Sokol Airport

Sokol Airport
Аэропорт Сокол

IATA: GDX – ICAO: UHMM

GDX
Location of airport in Magadan Oblast

Summary
Airport type Public
Operator FSUE "Airport Magadan"
Serves Magadan
Location Magadan, Russia
Hub for
Elevation AMSL 574 ft / 175 m
Coordinates 59°54′40″N 150°43′14″E / 59.91111°N 150.72056°ECoordinates: 59°54′40″N 150°43′14″E / 59.91111°N 150.72056°E
Website www.airport-magadan.ru
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
10/28 11,326 3,452 Concrete

Sokol Airport (Russian: Аэропорт Сокол) (IATA: GDX, ICAO: UHMM) is an airport in Sokol in Magadan Oblast, Russia. The airport is located 70 km (43 mi) north of the Magadan city center. The airport is sometimes confused with Dolinsk-Sokol air base in Sakhalin Island, which was home to the fighters that shot down Korean Air Flight 007.

In 1991, the town gained exposure to the Western world with the inauguration of Alaska Airlines flights to the United States using McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jets. According to an anecdotal story published in the New York Times, the first Alaska Airlines flight needed deicing services, which were unavailable, so the flight crew acquired a quantity of vodka and sprayed it onto the wings.[1] In 1995 the airline threatened to discontinue Russian service due to difficulties with contract workers. Alaska Airlines flights into Magadan and elsewhere in Russia were halted in October 1998 shortly after the 1998 Russian financial crisis, which rendered the routes unprofitable.

Aeroflot suspended flights to Sokol airport on February 1, 2009, due to the planned removal from service of the Tu-154 aircraft. Aeroflot cited the lack of certification of the airport in the acceptance and servicing of more modern aircraft, such as the Airbus A320 and Airbus A330, as the primary reason for the suspension of flights. It resumed service on March 30, 2009.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations
Aeroflot
operated by Aurora		Khabarovsk
Chukotavia Keperveyem, Markovo, Omolon
Seasonal: Anadyr
IrAeroKhabarovsk, Ulan-Ude[2]
S7 AirlinesIrkutsk, Novosibirsk
Seasonal: Khabarovsk
Transaero AirlinesMoscow-Domodedovo
Seasonal: St. Petersburg (begins 27 May 2015)
VIM AirlinesMoscow-Domodedovo[3]
Yakutia AirlinesAnadyr, Evensk, Khabarovsk, Moscow-Vnukovo, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Yakutsk
Seasonal: Krasnodar, Novosibirsk-Tolmachevo, St. Petersburg

Notes

  1. ↑ Alaska Airlines Opens Russia's Wild East, James Brooke, New York Times, March 30, 1997.
  2. ↑ "Расписание полётов из Улан-Удэ". Airport Baikal. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "Авиакомпания ВИМ-Авиа в марте выходит на рынок Магаданской области". Интерфакс-Россия. 28 January 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014.

External links