Sokol Airport

Sokol Airport, formally Vladimir Vysotsky International Airport (Russian: Аэропорт Сокол) (IATA: GDX, ICAO: UHMM) is an airport in Sokol in Magadan Oblast, Russia. The airport is located 50 km (31 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 1983.

Sokol Airport

Аэропорт Сокол
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorFSUE "Airport Magadan"
ServesMagadan
LocationSokol, Russia
Opened12 January 1961
Hub for
Time zoneMSK+8 (UTC+11)
Elevation AMSL574 ft / 175 m
Coordinates59°54′40″N 150°43′14″E
Websitewww.airport-magadan.ru
Map
GDX/UHMM
Location of airport in Magadan Oblast , Russia
GDX/UHMM
GDX/UHMM (Russia)
GDX/UHMM
GDX/UHMM (Asia)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
10/28 11,326 3,452 Concrete
Statistics (2019)
Passengers425652
Freight7810 ton

History

The airport was inaugurated on 12 January 1961 was then called Magadan-56 (due to its location on the 56 km on the Kolyma highway), took over all passenger air services in the region, only special-purpose flights were operated from the old airport (Magadan-47; (Russian: Магадан-47/3 (Северный)) which was located at 59°54′50″N 150°53′07″E. In subsequent years, the value of the Magadan-47 airfield was lost, because unpaved runway did not meet the new technical requirements.

In 1978, Promstroy began to reconstruct the runway and ground services buildings. On 13 December 1980, the first Il-62 aircraft landed at Magadan Airport. From the next day, the liners began to make regular non-stop flights from Magadan to Moscow.

On 20 May 1979, at the forecourt square in the Magadan airport, the unveiling of a monument of labor glory took place: the An-12 aircraft with tail number USSR-11355. For almost 13 years, the airliner worked in the Magadan squadron, performing transportation in the Far North-East. The Magadan Squadron, formed in 1963 from the flight crew of old air bases, lasted until 1991, when the reorganization was carried out.

In 1991, withe the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Magadan Airport received international status, and the town gained exposure to the outside world with the inauguration of Alaska Airlines flights to the United States using Boeing 727 jets.[1] In 1992, Aeroflot inaugurated nonstop service to Anchorage using Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft,[2] and in 1994, this route was extended to provide same-plane 1-stop service to Seattle.[3][4] 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.[5] 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 1 February 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 30 March 2009.

Flights between Russian Far East and the United States have only been available for some periods. Alternative travel routes would be over Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, or other large Russian cities plus Beijing, Seoul or Tokyo.

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
AlrosaSeasonal: Novosibirsk, Simferopol
AuroraKhabarovsk
IrAeroIrkutsk, Keperveyem, Khabarovsk, Pevek, Severo-Evensk
Pegas Fly Khabarovsk[6]
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air EnterprisePetropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
RossiyaMoscow–Sheremetyevo[7]
S7 AirlinesIrkutsk,[8] Novosibirsk, Vladivostok[9]
SiLA Airlines Omolon, Omsukchan, Seymchan, Susuman
Ural AirlinesYakutsk, Yekaterinburg[10]
Yakutia AirlinesAnadyr, Vladivostok,[11] Yakutsk

Notes
  1. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/06/16/Alaska-Airlines-begins-Soviet-flights/5139677044800/
  2. Aeroflot Timetable Worldwide. 25 October 1992 – 27 March 1993. p. 96.
  3. "Aeroflot Begins Service To Sea-Tac Tomorrow". Seattle Times. 7 April 1994.
  4. Aeroflot Timetable Worldwide. Aeroflot Russian International Airlines. 26 March – 28 October 1995. p. 79.
  5. Alaska Airlines Opens Russia's Wild East, James Brooke, New York Times, March 30, 1997.
  6. Liu, Jim. "PegasFly expands Russia Far East internal routes from late-Oct 2019". Routesonline. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  7. Liu, Jim (31 August 2018). "Rossiya Airlines W18 Moscow service changes". Routesonline. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  8. Liu, Jim (23 April 2019). "S7 Airlines schedules new domestic routes in S19". Routesonline. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  9. Liu, Jim (1 November 2019). "S7 Airlines adds Vladivostok – Magadan service from Nov 2019". Routesonline. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  10. ""Уральские авиалинии" открывают авиалинию Екатеринбург-Якутск-Магадан". Airlines-Inform. 26 April 2019.
  11. "Внимание! Открытие рейса по маршруту Владивосток-Магадан-Владивосток!". www.yakutia.aero. АО Авиакомпания Якутия. Retrieved 18 March 2020.


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