The Koltsovo International Airport (managed by Airports of Regions MC) has planned subsidised flights to 22 destinations in 2021, in accordance with the Russian government regulation No. 1242. This decree stipulates subsidies to be allocated from the federal budget for airlines that operate flights to interregional destinations, with co-financing from the Russian Federation’s entities. The Sverdlovsk Region’s government is among the national leaders by the number of subsidized flights.
The local authorities plan to spend 250 million roubles to co-finance 13 subsidised flights from Ekaterinburg in 2021. The remaining amount allocated for the development of regional routes from Koltsovo Airport – over 1.2 billion roubles – will be spent from the federal budget as well as from the budgets of other Russian regions.
Under Resolution 1242, flights have been scheduled from Koltsovo to Barnaul, Belgorod, Bratsk, Izhevsk, Kaluga, Kirov, Magnitogorsk, Murmansk, Nadym, Novokuznetsk, Novy Urengoy, Noyabrsk, Omsk, Salekhard, Tambov, Ulyanovsk, Ufa, Khanty-Mansiysk, Cheboksary, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov and Rostov-on-Don. Flights on these routes will be operated by Red Wings, Yamal, Rusline and Azimut Airlines.
In 2020, the passenger traffic of Koltsovo Airport on domestic flights bypassing Moscow exceeded 60% of the total domestic air services. In the midst of a significant (minus 41%) decline in traffic volumes on the Moscow route, the regional segment proved more resilient to the impact of the pandemic. Passengers of Koltsovo had access to direct flights to 51 Russian cities in 2020. Subsidised flights were operated to half of those destinations.