OREANDA-NEWS  For the first time after a three-year hiatus, Aeroflot will begin operating international flights from Krasnodar, with flights starting on Friday to Istanbul and Yerevan.

The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation announced on September 11 that Krasnodar Airport, which has been closed since the end of February 2022 for security reasons, is open for flight service. The first flight from Moscow to Krasnodar after the three-year closure of the air harbor was performed by Aeroflot on September 17.

Travel time from Krasnodar to Istanbul is 2 hours and 10 minutes. The local departure time is 12.00, arrival time is 14.10. The travel time on the Krasnodar - Yerevan route is 1 hour and 40 minutes. The local departure time is 12.40, arrival time is 15.20.

Alexey Starostin, CEO of the Aerodynamics company that manages Krasnodar Airport, told RIA Novosti in an interview earlier in September that Aviagavan plans to serve over 500,000 passengers by the end of this year. Also, the airport's work schedule will be limited from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the number of take-off and landing operations will be five per hour. The maximum possible number of take-off and landing operations, according to the existing restrictions, is up to 50 per day.

In early September, the head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, Andrey Nikitin, said that the agency was working on the issue of resuming operations at a number of airports in southern and central Russia. The flight restriction regime at airports in the south and central part of Russia has been in effect since February 24, 2022. Flights to Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Simferopol airports are temporarily restricted.

Elista Airport reopened in May 2024. And in July 2025, Gelendzhik Airport opened its doors to passengers. As of early September, the first served more than 43,000 passengers this year, the second over 77,000.