# Gelendzhik Airport (GDZ)

> Gelendzhik, RU · IATA: GDZ · ICAO: URKG · Medium Airport

## Quick Facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| IATA | `GDZ` |
| ICAO | `URKG` |
| City | Gelendzhik |
| Country | RU |
| Type | Medium Airport |
| Elevation | 30 m |
| Cargo | ❌ |
| GPS | 44.58209, 38.01248 |

## Description

Between February 2022 and July 2025 not a single scheduled aircraft used Gelendzhik Airport (IATA: GDZ, ICAO: URKG): Russia's invasion of Ukraine closed the Black Sea field along with much of southern Russian airspace, and only an Aeroflot service from Moscow-Sheremetyevo on 18 July 2025 ended the standstill. The much larger Krasnodar airport (KRR) followed in September 2025, restoring the region's principal air cargo gateway, and the temporary operating restrictions at both fields have since been lifted. Gelendzhik's terminal, about 17,000 m² built for roughly 6 billion rubles just before the war, was designed for coastal holiday traffic rather than freight; there is no dedicated cargo terminal and what little air freight moves does so as belly cargo. Shippers in the Krasnodar region therefore route import and export consignments via Krasnodar (KRR), some 150 road kilometres inland, or via Sochi (AER) to the southeast. The seaport of Novorossiysk, a little over 30 kilometres to the northwest, carries far more of the region's foreign trade than any air link from Gelendzhik. Western sanctions against Russia additionally restrict which air freight services European shippers can lawfully use to or from the airport.

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

*Markdown mirror: [https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/gelendzhik-airport-gdz](https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/gelendzhik-airport-gdz)*

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