# Chelyabinsk Balandino Airport (CEK)

> Chelyabinsk, RU · IATA: CEK · ICAO: USCC · Medium Airport · Cargo Hub

## Quick Facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| IATA | `CEK` |
| ICAO | `USCC` |
| City | Chelyabinsk |
| Country | RU |
| Type | Medium Airport |
| Elevation | 234 m |
| Cargo | ✅ |
| GPS | 55.30580, 61.50330 |

## Description

Ural Airlines and Yamal Airlines both use Chelyabinsk Kurchatov Airport (CEK / USCC) as a secondary base, 18 km north of Chelyabinsk in one of Russia's major metallurgical regions. A new domestic terminal opened in 2019, when the airport was named after nuclear physicist Igor Kurchatov; in 2024 it ranked among Russia's 20 busiest airports, with capacity for about 2.5 million passengers. Air cargo moves mainly as belly freight on passenger services — regionally relevant for the steel, pipe and machinery industries around Chelyabinsk, but without a dedicated freighter programme. Since 2022, sanctions have curtailed western links, leaving mostly domestic routes plus Central Asia, Türkiye and the UAE. For larger or intercontinental shipments, Yekaterinburg Koltsovo (SVX), about 200 km north, is the nearest major cargo airport.

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*Freight Academy — Airport Profile: [https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/chelyabinsk-balandino-airport-cek](https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/chelyabinsk-balandino-airport-cek)*

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*LLM-Summary (JSON): https://www.freight-academy.com/api/v1/airports/chelyabinsk-balandino-airport-cek/llm-summary*