Alykel Airport (russian: Аэропорт Алыкель) is a large airport in

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Siber ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, located west of

Norilsk Norilsk ( rus, Нори́льск, p=nɐˈrʲilʲsk, ''Norílʹsk'') is a closed city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located south of the western Taymyr Peninsula, around 90 km east of the Yenisey River and 1,500 km north of Krasnoyarsk. Norilsk i ...

. Alykel is the only functional airfield near Norilsk. It handles medium-sized aircraft and is serviced by 24-hour operations. Since it is capable of handling wide-body jets, it is a

diversion airport Diversion airports are airports capable of handling a particular ETOPS ETOPS () is an acronym for ''Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards''—a special part of flight rules for one-engine-inoperative flight conditions. The I ...

Polar route A polar route is an aircraft route across the uninhabited polar ice cap regions. The term "polar route" was originally applied to great circle navigation routes between Europe and the west coast of North America in the 1950s. The Arctic Early ye ...

1.Boeing-conducted Airport safety and operational assessments
/ref> Since Norilsk does not have road or railroad connections to the rest of the country, the airport is the main gateway to the city. It was constructed in 1964, when US reconnaissance satellites reported a new airfield with a runway west of Norilsk. This allowed the use of Norilsk as a staging base for Soviet bombers to reach the United States. This role continues to this day with caretaker status provided by the Russian Air Force's OGA (Arctic Control Group). Norilsk also was served by

interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are cap ...

under the 57 IAP (57th Guards Red Banner Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO), which in 1991 had 24 Sukhoi Su-15TM aircraft.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Accidents and incidents

* On 16 November 1981,

Aeroflot Flight 3603 Aeroflot Flight 3603 was a Tupolev Tu-154 operating a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Krasnoyarsk to Norilsk, Noril'sk, both in the Soviet Union, that crashed while attempting to land on 17 November 1981. Of the 167 passengers and crew o ...

, a

Tupolev Tu-154 The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...

, crashed while attempting to land at Norilsk Airport. Ninety-nine of the 167 passengers and crew on board were killed in the accident.

Rail link to airport

Norilsk railway airport branch 2010-06 Njd2010 16

An electrified rail link Norilsk-Oktyabrskaya - Airport was operated from 1967-11-22 to 1998.

References

External links

Soviet Air Force bases Russian Air Force bases Soviet Air Defence Force bases Airports built in the Soviet Union Airports in Krasnoyarsk Krai Norilsk {{Russia-airport-stub