When in the beginning of June representatives of mass media were invited for an international airforum holding in Kharkiv, I together with everyone listening the music of an orchestra conducted by maestro Yuriy Janko, walked in building of the new terminal, having spaced out, and I didn`t believed at all that it was not ready yet. But when all of us have come on terminal opening —then it became clear, that yes, three months ago yet we saw not ready product.
Though then, in June, I have checked around all back streets where I was allowed, nevertheless, I haven`t recognized many premises. The European gloss plus our native open space amaze. It is visible and is perceived.
But in the beginning there, certainly, was a word...
Congratulating Kharkiv citizens, I congratulate all Ukraine, - said President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych at the opening of new terminal of the Kharkiv airport.
And this is true, because the most important is that functionality will actually be implemented, but in amounts previously unattainable: one million passengers a year – one could only dream of this. Now Kharkiv without any exaggeration became gateway to Europe.
In addition to the importance of functional, this event has at least two important points.
First, the new terminal - is illustrative, not existing in the plans, but real-life example of the fact that government and business can cooperate quite successfully, and this cooperation is already producing visible and even tangible results. It is hoped that the terminal is just the first, not the "first and last" example of such cooperation.
Second - Kharkiv steps into the bright and not so distant football eurofuture right on schedule, which was also noted by the president of Ukraine. The picture had inspired the president so much that he admitted: so much more to be done, but now he was confident that we can do everything. Including the fact that we will prepare for the Winter Olympic Games-2022.
After Viktor Yanukovych`s words came to the point and, together with Deputy Prime Minister Boris Kolesnikov and FC Metalist president, investor of Euro 2012 in Kharkiv, Aleksandr Yaroslavskyy cut the scarlet ribbon at the entrance to the terminal.
All the remaining time we stared, snapped our cameras and scribbled in our notebooks, so that later readers, viewers and listeners might like us feel their introduction to the new and somewhere even feel like a European.
And it is worth a lot.
Literary worth a lot. For us to feel Europeans, Aleksandr Yaroslavskyy and his company DCH invested 60 million dollars to the construction. And the runway is state concern, because the state founded 137 million dollars to its construction.
The runway, says Aleksandr Sivalnev, head of the Directorate for the construction of the the airport, will be finished in a year. During the construction of the new runway, the old one, made of concrete wasn`t closed, the construction was going near it. It is favourable, first, because the passenger turnover was not broken and the airport didn`t have losses, and secondly, workplaces remain and the personnel doesn`t lose skills. However, a strip is to short— only 2500 metres. But here it can't be turned: the airport is in city boundaries, and a problem with involuntary resettlement could not be solved. Therefore planes cannot fly to China: for such distant flights the big planes are necessary, and the big planes will not fly up from a short strip, so we will fly to Europe and to the Near East medium-range aircrafts, such as А-320 and Boeing 737. In the foreseeable future from the new terminal it will be possible to go not only to Kyiv, but also to Simferopol, Lviv and Odessa. In October flights to Istanbul to be opened, further — flights to Germany, France, Poland and Italy will open. Negotiations with air carriers are now going.
Smoothly turning to the terminal, Sivalnev has noted that basically the building is constructed of domestic materials. In particular, metal constructions were made in Ukraine, glass is mostly domestic.
Besides, the architecture and design of halls of the terminal is even better, than in many European airports. Very good open granges (27 openwork constructions, with width of eight and length of 24 metres each), partially transparent roof, natural illumination, are perfectly well visible in the afternoon. Heating, air-conditioning are aerial though in some premises of the terminal you can see radiators. The basic facade made of glass, internal partitions — transparent.
— And, — says Sivalnev, — our terminal differs from the European airports to the best that there are no false ceilings, there`s a roof over the person— the same feeling as in a hangar. Here the roof is hidden, people feel themselves more comfortably. All technical "stuffing" — heat exchangers and other — is hidden in a cellar. And the conditioner is taken out of terminal. Three "sleeves" (these are flexible exits from a hall directly to plane salon) will be done next year: expensive enough systems, but all of them are provided in this terminal.
For almost two years from scratch we built a handsome terminal, first, by the way, in independent Ukraine. This is not a supermarket, which can fully return its price in 2 - 3 years. Economists argue: such complexes are beginning to be profitable in at least 15 years. Of course, I could not help to ask: how much time, according to an investor, you need to make this to pay off.
Investor Yaroslavskyy just waved his hand:
- I want to, of course, for it to be quick... But actually the terminal has already started to pay off today when I saw the happy faces of Kharkiv citizens. I hope that our airport will be dear for all.
And in general - Yaroslavskyy has a holiday in his heart: he had just rehabbed from play-off game, when Metalist on its stadium played in draw 2:2 with Cyprus "Omonia" and went further, to the group round of Europa League. During the game, Yaroslavskyy said, the soul was... You can imagine where.
But we couldn`t make Mr. Yaroslavskyy talk about future plans. He doesn`t like to talk about plans:
- I want to talk about real things, not about the plans. People are not happy with plans, but with real things. Everything that is done, nobody will take away from them - the stadium, the airport or runway. Therefore, at least for 100 years, we have provided our descendants with modern terminal.
But later adds: the next step - the old terminal. It will not be closed. The building, which style includes two architectural and time epochs, will be reconstructed carefully and anxiously so that to keep the spirit of the time. And popular Yaroslavskyy`s phrase that in the renovated old terminal passengers will see women in kokoshniks and glasses of vodka with Russian pickles, may lead to the airport to become dear for many of our fellow citizens and guests of the first capital.
timeua.info
