OREANDA-NEWS. February 10, 2011.Nizhniy Novgorod Strigino Airport will become part of a new airport holding company established in the Russian Renova Group of Companies, which has already successfully implemented a large-scale program of Koltsovo International Airport. The possibility of participation of Renova Group in the management and modernization of airports in Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Volgograd and Novosibirsk is being elaborated.

The decision on the shares of additional issue of Open Joint Stock Company Nizhny Novgorod International Airport, which is the operator of the Nizhny Novgorod Strigino Airport, being placed in favor of Open Joint Stock Company Koltsovo Airport was approved on February 4, 2011 by the Board of Directors of Nizhniy Novgorod International Airport.

OJSC Koltsovo Airport is acquiring 73.621% of the shares of Nizhniy Novgorod International Airport, the Government of the Nizhny Novgorod region will own 25.001% of the shareholding.
OJSC Koltsovo Airport, whose major shareholder is Renova Group, applied for participation in the open tender announced to seek a potential investor in Nizhniy Novgorod International Airport in 2010. The bid featured a program of development of Nizhniy Novgorod International Airport, which contemplated stage-by-stage upgrade of the airport facility in the period from 2011 until 2021.

By 2014 a new passenger terminal with the capacity for 600 passengers per hour will have been built for the price of RUR 1 bln. within the framework of the airport renovation program, to be further expanded subject to increase of the airport’s passenger flow. The airport infrastructure will also be modernized. The total investments will amount to RUR 2.7 bln.
“In view of the Football Championship 2018 matches to be held in Nizhniy Novgorod, among other things, the Region needed a new investor capable of building, and further on of successfully operating a modern airport infrastructure”, says Deputy Chairman of the Government of Nizhniy Novgorod region Dmitry Svatkovsky. “We believe that Renova has proved its worth as a highly professional manager, which has created an airport that meets international standards in Ekaterinburg, and we hope that when headed by Renova Strigino Airport will also become one of the best regional airports in Russia.”

“Renova Group is persistently implementing a strategy aimed at creating a new Russian airport holding, and the victory in the tender in Nizhniy Novgorod is a serious milestone on the way to the accomplishment of this project”, says Yevgeniy Chudnovsky, Director General of OJSC Koltsovo Airport. “Programs which are being implemented at Koltsovo today transcend the limits of their development, and such project as revival of regional aviation involves not only the interests of the Urals region, but also the interests of many a regional airport in Russia.”