Svalbard,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, is a vast, very sparsely inhabited

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

. With fewer than 3,000 inhabitants in three main communities, plus some smaller meteorological and scientific outposts, there are no communities connected by road. Off-road motorized transport is prohibited on bare ground, but

snowmobiles A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...

are used extensively during winter, both for commercial and recreational activities. Transport from Longyearbyen to Barentsburg () and Pyramiden () is possible by snowmobile at winter, or by ship all year round. Road systems exist within the communities of Longyearbyen,

Barentsburg Barentsburg (russian: Баренцбург) is the second-largest settlement in Svalbard, Norway, with about 455 inhabitants (). A coal mining town, the settlement is almost entirely made up of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians. History Rijpsburg, ...

Ny-Ålesund Ny-Ålesund ("New Ålesund") is a small town in Oscar II Land on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. It is situated on the Brøgger peninsula (Brøggerhalvøya) and on the shore of the bay of Kongsfjorden. The company town is owned ...

and the now-closed

Sveagruva Sveagruva (), or simply Svea, was a mining settlement in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, lying at the head of Van Mijenfjord. It was the third largest settlement in the archipelago (after Longyearbyen and Barentsburg). Around 300 workers ...

. All settlements have ports and Longyearbyen has a bus system.

Aviation

There are three airports in the Svalbard area, Svalbard Airport, Ny-Ålesund Airport and Svea Airport.

Svalbard Airport, Longyear Svalbard Airport ( no, Svalbard lufthavn; ) is the main airport serving Svalbard in Norway. It is northwest of Longyearbyen on the west coast, and is the northernmost airport in the world with scheduled public flights. The first airport near Lo ...

is the main airport serving the archipelago. Located northwest of Longyearbyen, it is the northernmost airport in the world with public scheduled flights. The first

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 ...

(or more accurately

airstrip An aerodrome ( Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for pub ...

) near Longyearbyen (in

Adventdalen Adventdalen ( en, Advent Valley)Kruse, Frigga. 2013. ''Frozen Assets: British Mining, Exploration, and Geopolitics on Spitsbergen, 1904–53''. Groningen: University of Groningen, p. 207. is a valley that is the broader term for Adventdalselva (' ...

) was constructed during World War II by the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

, it was the first airstrip on Svalbard. It was first put into use for occasional flights in 1959, but could only be operated a few months a year. Construction of the new airport at Hotellneset started in 1973, and the airport was opened on 2 September 1975.Tjomsland and Wilsberg, 1996: 155–158 It is owned and operated by state-owned

Avinor Avinor AS is a state-owned limited company that operates most of the civil airports in Norway. The Norwegian state, via the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications, controls 100 percent of the share capital. Avinor was created on ...

. In 2009, the airport had 138,934 passengers.

Scandinavian Airlines System Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark ...

operates daily flights to

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the ...

and

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

on mainland Norway.

Lufttransport Lufttransport is a Norwegian helicopter and fixed-wing airline that operates primarily air ambulance helicopters and planes for the Norwegian and Swedish governments. In addition the airline offers services including surveillance for the Norwegian ...

provides services to Ny-Ålesund Airport and Svea Airport, using

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...

turboprop aircraft. There are also regular charter flights. On 29 August 1996,

Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 was an international charter flight from Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, to Svalbard Airport on Spitsbergen, in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. On 29 August 1996 at 10:22:23 CEST, a Tupolev ...

crashed into

Operafjellet Operafjellet ("The Opera Mountain") is a mountain on Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. It is tall and is located on the north side of Adventdalen. It is named for the amphitheatre-shape of the mountain on the western side, with the peak Tenoren ...

mountain about from the airport. All 141 people on board the Tupolev Tu-154M were killed. It is the worst air crash in Norwegian history.

Arktikugol Arktikugol (russian: Арктикуголь, lit=Arctic Coal) is a Russian coal mining unitary enterprise which operates on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. Owned by the government of Russia, Arktikugol currently performs limited mi ...

, the owner of the company town of Barentsburg, operates a Mil Mi-8 helicopter from the

heliport A heliport is a small airport suitable for use by helicopters and some other vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also have limited facilities such as fuel or hangars. I ...

at Heerodden, outside of town, as well as a heliport at their former town of

Pyramiden Pyramiden (; rus, Пирами́да, r=Piramída, p=pʲɪrɐˈmʲidə; literally 'The Pyramid') is an abandoned Soviet coal mining settlement on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard which has become a tourist destination. Founded by Sweden in ...

. During the Cold War, Aeroflot retained a large helicopter base at Heerodden, operating five Mi-8 which could quickly be retrofitted with arms, plus regular staff both at Svalbard Airport (for occasional charter flights) and Heerodden. In 2006, one helicopter was lost in the Heerodden helicopter accident.

Railways

Narrow-gauge mining railways used to operate at a number of locations, in particular at

and

Grumant Grumant (russian: Грумант) is a former Soviet 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 stat ...

(built by the Norwegians and Soviets respectively). Most of these railways have been abandoned, but the one at

was reported as still functional in 2008.The Railways of Spitsbergen
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* * {{Svalbard topics