Antonov Airport ( uk, аеропорт «Антонов» ), also known as Hostomel (or Gostomel) Airport ( uk, аеропорт «Гостомель»), is an international

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

and testing facility in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, located near

Hostomel Hostomel ( uk, Гостомель, ) is a city in Bucha Raion, Kyiv Oblast, northwest of the capital city of Kyiv. It hosts the administration of Hostomel settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The population of the settlement is app ...

, which is a northwestern suburb of

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

. The airport is owned by and named after the Antonov aircraft manufacturing company and operated by its subsidiary

Antonov Airlines Antonov Airlines is a Ukrainian cargo airline, a division of the Antonov aviation company. It operates international charter services in the oversized-cargo market. Its main base is Hostomel Airport near Kyiv. In the aftermath of the Battle ...

. The destroyed

An-225 The Antonov An-225 Mriya ( uk, Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, lit=dream' or 'inspiration; NATO reporting name: Cossack) was a strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed and produced by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. It was o ...

was based here. During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...

, the airport became the site of an intense battle. It was temporarily held by Russian forces and sustained heavy damage to facilities and aircraft.

History

Construction of the airport began in 1959. Commercial cargo operations at the airport began in 1989 with the first attempts at demilitarizing and commercializing of the Antonov Design Bureau.

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

On 24 February 2022, the first day of the

, the airport was attacked and seized by the Russian military. On the day, Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...

said "The enemy paratroopers in Hostomel have been blocked, and troops have received an order to destroy them". Later in the day, between 8-10 PM local time (UTC+2) reports surfaced that the airport had been retaken, but heavy fighting continued for weeks at the airport and in neighboring Hostomel. Ukrainian forces regained control of the airport by 2 April, but the airport sustained extensive damage and the notable An-225 cargo aircraft was destroyed. The

Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic is an American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and his British Virgin Group retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The compan ...

owner, Sir Richard Branson, visited the President of Ukraine and the damaged airport and had interest in investing in rebuilding it.

Aircraft testing operations

Gostomel Airport was originally built as a top-secret in-house Flight Testing and Improvement Base ( uk, Льотно-випробувальна і довідна база) for Antonov airplanes. It is equipped with special equipment for it (e.g., artificial

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an avera ...

generator) and granted a purpose test flight zone. Its sister facility, responsible for manufacturing, is located inside Kyiv at the

Sviatoshyn Airfield Sviatoshyn Airfield (Ukrainian Аеродром «Святошин»), formerly known as ''Svyatoshino'', is an industrial airfield in Kyiv, Ukraine, located 11 km northwest of city center. It is part of the Antonov Serial Production Plant, su ...

Cargo operations

Antonov An-225 landing at Gostomel Airport

The airport is used by Antonov Airlines, as well as by other interested cargo carriers. The following facilities and services are available on site: *

transshipping Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the means of transport during the journey (e.g. ...

(air-to-auto; air-to-railway) *storage capacities * border control and customs *aircraft maintenance

Military presence

Ukrainian Air Force The Ukrainian Air Force ( uk, Пові́тряні си́ли Збро́йних сил Украї́ни) is the air force of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Its headquarters are in the city of Vinnytsia. W ...

was using the airport for its transportation forces. The An-225 "Mriya" (''tr. 'dream' or 'inspiration), the world's largest cargo aircraft, was located at Hostomel Airport before its partial destruction during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Notes

References

External links

Antonov Airport
at Antonov ASTC corporate Web site *NOAA/NW

*AS
Accident history for the Antonov Airport
{{authority control Airports in Kyiv Antonov Airports established in 1959 1959 establishments in Ukraine Soviet Air Force bases Ukrainian airbases Buildings and structures destroyed during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine