Gostomel Airport

Antonov Airport
Аеропорт «Антонов»
IATA: none – ICAO: UKKM
Summary
Airport type Civil government
Operator Antonov Airlines
Elevation AMSL 517 ft / 158 m
Coordinates 50°36′13″N 030°11′31″E / 50.60361°N 30.19194°ECoordinates: 50°36′13″N 030°11′31″E / 50.60361°N 30.19194°E
Map
UKKM

Location of the airport in Ukraine

Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
15/33 11,483 3,500 Concrete

Antonov Airport (ICAO: UKKM) (Ukrainian: аеропорт „Антонов” [aeroˈport anˈtonof]), also known as Gostomel Airport (Ukrainian: аеропорт „Гостомель”) is an international cargo airport and testing facility in Ukraine, located near Gostomel — the northwestern suburb of Kiev.[1]

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

The only An-225, world's largest operating aircraft, is based in Gostomel.

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.

Aircraft testing operations

Hostomel Airport was originally built as a top-secret in-house Flight Testing and Improvement Base (Russian: Летно-испытательная доводочная база) for Antonov airplanes. It is equipped with special equipment for it (e.g., artificial lightning generator) and granted a purpose test flight zone. Its sister facility, responsible for manufacturing, is located inside Kiev at the Sviatoshyn Airfield.

Cargo operations

Antonov Airlines Antonov An-225 landing at Gostomel (2014)

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

Military presence

Ukrainian Air Force is either using or was using the airport for its transportation forces.

Notes

  1. ↑ (Boryspil and Zhulyany are the other two airports that serve Kiev)
  2. ↑ Via the Bucha railroad station of the Ukrainian Railways.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gostomel Airport.