Izmail airport, closed for a decade, will reopen

Izmail airport, closed for a decade, will reopen, Yuro Dimchoglo, deputy chairman for Odesa Regional Council, tells the Center for Transportation Studies. “We are planning to relaunch the airport,” he said referring to the 1,840 meter concrete strip which handled flights from Kyiv and Istanbul until 2009. This summer, European discount airlines are expected to start flying to Odesa and officials want to develop tourism in Bessarabia. On an Embraer 190 or an Antonov 158, Izmail would be a 45-minute flight from Kyiv, or a 15-minute hop from Odesa, 200 km to the east. While Odesa officials work on lining up the $1 million needed for airport upgrades, they also talk with a local air company, Odessa Aviation, about starting flights.