Sochi International Airport (Russian: Международный Аэропорт Сочи; IATA: AER, ICAO: URSS) is an international airport located in the Adler District of the resort city of Sochi, on the coast of the Black Sea in the federal subject of Krasnodar Krai, Russia.

Regularly scheduled international departures and arrivals began in 1981; the original destinations were Bratislava, Budapest, and Prague.

[5] "Strategy-South", a company affiliated with Basic Element group (until 2001 – "Siberian Aluminum") won an auction to acquire the airport for 5.5 billion rubles.

among the ones in Krasnodar, Anapa and Gelendzhik, operated by the Russian Asian Investment Company (RAInKo, owned by Oleg Deripaska) and "Airports of South".

A modernized airport's building features a 65,000-sq.m terminal with an advanced 450-m long boarding gallery adjacent to the airport, 10 boarding bridges ensuring a comfortable access to the aircraft,[10] a 4,000-sq.m VIP Terminal with the handling capacity of 80 passengers per hour that hosted IOC delegates and other high-profile guests at the Winter Olympics.

[11] In charge of these extensive Sochi projects, including the airport renovation, was Andrey Elinson, Deputy CEO of Basic Element.

[citation needed] Due to airspace closures and aircraft seizure risks following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Aeroflot announced in March 2022 that it would open a hub at Sochi using Rossiya-operated Sukhoi SuperJet 100 aircraft to serve 17 short-haul international destinations in 6 countries, with an aim to facilitate connecting traffic to and from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Krasnoyarsk.

Because of the presence of natural obstacles (mountains) to the north and north-east of the airport, take off and landing are only possible on the sea side of the facility.

On 20 November 2006, the airport was auctioned to Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element group for 5.5 billion roubles (about $206.6 million).

[citation needed] Deripaska is also a member of the committee organizing Sochi's bid for the Winter Olympics.