ST. PETERSBURG, June 6The head of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Dmitry Artyukhov, on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, presented the project of the airport in Novy Urengoy, which was the first in Russia to be modernized under concession terms, the press service of the Yamal government reports.
The governor of the district launched the construction of a new passenger terminal at the Novy Urengoy airport on December 22, 2020, the opening ceremony with the participation of the President of the Russian Federation via video link took place in February 2023 — on the centenary day of Russian civil aviation. 
“We have, I am convinced, the most beautiful airport in the world’s Arctic. And, of course, for the North, aviation is and has always been of great importance. Aviation already worked like clockwork when there were no railways or roads in the region. Thanks to it the world’s most powerful gas production complex was created in Yamal. Today, by developing the region’s airports, we are fulfilling the president’s task of increasing the mobility of northerners by 50%,” Artyukhov is quoted as saying in the message.
The new passenger terminal with an area of 19 thousand square meters has become the largest in Yamal. For the convenience of passengers, the airport terminal is equipped with a warm bus gate (tunnel for buses), designed for boarding and disembarking passengers on platform buses indoors, which is important for the harsh weather conditions of the Far North.
“At the end of last year, passenger traffic exceeded one million people. The airport of a city with a population of one hundred thousand residents serves more passengers than the airports of some cities with a population of one million. This is another argument in favor of the importance of aviation for us. A fundamentally new comfort has been created for decades to come. This the result of a well-executed concession. Everything that was built appeared without budget investments,” Artyukhov emphasized.
As the head of the region noted, the successful experience of using the concession mechanism in Novy Urengoy will be used to update the Salekhard airport. According to him, the design is planned to be completed next year, after which construction work will begin.
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum takes place from June 5 to 8. – information partner of the forum.