Nizhny Novgorod Airport

• The first scheduled civilian flight between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod took place on July 15, 1923.
• The current passenger terminal opened in 2016 and covers 27,800 square meters.
• The airport’s namesake, Valery Chkalov, was a test pilot who took part in two significant long-distance flights.

On July 15, 1923, the first scheduled flight in Russian civil aviation operated on the Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod route. In 1933, a special aviation unit was established under the Moscow Administration of the Civil Air Fleet. The airport continued to expand after World War II: work began in 1958 on a paved runway and apron. A new passenger terminal was added in 1965, and a second runway was built in 1980.

A new passenger terminal opened in 2016. The 27,800-square-meter building was designed to handle more than 1.5 million passengers a year. Its facilities included four jet bridges, 17 check-in counters and four baggage carousels. Domestic and international travelers used shared check-in counters and a central security area. In 2018, the airport welcomed visitors to the FIFA World Cup. In 2019, it was officially named after Valery Chkalov; in 2021, a permanent exhibition on the pilot and the history of Soviet aviation opened in the terminal.

Chkalov began working as a test pilot in 1930. In 1936, he flew nonstop from Moscow to the Far East with Georgy Baidukov and Alexander Belyakov. Their ANT-25 landed on Udd Island after 56 hours and 20 minutes; the total distance was 9,374 kilometers. Of this, 5,140 kilometers were over the Barents Sea, Arctic Ocean and Sea of Okhotsk.

On June 18, 1937, the same crew took off again in an ANT-25. After flying over the North Pole, they landed near Vancouver, Washington, on June 20. The 9,130-kilometer journey took 63 hours and 25 minutes. The terminal exhibition covers both flights and Chkalov’s significance to Soviet aviation.

Strigino is in the western part of the Avtozavodsky District, on the site of the former village of Strigino, which was incorporated into the city in 1934.

Plan your transfer around your arrival time and the address of your destination. Choosing accommodation that suits your destination and how you plan to get around the city can help avoid extra cross-city trips. Keep important addresses handy in maps saved for offline use.

How far is Strigino from the city center?

The airport is about 18 kilometers southwest of the city center, in the Avtozavodsky District. Actual travel time depends on traffic, your destination address and the mode of transport you choose.