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Solovki airport to be renovated

Self-service luggage claim at Solovki airport. Photo: Thomas Nilsen

You know that you have landed at a remote airport when you have to pick up your luggage from the aircraft yourself.

Location

With increasing numbers of tourists visiting the Solovetsky archipelago in the White Sea, regional authorities makes priority to renovate the old-fashion airport.

Tens of thousands of people visit Solovki every summer. Most visitors and pilgrims arrive by both from the mainland, but an increasing number flies in. In 2011, around 13.000 passengers used the small airport.

A strategy on how to improve the infrastructure on Solovki was debated at the first meeting of the Arkhangelsk regional governor’s commission. Measures that both will improve daily life of the few hundred people living on the island as well as the booming number of visitors, reports Dvinainform.

For the locals, 168 million rubles will be given for the kinder garden building, 240 million rubles - for the school building as well as for the hospital reconstruction.

The airport does not correspond to all safety regulations. The runway is made of steel and the terminal building looks ancient. With the new investment plan, runway will be reconstructed, new navigational equipment installed and a new complex building with a new spacious terminal will make the air-travelling more comfortable.