You're reading: Boryspil International Airport opens Terminal D for Euro 2012 charters

The newly-built terminal D at the main Boryspil International Airport in Kyiv will very soon stand the test of thousands of passengers coming for the Euro 2012 European Football Championship matches, including 16 games played in four Ukrainian cities.

Opened on May 28 after the three and a half-year construction, terminal will handle charter flights during the tournament, servicing its part of about 650,000 football fans planning to fly in Ukraine.

During the opening ceremony, Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych described the three-story terminal as “the investment for future generations.” The construction made by Dogus-Alarko-YDA Joint Venture actually cost Hr 4.8 billion including foreign investment.

The new building aside from the airport is of 107,000 square meters, thus becoming the biggest in Ukraine. It is going to be enlarged by 34,000 square meters in coming years in order to take over passenger traffic from the Soviet-build terminals A and B. Both will be closed, and the A terminal is planned to be demolished. The new terminal F set for handling charters and low-cost airlines was launched in 2011. The terminal D is set to serve for 30 years.

The international flights will move to the new terminal D by August.

According to Borys Kolesnikov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister in charge of infrastructure, Boryspil International is ready to meet 10 million passengers per year expecting to raise the number up to 15 million in coming five years. Last year the airport serviced about eight million passengers.

The new apron of 183,000 square meters can serve and park about 25 aircrafts. Having the 11 air bridges for boarding and departures, the terminal can accommodate six large planes of Boeing 747 class and five smaller planes of Boeing 737 class at once. The departure hall of 870 meter-long is equipped with moving walkways of different length for the first time in Ukraine.
Passengers flying to Boryspil in charters for Euro 2012 matches will be served by special buses, airport’s director general Anton Volov said. The parking complex near the new terminal will be finished in the course of nine months.

Kyiv Post staff writer Denis Rafalsky can be reached at [email protected]