Natakhtari Airfield is a domestic

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 surface ...

located in

Natakhtari Natakhtari ( ka, ნატახტარი) is a village in the Mtskheta municipality, Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, Georgia. It is located in Eastern Georgia, on the right bank of the Aragvi The Aragvi ( ka, არაგვი) and its basin a ...

Mtskheta-Mtianeti Mtskheta-Mtianeti ( ka, მცხეთა-მთიანეთი, literally "Mtskheta-Mountain Area") is a region (Mkhare) in eastern Georgia comprising the town of Mtskheta, which serves as a regional capital, together with its district and t ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. It serves as a secondary and domestic-only airfield for the

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

metropolitan area at roughly north of the city. It is privately owned and operated by the parent company of Vanilla Sky Airlines, Service Air. The airfield operates a bus link with

in connection with scheduled flights.

General

Natakhtari Airfield is located about north of Georgia's historic capital,

Mtskheta Mtskheta ( ka, მცხეთა, tr ) is a city in Mtskheta-Mtianeti province of Georgia. It is one of the oldest cities in Georgia as well as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the World. Itis located approximately north of T ...

, a popular tourist destination. Located in the

Mukhrani Mukhrani ( ka, მუხრანი, originally Mukhnari ��უხნარი i.e., "oak-grove") is a historical lowland district in eastern Georgia, currently within the borders of Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, north of the town of Mtskheta. It lie ...

Valley, it serves private flights and a number of small scale charter and scheduled domestic flights by Vanilla Sky Airlines. Apart from providing a bus service with Tbilisi in connection with scheduled flights, the airfield is also easily accessible by car: it is located on the S3 highway to

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 ...

and nearby S1 to the west of the country. The airfield got a new concrete paved runway in mid-2011, and it was expanded with a restaurant and swimming pool on the property during this period to make it attractive for a family day out around the flight services the airfield provides. Sightseeing flights with a helicopter or a Cessna plane are also offered from the airport. Since the end of 2010, flights have been operating between Natakhtari and

Mestia Mestia ( ka, მესტია ) is a highland townlet ('' daba'') in northwest Georgia, at an elevation of in the Caucasus Mountains. General information Mestia is located in the Svaneti region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti province (''mkhare''), ...

, in the northwestern mountain region of

Svanetia Svaneti or Svanetia (Suania in ancient sources; ka, სვანეთი ) is a historic province in the northwestern part of Georgia. It is inhabited by the Svans, an ethnic subgroup of Georgians. Geography Situated on the southern slop ...

. These were initially operated by Canadian

Kenn Borek Air Kenn Borek Air is an airline based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It operates regional passenger and cargo services, contract operations in the Arctic and Antarctic and aircraft leasing. Its main base is at Calgary International Airport. It chart ...

, but since 2014 by Vanilla Sky, a subsidiary of the owner of the airfield, Service Air. A scheduled air service was established with

Ambrolauri Airport Ambrolauri Airport is a small regional airport serving Ambrolauri, a town in Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti, Georgia. The airport is owned and operated by United Airports of Georgia, a state-owned company. It has been open in its current form s ...

Racha Racha (also Račha, , ''Račʼa'') is a highland area in western Georgia, located in the upper Rioni river valley and hemmed in by the Greater Caucasus mountains. Under Georgia's current subdivision, Racha is included in the Racha-Lechkhumi and ...

region, as soon as that airport opened in 2017. After a six-month hiatus in 2020 due to the corona pandemic, flights were resumed to both destinations in the summer of 2020.

History

During the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

(

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

), between 1942 and 1945, a fighter aircraft division of the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

was stationed at Natakhtari airfield to protect strategic targets in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

area. The units took part in the

Battle of the Caucasus The Battle of the Caucasus is a name given to a series of Axis and Soviet operations in the Caucasus area on the Eastern Front of World War II. On 25 July 1942, German troops captured Rostov-on-Don, Russia, opening the Caucasus region of t ...

. The division also guarded airlines between Tbilisi and

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...

in the south and

Grozny Grozny ( rus, Грозный, p=ˈgroznɨj; ce, Соьлжа-ГӀала, translit=Sölƶa-Ġala), also spelled Groznyy, is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2010 census, it had a pop ...

in the north. In September 1945 the deployment at Natakhtari was terminated. In the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, the airfield was known with the IATA code NTX and the ICAO code UGYG. The airport no longer has an IATA code and the ICAO registration has been changed to UGSA.

General

History

Airlines and destinations

External links

References