Moscow's new airport starts to get traction

Belavia's World of Tanks Boeing 737 makes its first appearance at Zhukovsky airport

Slowly, but steadily...Moscow's fourth airport, Zhukovsky, is getting some traction.

After a few months of solitude, the new terminal is starting to see its first passenger flights.

To be sure, it is still quite a small volume of traffic. Belarusian airline Belavia  flew its eye-catching "World of Tanks" Boeing 737 to the airport for the inaugural revenue flight from Minsk and is now being followed by some others.

Just a few weeks ago Ural Airlines, currently Russia's third largest airline, announced also flights out of Zhukovsky to a number of destinations in the neighbouring Central Asian republics: Astana, Dushanbe, Khujand and Osh. These are routes mainly catering to Moscow's large migrant population.

The range of destinations may soon increase significantly as Russian airlines Ikar, Vim Avia Yamal and Nordavia have already applied to operate from the airport. It  is not clear whether they are going to be charter or regular flights, though.  While Ikar is clearly a charter operator, Vim Avia and Nordavia do both charter and regular.

Destinations such as Barcelona, Amsterdam or Frankfurt could soon be reached from Zhukovsky.