Lviv International Airport, Ukraine

Lviv International Airport is situated 6km west of the historical city Lviv in western Ukraine. Previously known as Sknyliv, the airport provides easy access to European countries.

Airport History

Ukraine has 24 international airports within its total civilian airport network of 30. Lviv airport was built during 1923-28 when the city was being developed as an aviation hub. The airport introduced new aircraft for logistics during 1946-59. The airport building was constructed in 1950, and from 1996, the airport became the major air cargo hub of western Ukraine. Lviv airport's ownership was transferred to the state in 2007 and is operated under the Ukrainian Minister of Transport.

In 2007, Lviv airport served 147,700 passengers, a 22.4% increase over the previous year. Passenger traffic is expected to exceed 3.7 million by 2020. An average of 480 flights fly from the airport every day.

In 2012, Ukraine and Poland will jointly host the final tournament of the UEFA European Football Championship. Lviv is one of four Ukrainian cities to host the championship. In preparation of the tournament, the Government of Ukraine (GOU) will modernise the infrastructure at key airports in the country.

GOU has committed an investment of $226m for the reconstruction of Lviv airport, including runway and taxiways reconstruction, the master plan – which is being prepared by Honeywell Airport Systems – air bridges, navigation and lighting improvements and ground-handling equipment.

Existing Facilities

The airport's 1,778m² terminal building serves 300 passengers per hour. It includes three passenger sectors and one VIP hall. The apron has an area of 43,000m², situated 300m away from the building, with 16 parking places that can handle 1,920 passengers each hour.

Airport facilities include luggage storage, telephones, ATM machines and a currency exchange, as well as coffee shops and the nearby Tustan Hotel. However, the airport's existing infrastructure is insufficient to accommodate international flights and the 2,300m runway limits the size of aircraft.

Expansion

The $200m reconstruction project will include extension of the existing runway by 700m, its surface regulation and reconstruction, including taxiways, construction of 200 car parking places and open parking space for 1,000 automobiles, and a hotel complex to serve 1,200 people. The apron modernisation project will include more aircraft stands, and accommodation will increase by 39 places to cover 47ha.

Lviv airport's new terminal building will have an area of 34,000m² with a capacity of handling 1,000 passengers per hour. The terminal construction will take two years and will start service in November 2011. Modernisation of the existing operating air terminal and passenger terminal is also part of the project, and will increase the terminal's total passenger handling capacity to around 1,220 passengers per hour (5.69 million passengers annually).

Contractors

In December 2008, the Ukrainian Minister of Transport awarded the contract for overall design of Lviv airport's new terminal building to the NACO / Tebodin consortium.

The US-based IMTC-VTI LLC and Poland's ABM Vshud will participate in the tender process for the new terminal construction.

Runway

The 2,500m × 45m runway at Lviv has a handling capacity of 30 medium-class aircraft operations every hour, equivalent to 600 passengers per hour. An artificial runway with hybrid chemise provides 24-hour service. It can receive aircraft with maximum allowable take-off weights of 350 tonnes.

The runway and apron is designed by the Ukrainian State Designing Technological and Scientific Research Institute of Civil Aviation. After the extension, the runway will increase to 3,200m and will allow transatlantic flights. Construction will be carried out by general contractor Azovintex LLC Enterprise. British company Halcrow Group will provide advisory services for the runway construction. The runway extension is scheduled to be completed in July 2011.