«Castles in the air» of Primorye: plans for the new international airports in the 1990s

The article analyzes projects to establish a second international airport in Primorsky Krai during the 1990s, intended to complement the existing Vladivostok (Knevichi) airport. The author investigates the reasons behind these initiatives, their connection to the geopolitical and economic changes in the region following the collapse of the USSR, and the factors that led to their failure. The primary focus is on two key projects: the conversion of the military airfield in Zolotaya Dolina for the Nakhodka Special Economic Zone and the ambitious plan to construct an airport on artificial land in Ussuri Bay as part of the Vladivostok Universal Transport Hub. Secondary initiatives are also considered, such as utilizing the military airfields in Vozdvizhenka, Chernyshevka, and Khorol. The author concludes that the failure of these projects was due to a combination of factors: a lack of stable funding, bureaucratic obstacles, the unrealistic nature of some plans, and the general economic crisis of the 1990s.