Irkutsk International Airport

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Irkutsk International Airport Аэропорт Ирку́тск
IATA: IKT - ICAO: UIII
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Irkutsk International Airport
Serves		Irkutsk
Elevation AMSL		1675 ft (511 m)
Coordinates		52°16′05″N, 104°23′20″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
12/30	10,384	3,165	Concrete

Irkutsk International Airport (Russian: Аэропорт Ирку́тск) (IATA: IKT, ICAO: UIII) is an airport in the center of Irkutsk, Russia. As of 2006, a new passenger terminal is nearing completion. Meanwhile, a 1960's ex-international terminal is being used for both international and domestic departures while domestic arrivals are handled in a small shed-like structure by the side.

Due to its proximity to the Angara Reservoir the airport enjoys a particular microclimate, with foggy weather being prevalent for most of the year. The airport is often closed due to bad weather conditions, with Bratsk serving as a diversion airport. In emergencies, like the one in the summer of 2006, when the only runway was closed after the S7 crash (see below), incoming planes can also be diverted to the runway of the nearby Irkut aviation plant, where Sukhoi fighters and the Beriev Be-200 are produced.

As of November 2006, plans are afoot to relocate the airport to Klyuchevaya, some 24 km from the city of Angarsk. Construction is slated to begin in 2008.

688,170 passengers travelled through Irkutsk International Airport in 2005.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

• Aero Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar)
• Aerobratsk (Bratsk)
• Aeroflot (Moscow-Sheremetyevo)
• Angara Airlines (Kirensk)
• China Southern Airlines (Ürümqi)
• Dalavia Far East Airways (Khabarovsk)
• Enkor
• MIAT Mongolian Airlines (Ulaanbaatar)
• Rossiya Airlines (St. Petersburg)
• Samara Airlines (Samara)
• S7 Airlines (Bangkok, Beijing, Dalian, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Magadan, Moscow-Domodedovo, Novosibirsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Seoul-Incheon, Shenyan, St. Petersburg, Tashkent, Vladivostok, Yakutsk)
• Transaero (Moscow-Domodedovo)
• Ural Airlines (Ekaterinburg)
• Vladivostok Avia (Vladivostok)

[edit] Incidents and accidents

Aside from foggy weather, the airport is notorious for its sloping runway and having many hills in its vicinity. The airport and its surrounding area have played scene to several crashes.

• S7 Airlines Flight 778, occurring at roughly 08:00 hours on Saturday 8th July, 2006, killed in excess of 100 people.