Departure:
Odessa airport departures is from the old soviet building and it is chaos. So best to be there 2 hours before your flight. They have only 3 gates but they cannot organise things that well. Bring some food and drink, the bar in the building is expensive. Only imported beer from mexico for £5 a bottle and grumpy male service. No ukrainian beer, which is a shame, since it is of excellent quality, better even than german beer. You will not have a gate indicator for you flight, so best is to sit in the small waiting lounge and check the tellies above the doors of the 3 existing gates regularly. About 15 mins before your departure the tellie will indicate your destination and then he bus will soon arrive and take you to your plane. With a bit of patience it will all go ok. Do not expect Vienna airport standards in Odessa. They are still far from that but things work somehow in Odessa, it is organised chaos but they get you there in the end.

In Odessa you need to be careful that you do not get overcharged by the taxis at the airport. There is 2 buildings now. The old soviet building, which is for departures only, and a brand new building, which is for arrivals only. I was told that the new building is private and was built by an oligarch and the old building is still state owned. When you arrive in the new building do ignore the taxi drivers under any circumstance and do ignore the taxi stand. They demand euro 40 to drive you into town and this is nearly ten times as much as it really costs with an honest taxi. Leave the building and walk over to the old soviet building. From there you should be able to negotiate a better price. The price is 150 grivna, that is ca £5 (2019) or euro 5.50. There is also a trolleybus and an autobus into town from the old building. The taxi drivers in the modern building will tell you that there is no public transport. But this is not true. All you need to do is walk over to the old soviet building (ca 5 min walk) and ignore the stuff that's going on with taxis in the arrival building (new building). They are rip offs big time. Once in the centre prices are fine and people are normal.

Landing at Odessa Airport always gives me the sensation of hitting multiple speed bumps. You wonder how often aircraft that fly on this route have to replace their tyres. As we speak, the new terminal is only used for arrivals. Departures still go through the old, dated terminal. My first complaint is that there are no bagage trolleys at the parking place. Very uncomfortable. My major complaint is about how departing passengers are transported to there waiting aircraft on the platform. A bus waits outside the gate and is so crammed with passengers that I worry some eldery people or children may become unwell, especially in the summer heat. A second bus is waiting behind it in case some passengers may fall out of this one. It's an absolute insult to passengers that this second bus is rarely used. Odessa Airport, you are treating passengers worse than pigs. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PAZAHLSTA!

The recommended taxi fare from Odessa airport to Cathedral Square is 70UAH - 140UAH. That might seem like an oddly large gap, but let me tell you of my experience. My wife and I were the only two people in need of a taxi on this day in early May, 2019. There were two passengers, maybe 10 taxis. The best price that was offered was 400UAH. We went to the “official” taxi counter and got the ridiculous rate of 1,200UAH. This was a clear and flagrant attempt at organized theft - at least 15 times more than the going rate. What you, as a passenger should do is walk 5 - 10 minutes to the street and hail a taxi that way. There’s a big difference between 70UAH and 1,200UAH. The ride from the airport to the Cathedral Square is approximately five kilometres and takes about 15 minutes. The Odessa Airport Authority should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this type of theft to occur.

September 2018.
They have finally started to I think longer runways and repaving present rough surfaces.
The New terminal on your right as you approach by bus or taxi, is for arrivals with passport control and customs officers. The new terminal finally has permanent kiosks for money exchange(do not change big sums there) you get better rate at banks and street money change booths all over the city or ATM(bahnkomats).
The old terminal is directly in front of you at round about.
Do not expect to see your airline or flight info if you arrive prior to 2 hours before flight since all airlines use same tv screens.
At almost exactly 2 hours magically your flight details pop up on TV screens.
If you so choose you can go to left of checkin counters go through security/passport control/ customs into waiting area. There is a bar/cafe for lite food and drinks. Bathrooms and small duty free shop. There are two door(gates) make sure(unlike me) you are ready to go. One flight I had they came looking for me as they decided to leave early. I got a bus all to myself along with my red face from being "that passrnger"!
I think Ukrainian government is realizing tourism to black sea from tourists all over the world is going to be their saving grace. Only 1% of Ukraines GNP comes from tourism, while western Europe has 15% from tourism.
Although departure terminal is old, the agents, security and customs process passengers fairly quickly. Good job Odesa!
My rating is only based on airport facility not workers there!
The workers get 5 stars for dealing with old facility in Departure area.
Arrivals is pretty modern facility.