Today we will go to Vologda! In April 2021, I already wrote a review of the flight Vologda - Moscow on Vologda Airlines, but over the past five years something has changed. For example, the Vologda Airlines airline has changed its livery, and the airport terminal itself has become more touristy, with a bias towards the 70s and 80s of the last century. Therefore, I suggest you go on this journey again.
Let’s start, of course, with purchasing tickets: they were purchased on the airline’s website. It is worth noting that over the past time the number of flights has increased. Now these are daily flights to Moscow (previously they flew three or four times a week), and on some days there are two flights. Flights to St. Petersburg remained and a twice-weekly flight to Veliky Ustyug was added.
I decided to see how many flights there were at the Vologda airport during USSR times. And the first schedule that the Internet gave me was the summer schedule of 1970. Agree, modern traffic is much inferior to those times.
I tried to find on the 2021 ticket how many kg hand luggage was allowed, but I couldn’t. Now you can take a bag weighing 5 kg into the cabin and check in luggage weighing 10 kg. In 2021, baggage weighing 20 kg was accepted, now this weight is allowed in the Comfort fare, which is not on sale, no matter how much I looked. find on the 2021 ticket how many kg hand luggage was allowed, but I didn’t manage to do it. Now you can take a bag weighing 5 kg into the cabin and check in luggage weighing 10 kg. In 2021, luggage weighing 20 kg was accepted; now this weight is allowed in the Comfort fare, which is not on sale, no matter how much I looked.
Then everything is standard: we select the tariff we need, enter the data and make the payment. It's sad that when purchasing you can't choose a seat in the cabin and you have to wait for check-in at the airport and try to ask for a window seat. Last time I was lucky and got it; Let's see what happens this year.
Now the traditional section about hotels. There are no hotels near the Vologda airport (so on the airport square), so I lived in one of the hotels in the city itself. This time I stayed at the Spasskaya Hotel; a single room cost me 3,080 rubles. There are single rooms cheaper, only 2640 rubles. Double rooms and all kinds of suites, of course, will be more expensive.
The hotel is located in the very center of the city, and you have to walk one kilometer to the Vologda Kremlin. The room appeared to have been recently renovated, but the refrigerator had probably been there since the 90s or early 00s. The TV also saw a lot of guests in its life, but everything worked fine.
My flight is scheduled to depart at 8:00, at the beginning of six I leave the hotel and go to the airport by taxi, the trip cost me 294 rubles. You can also get to the airport by bus No. 36, from the hotel to the stop on this route you need to walk about 800 meters, and the cost of the trip is 44 rubles.
I arrived at the airport at about 6:40, and, as it turned out, nothing has changed in five years when the airport opened. It also opens at 7:00, that is, an hour before departure. But the airport operating hours sign has changed: if previously it was a schedule printed on A4 sheet, now it looks serious.
According to the information that I could find, a new one should be built somewhere next to the existing terminal in the coming years. It will look in the style of the St. Sophia Cathedral of the Vologda Kremlin and contain references to Vologda lace. In addition, they plan to repair and lengthen the runway to 2500 meters (currently 1500 meters).
It was planned to begin construction of a new terminal in the spring of 2026, but I haven’t seen any start yet. Let's hope we just didn't notice it behind the trees. In the meantime, I have time to walk around the station square, especially since the weather was pleasant.
Through the bars in the fence you can take a couple of shots of the airport platform. Here you can see two Yak-40s, repainted in the airline's new livery, and one left as before. And also Mi-8 helicopters.
In front of the terminal itself there was a small square with benches, and early birds like me (and besides me, two more passengers arrived early) could wait for the opening in the fresh air.
A little further there is a monument to the Il-18 aircraft. Now it has the number 75518 on it, but its real number is USSR-75518, it is not clear why the letters USSR were removed. The aircraft was produced in 1963 and flew in the 235th separate government detachment and Aeroflot until 1984. On September 1, 1986, in honor of the 55th anniversary of the airport, it was installed on a pedestal opposite the Vologda airport. Also in 1970, he starred in the film “The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase.”
After walking around a bit and taking photos, I discovered that two other passengers had already gone inside the airport. I looked at my watch: it was still 6:55, but it seemed they had decided to let passengers in earlier - well, then I’ll go too. At the entrance everything is standard: bags on a belt, you walk through the frame and find yourself in the 80s.
Of course, in five years the terminal has changed. This is still the same building, built in 1978, but if before it was somehow gray inside, now there is much more color here. The color of the walls changed and various exhibitions were added. For example, on the ground floor there is an exhibition dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Vologda poet Nikolai Rubtsov.
A little further there is an exhibition of students of the Children's Art School named after V.N. Korbakova.
Next to this exhibition there is a view of the airport apron. Here, two Yak-40s are preparing for flight and several Mi-8s are parked.
A buffet has also appeared in the terminal, which is also decorated in the style of the 70-80s of the last century. In 2021, there were only tables and chairs in this place.
Went to have tea at the buffet. A teapot that can hold two of these cups costs 300 rubles. I will also show you the prices of the buffet here in the next photo.
Time passed, and while I was sitting in the buffet, check-in for the flight began. Leaving my bag on the chair, I went to the reception desk. Previously, it stood in a slightly different place, and, in theory, two windows could work there. Now, one window works for registration, and the second, as I understand it, now serves as a cash register.
