Kineshma Airport

The closure was due to economic reasons following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The centralized state funding and subsidy system for regional aviation was dismantled, leading to a sharp increase in operating costs and ticket prices. This, combined with the severe economic crisis of the 1990s, caused a drastic fall in passenger demand, making the airport and its routes financially unviable. There was no military conversion or specific accident that led to its closure.

The airport is completely abandoned and in a state of ruin. Satellite imagery and local reports confirm that the single runway, taxiways, and apron are still visible but are heavily deteriorated, overgrown with grass and trees, and unusable for any aviation purposes. The terminal building and other administrative/technical structures are still standing but are derelict, heavily vandalized, and decaying. The site is unofficially used by locals for non-aviation activities, including driving practice, walking, and occasional illegal street racing.

During the Soviet era, Kineshma (Sokolniki) Airport was an important local air transport hub for the Ivanovo Oblast. It provided vital connectivity for a city that was otherwise relatively remote. The airport primarily handled scheduled passenger flights on short-haul routes. Key destinations included the regional capital, Ivanovo (Yuzhny Airport), and Moscow (Bykovo Airport). The fleet typically consisted of small propeller aircraft common in Soviet regional aviation, such as the Antonov An-2 and the Let L-410 Turbolet. In addition to passenger services, the airport supported sanitary aviation (air ambulance) and agricultural flights (crop dusting).

There are currently no concrete plans, timelines, or allocated funding for the reopening of Kineshma Airport. The topic of reviving small regional airfields in the Ivanovo Oblast has been periodically discussed by local government officials as part of a broader strategy to improve regional transport. However, these discussions have not yet translated into a formal project. The prohibitive cost of completely rebuilding the runway, terminal, and navigation infrastructure, coupled with uncertainty about the economic sustainability of potential routes, makes reopening a distant and unlikely prospect in the near future.