The project to upgrade the airport in Salekhard (the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region) will be implemented under a concession agreement. The project will begin in 2023 and is planned to be completed in 2027-2028, the region’s Governor Dmitry Artyukhov said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum on Monday.

"Our decision is to follow the approach we have used in Novy Urengoi - it will be a concession. I can remember, we were the first in this country to implement a concession, and now this experience develops, we can see new concession projects. <…> The airport in Salekhard is smaller in terms of the number of passengers, but still it is economically interesting and attractive. <…> I hope, in the very beginning of 2023 we will announce a competition, and its results will be announced in the second half of the year. Thus, years 2023 and 2024 will be taken by design, then will go the reconstruction, and, depending on the amount of work, we will commission the airport in 2027-2028," he said.

Regardless of the competition results, the region will anyway plan investments in the airport’s upgrade, he added.

Russia’s first project to upgrade airport infrastructures under a concession agreement was to improve the airport in Novy Urengoi. It is the biggest airport in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region. The upgraded airport will begin working in 2023.

The Salekhard airport is seven kilometers away from the city. First regular flights from it were made in 1935. In 2000, the airport got a new building, and the old building is now taken by Yamal Airlines. The airport has one terminal, one runway and a helipad. The airport serves flights to other cities and regions.