The total number of passengers who received services from the Strigino airport was slightly more than 588,600 people, of whom passengers of domestic flights accounted for 95%. The ban on international air travel was imposed late in March. As a result, the number of passengers on international airlines sank 11 times – from 334,500 in 2019 to 29,400 in 2020, and most of the latter had used international flights before the restrictions were imposed.
The general traffic slide went hand in hand with burgeoning demand for flights to Russian Black Sea resort destinations, including during the winter period. In 2020 almost 70,000 passengers traveled from Nizhny Novgorod to Sochi, Simferopol and Anapa. Seven airlines performed regular and charter flights there: Rossiya, Red Wings, Nordwind, Ikar, Urals Airlines, Smartavia, and IrAero. In certain periods seven daily flights to inland southern destinations were performed.
In June 2020 IrAero resumed direct regular flights from Nizhny Novgorod to Mineralnye Vody. As part of the regional route network extension, flights from Strigino to Saratov (by Azimuth Airlines) and Novy Urengoy (by IrAero) were added.
Among other destinations most popular with passengers were Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, and Samara. The frequency of flights from Strigino to the airports of the Moscow air hub reached 10 daily departures.
Overall direct regular flights from Strigino to 23 destinations were performed in 2020.