, Kiev. But in order to attract low-cost airlines, a mutual tourist flow is required, that is, the city of Brest and its environs must have sufficient tourist attractiveness to maximize the load of low-cost aircraft in two directions. The main bias in planning regular flights with departures from the Brest airport is on connecting flights to major airports to allow Brest to communicate with many cities of the world “by air”.

Brest Airport is in the process of joining the Open Skies Treaty program. But due to the lack of interest on the part of Belaeronavigatsiya (to which the local airport is subordinate) and the monopoly of Belavia Airlines, negotiations are being delayed.

Brest Air Harbor is very popular with local sports clubs. Dynamo Brest Football Club and Brest Handball Club named after Meshkov regularly use the services of the airport.

As of June 2019, there are six charter flights from the Brest airport: Burgas , Antalya , Hurghada , Sharm el-Sheikh , Enfida , Tivat and 1 regular (seasonal) flight to Kaliningrad .