Longyearbyen is the largest settlement and administrative center of the province of Svalbard. A little more than 2000 people live in it. Located Longyearbyen on the western coast of Spitsbergen. The city was named after the owner of the coal mining company. Nearby is Svalbard Airport - the most northerly in the world.
Establishment
The development of Longyearbyen airport can be reduced to the following stages:
- The first runway on Spitsbergen was built near Logyira during World War II, but was not used in the post-war years. During the summer the communication with the archipelago was carried out by sea, and from November to May it was isolated. In the early 1950s, the Norwegian Air Force began to conduct mail flights using Catalina aircraft, which flew from Tromsø and dropped parcels to Longyearbyen without landing.
- Once a local resident was seriously ill, he had to be rushed to the mainland. Store Norske, a mining company, cleared the existing runway and landed successfully. It was on February 9, 1959, and on March 11 the second landing of the postal aircraft took place.
- For postal flights, Catalina was suitable, but for transportation of people and goods it turned out to be small. Then Store Norske cleared another 1,800 m runway, and Douglas DC-4 made a test flight with the passengers. The planes began to land once a year, but only during the daylight, as there was no lighting.
- The first night landing was carried out on December 8, 1965, when the runway was illuminated with paraffin lamps and the lights of cars parked along the strip. So gradually in Longyearbyen began to operate the airport , by 1972 there were already 100 flights.
- According to international agreements, construction of military facilities is not allowed on Svalbard. The Soviet Union was concerned that a permanent civilian airport could be used by NATO forces. But the Soviets also needed an airport to serve their settlements, and in the early 1970s an agreement was reached between the two countries.
- The construction of the airport in Longyearbyen began in 1973. The difficulty was that it was necessary to build in the permafrost. The runway was isolated from the ground so that it would not melt in the summer. The hangar was built on stilts that were fused into the ground and frozen. It was very difficult to build a runway, I had to remodel it several times.
- In 2006, with the use of modern technology, new runways were built and the terminal was updated. Today, the runway is 2,483 meters long and 45 meters wide, beneath it is a layer of frost-resistant pouring from 1 to 4 meters thick, which is necessary to prevent the defrosting of the soil during the summer.
The work of the airport these days
The airport is 3 km northwest of the Norwegian city of Longyearbyen. In addition, it serves the nearby Russian settlement of Barentsburg. Norway is part of the Schengen zone, but this does not apply to Spitsbergen. Since 2011, Svalbard airport has passport control, you need to show a passport or identity card from the EU, or driver's Norwegian rights, a military ticket is also necessary.
The airport offers its services:
- taxi and car rental ;
- bus, plying to hotels;
- car parking for 200 parking spaces.
Scandinavian Airlines provides the work of SAS, which makes daily flights to Oslo and Tromso.
How to get there?
On Spitsbergen, the Vei 200 road leads to Longyearbyen, and you can leave it with Vei 232. Longyearbyen fly planes from Tromso , Oslo , Domodedovo.