Hostomel Airport
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Antonov Airport Аеропорт «Антонов» | |||||||||||
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_RP3226.jpg) Ukraine Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 at the airport | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Civil government | ||||||||||
| Operator | Antonov Airlines | ||||||||||
| Serves | Kyiv | ||||||||||
| Location | Hostomel, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 517 ft / 158 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 50°36′13″N 30°11′31″E / 50.60361°N 30.19194°E | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  GML Location of the airport in Ukraine | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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Antonov Airport (IATA: GML, ICAO: UKKM) (Ukrainian: аеропорт «Антонов» [ɐeroˈpɔrt ɐnˈtɔnou̯]), also known as Hostomel (or Gostomel) Airport (Ukrainian: аеропорт «Гостомель»), is an international cargo airport and testing facility in Ukraine, located near Hostomel, which is the northwestern suburb of Kyiv.[1]
The airport is owned by the Antonov aircraft manufacturing company and operated by its subsidiary Antonov Airlines. The only An-225, the world's largest operating aircraft, is based in Hostomel.
History
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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.
On 24 February 2022, the first day of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the airport was attacked and seized by the Russian military. On the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said "The enemy paratroopers in Hostomel have been blocked, and troops have received an order to destroy them".[2]
Aircraft testing operations
Gostomel Airport was originally built as a top-secret in-house Flight Testing and Improvement Base (Ukrainian: Льотно-випробувальна і довідна 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 Kyiv at the Sviatoshyn Airfield.
Cargo operations
The airport is used by Antonov Airlines, as well as by other interested cargo carriers. The following facilities and services are available on site:
- transshipping (air-to-auto; air-to-railway[3])
- storage capacities
- border control and customs
- aircraft maintenance
Military presence
| This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2008) |
Ukrainian Air Force is or was using the airport for its transportation forces.
See also
Notes
- ^ (Boryspil and Zhulyany are the other two airports that serve Kyiv)
- ^ Shull, Abbie. "Ukrainian and Russian forces have been fighting for hours over a critical airfield just outside Kyiv". Business Insider. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
- ^ Via the Bucha railroad station of the Ukrainian Railways.
External links
- Antonov Airport at Antonov ASTC corporate Web site
- NOAA/NWS Weather observations for the Antonov Airport
- ASN Accident history for the Antonov Airport
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