OREANDA-NEWS. December 13, 2012. For the first time in its history Novosibirsk Tolmachevo International Airport passenger traffic reached three million customers within one calendar year. Sergey Savelyev from Novosibirsk, who was travelling to Moscow on a morning flight, became the lucky three millionth passenger.

The passenger was presented with the open-date travel certificate for an international tour and an iPad by Novosibirsk International Airport and the holding company NOVAPORT. During solemn celebrations he also received presents from the airport partners.

Festivities proceeded with partner airlines’ congratulations addressed both to the airport and the passengers. Representatives of Russian and foreign airlines S7 Airlines, UTair, Transaero, Rossiya, Ural Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Belavia handed over free tickets for the lucky draw event.

During its 55th anniversary Tolmachevo reached three million passengers mark, one month ahead of forecast, thanks to successful implementation of its development strategy. Evgeniy Yankilevich, the General Director of Novosibirsk International Airport emphasized that the record was hit primarily thanks to cooperation with partner airlines in the development of the route network, while continuous improvement of airport services, business growth and tourism development in the region also contributed to this success.

From the moment in the year 2002 when Novosibirsk Tolmachevo International Airport celebrated its one millionth passenger, the traffic has tripled. In 2014, the airport expects to serve four million customers, while in 2017, according to the forecast of HOCHTIEF Airport, Tolmachevo traffic will exceed five million passengers.

The Novosibirsk Airport (Tolmachevo)is the largest air hub East of the Urals on major transit routes between Europe and Asia. The capacity on domestic flights is 1 800 passengers per hour, on international flights - 750 passengers per hour. The airport has two runways. According to business plan in 2012 The Tolmachevo Airport plans to serve 3 155 thousand passengers that is 14% higher than in 2011 and handle more than 26,000 tons of cargo and mail that is 28% more than in 2011. The airport has been nominated for World Routes Awards 2012 in the category "The Best CIS Airport 2012".

In 2012 direct air services were launched from Novosibirsk Tolmachevo International Airport toMinsk (operated by Belavia), Istanbul (by Turkish Airlines), Dusseldorf and Sharjah (by ORENAIR), Hongkong, Kulob and Fergana (by S7 Airlines), Ganja (by AZAL). S7 Airlines is still expected to launch direct services to Munich on December 23rd. Frequencies increased on the scheduled routes to Prague, Frankfurt, Beijing, Dubai, Baku and some other routes. Novosibirsk International Airport is also negotiating on the new routes to Tel Aviv, Seoul, Helsinki and some other destinations.