The first to land on the new air hub’s runway was Boeing 737-800 operated by Pobeda airlines. The low-cost carrier’s plane with 177 passengers on board landed in Gagarin at 08:15, and already half an hour later it departed back to Moscow.
Aeroflot was the second airlines that transported passengers from Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow. The national carrier used Airbus A-320 named Y.Gagarin for this flight. The third flight arrived in the new airport from Sheremetyevo as well and was operated by Nordwin that used a Boeing 737-800 plane. It should be noted that the aircraft models that opened the first chapter in the new airport’s history had not been earlier used by airlines for Saratov flights because of the old airport’s infrastructural limitations.
In accordance with a good old tradition, the groundbreaking flights were welcomed on the airfield with a greeting water arch from airfield-based fire engines, whereas the passengers were presented souvenirs – memory coins depicting the passenger terminal of Gagarin airport.
Jet bridges enabled easy, fast and comfortable access to the terminal building for passengers of the first flights, since they did not have to walk down to the apron. The first flyers were ceremoniously welcomed and seen off at Gagarin airport, with a cocktail party and a buffet. At check-in counters departing passengers were provided with boarding passes whose design reflects the venerable place of Saratov Region in space exploration.
All passenger services – parking lots, baby care room, shops and cafes, pharmacy, automatic lockers, baggage wrap and business lounge – were operational from the very beginning.
Today the first international flight to Antalya, Turkey, has departed from Gagarin airport at 12:35.