I asked the girl for a seat by the window, if possible, to which she said that it was easy to do, especially since there were plenty of free seats. Over the past five years, the boarding gates at the Vologda airport have also changed; now they look like standard ones at all airports. Five years ago it looked like in the second photo.
Near the registration desk you can look at posters.
Also next to the registration desk you can study the history of Vologda aviation and tourist places in the region.
Now, instead of cash registers, there is a souvenir shop. The telephone booths have been slightly updated, but I have not checked whether the telephones work there or not. They also removed the "Blagoveshchensk" panel, which was used during the filming of the film "Alone". Here we found two slot machines: “Battleship” and “Hockey”.
And a corner trying to reproduce an apartment in the USSR. A black radio caught my attention - this is exactly what we had at home.
Next we have tables with Izvestia newspapers from the 80s, Ogonyok and Za Rulem magazines, as well as children's publications.
Also from the second floor there is a panoramic view of the apron and the entire terminal building.
Well, it's time to get down and go to buffet for the bag, especially since pre-flight inspection has already begun. They called us there just like to a doctor’s office or for some test, and entered the inspection area one at a time. Then everything was standard: he showed me the ticket, took off everything unnecessary, folded it, sent it to the tape, walked through, took my things, pulled everything unnecessary back on me, went to the clean area. By the way, no one paid attention to the bottle of water that was in my bag, apparently because there is simply nowhere to buy water in the clean zone.
You can’t write much about the clean zone, there’s nothing here at all. Only seats for waiting for a flight, and it’s probably 10 by 10 meters in size.
When all the passengers had passed the security check, the girl who checked in the passengers entered the clean area. She checked everyone's boarding cards again and invited them to board the plane. No buses or boarding bridges, just walking! And passengers clearly like this, especially those like me, who came to Vologda to fly on the Yak-40.
First we pass by the Yak-40K b/n RA-88300, produced on December 30, 1976; Now the plane is more than 49 years old.
Today we are flying the Yak-40K no. RA-88251. The plane was produced in February 1977 and is slightly younger than the brother standing next to it.
We stood next to the handsome red guys for about two minutes, and we were allowed to board. Immediately after boarding there is a luggage compartment, and we all carried luggage with us: me with my small bag, and three passengers with huge suitcases. I put my bag in the luggage compartment and walked further through the cabin.
I don’t have to go far, my seat 8A is the second row from the entrance to the plane. In total, our board can accommodate 28 passengers, this time there were 16 people flying.
I take my seat. There is plenty of legroom for my height and short flight. There are two fans overhead, which started working when we took off.
The luggage racks are not designed for suitcases, which some of our passengers drag into the cabin, although they clearly belong in the luggage.
And I noticed that the luggage racks are located only on one side interior.
It seemed that the chairs had also been updated a little, in the sense of being upholstered with new fabric. Of course, I don’t know what they were like on this plane, but they look pretty fresh.
As I already wrote, there were few passengers on this flight, so everyone quickly took their seats. The only flight attendant, over the speakerphone, gave a briefing on safety measures and distributed candies long forgotten by major carriers before takeoff.
Our plane is ready for takeoff, a last look at the Vologda airport.
Unfortunately, the windows were dirty, and we had to look for a crack so that you can take more or less normal pictures.
Now I suggest you go on a flight with us from Vologda.
While we are gaining altitude, let's look at the contents of the pocket. Specifically, in the pocket that I had, there were only safety instructions and two reminders about behavior on board. In the next pocket there was an advertisement for Vologda products, and in the chairs in front there was a magazine of Vologda cuisine.
The flight itself lasts about an hour and a half and in most cases, of course, 10-15 minutes less. In our case, it lasted a little more than one hour, since planes were not accepted into Vnukovo. So we went to the Tver area and circled around there, waiting for permission to land. As it was announced over the loudspeaker, if Vnukovo did not give such permission, then we would go to Domodedovo or return back to Vologda. A desire crept in for just such an outcome, to fly the Yak-40 even longer. True, I think that the rest of the passengers were unlikely to be happy with this option, but here everyone thinks about themselves))).
There was time to film the interior of our plane a little more.
After 1 hour 10 minutes of circling over Tver and the surrounding area, we began to descend.
Now let's fasten our seat belts and fly landing at Vnukovo airport.
They parked us next to the Superjet of Azimut Airlines, wearing a special livery dedicated to the 100th anniversary of civil aviation of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
One more photo of our baby’s interior, and it’s time to get on the bus.
I was one of the last to leave the plane and didn’t wait long for departure on the bus. Ahead of us was a long trip along the apron, which meant that we could take pictures of the planes standing on it. ID=265119]
[/SLIDER]
The bus drove us to the entrance to the airport, and almost immediately we find ourselves in the baggage claim area; there is no need to walk for a long time, as often happens when they disembark through the jet bridge.
We have nothing to wait for at the airport, so we need to get to Moscow. Of course, the most convenient way is the metro, the station of which is located under the airport; That's where the signs indicate I'm heading. The metro station was opened in September 2023.
This is where I will end the already lengthy story about the flight of a veteran of domestic aviation. My next visit to Vologda will probably happen when the new terminal is put into operation.
That's all for today. Thank you all for your attention and see you again!
Vote for review:
