ASTANA. Oct 19 (Interfax) - One of Baikonur's airfields, Krainy, will undergo another modernization in 2018-2019, and Russia will invest over 1 billion rubles in the project, Roscosmos' Deputy General Director Sergei Savelyev said.
"The modernization of aviation enterprises, the Krainy airfield, is continuing, and you and I have had a chance to evaluate its results. There are plans to invest an additional sum of over 1 billion rubles from the Russian budget in this facility in 2018-2019 for the third stage of renovations," Savelyev said at the Kazakhstan's Path to Space: Reality and Perspective 2017 forum in Astana on Thursday.
The long period of repairs and renovation at the Krainy airfield came to an end in spring 2016. All of its equipment was replaced, and the runway was extended and reinforced. As a result, the airfield is able to receive jumbo jets, such as the An-124-100, and Boeing planes delivering satellites to Baikonur.
A source at the cosmodrome told Interfax in early September 2017 that inspectors had confirmed Krainy's compliance with civil aviation requirements and ability to receive tourists.