Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany) ( uk, Міжнародний аеропорт «Київ» імені Ігоря Сікорського (Жуляни)) is one of the two passenger

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

s of the

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

capital

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

, the other being

Boryspil International Airport Boryspil International Airport ( uk, Міжнародний аеропорт «Бориспіль») is an international airport in Boryspil, east of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. It is Ukraine's largest airport, serving 65% of its passenger ...

(also used for Kyiv). It is owned by the municipality of Kyiv and located in the Zhuliany neighbourhood, about southwest of the city centre. Aside from facilitating regular passenger flights, Kyiv International Airport is also the main

business aviation Business aircraft are aircraft typically used by companies and corporations to transport people or goods related to the needs of said businesses. Most business aircraft are general aviation aircraft variants of piston or turboprop or busin ...

airport in Ukraine, and one of the busiest business aviation hubs in Europe.

History

Early years

The airport began in 1923 as a military airfield co-used by the Ukrpovitroshlyakh (Ukrainian Society of Air Communications), Ukraine's earliest civil aviation company, which in 1934 was integrated into Aeroflot as the latter's regional administration. The airport terminal was built only after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in 1949. Until the 1960s, Zhuliany was the only passenger airport serving Kyiv. In 1959, the larger

was built near the city of

Boryspil Boryspil ( uk, Бориспіль, translit. ''Boryspil'') is a city and the administrative center of Boryspil Raion in Kyiv Oblast (region) in northern (central) Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Boryspil urban hromada, one of the hrom ...

, gradually replacing Zhuliany as the main airport serving Kyiv. Since that time the old "Kyiv" airport became commonly known just as "Zhuliany" (or ''Kyiv-Zhuliany'') and was used for Soviet domestic flights only.

International flights and traffic revival

After Ukraine gained independence in 1991, Zhuliany began receiving international flights from nearby countries (first from its former Soviet "domestic" destinations), increasingly so since the 2000s when Ukraine's civil aviation started booming. On 27 March 2011,

Wizz Air Wizz Air, legally incorporated as Wizz Air Hungary Ltd. ( hu, Wizz Air Hungary Légiközlekedési Zrt.) is a Hungarian ultra-low-cost carrier with its head office in Budapest, Hungary. The airline serves many cities across Europe, as well as s ...

, a European

low-cost airline A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...

, moved all its operations to Zhuliany from Boryspil, bringing around-the-clock flights to the airport and increasing passenger traffic by 15 to 20%. In 2012, the airport managed to survive the European cold wave without major flight delays or cancellations. Surrounded by major

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...

s and residential districts, the airport has limited possibilities to expand its

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

. Therefore, it is limited in the

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force acting on the object due to gravity. Some standard textbooks define weight as a vector quantity, the gravitational force acting on the object. Others define weight as a scalar qua ...

of aircraft that are allowed to fly in the airport (currently up to

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

type). In 2013, the airport declared plans to expand the runway for additional 150 m, although stressing complete safety and operability of its current length. Other parts of the airport infrastructure are also being developed. The new "A"

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output dev ...

opened on 17 May 2012, now receives all international and some domestic flights. Projects for expanding Zhuliany's

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel ...

s and aircraft parking lots are being considered as well.

Recent developments

In the first half of 2013, the airport's passenger traffic rose 2.7-fold (to 816,757 passengers per year) since the beginning of the year, including 4.2-fold growth of the domestic traffic. According to the media and industry experts, once underdog Zhuliany Airport has rapidly grown into a major, and more efficient, competitor to the country's leading Boryspil Airport. As of July 2013,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...

and Dortmund were the most popular international destinations from the airport, with

Simferopol Simferopol () is the second-largest city in the Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, it is ...

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: cities' alternative names), is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine loca ...

and Odessa leading among domestic destinations. Also in 2013, the airport opened a new domestic terminal and a new business terminal, with currently 3 terminals in service. In March 2015,

Wizz Air Ukraine Wizz Air Ukraine ( uk, Товариство з обмеженою відповідальністю „Авіалінії Візз Ейр Україна”) was the Ukrainian division of the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air based at Kyiv Inte ...

announced that it would cease operations leading to the cancellation of several routes from their base at the airport. Only some of their former routes were taken over by its parent,

, though the airline has since expanded its flight network from the airport, with twenty destinations to be served by August 2017. Between 14 and 24 May 2017, the airport was closed for runway improvement work. On 22 March 2018, the

Kyiv City Council Kyiv City Council ( uk, Київська міська рада, translit=Kyivska miska rada), also known as Kyivrada ( uk, Київрада), is the city council of Kyiv municipality, the highest representative body of the city community. The me ...

officially renamed the airport ''International Airport "Kyiv" (Zhulyany) Igor Sikorsky'' in honor of

Igor Sikorsky Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (russian: И́горь Ива́нович Сико́рский, p=ˈiɡərʲ ɪˈvanəvitʃ sʲɪˈkorskʲɪj, a=Ru-Igor Sikorsky.ogg, tr. ''Ígor' Ivánovich Sikórskiy''; May 25, 1889 – October 26, 1972)Fortie ...

. On 24 February 2022, five explosions erupted as part of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...

. On the same day, Ukraine closed airspace to civilian flights.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany): As of 24 February 2022, all passenger flights have been suspended indefinitely.

Neighboring aviation facilities

* A major aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul company, the so-called Kyiv Aircraft Repair Plant 410, adjoins the airport. * In 2003, the

Ukraine State Aviation Museum The State Aviation Museum is an aviation museum located next to Zhulyany Airport in Kyiv, Ukraine. The museum offers both aircraft exhibits and interactive displays. The museum is one of the larger aviation museums displaying Soviet technology. ...

was created in one of the industrial estates neighboring the airport. It is the largest aviation museum in Ukraine, exhibiting some unique Soviet examples including original prototypes for famous airliners.

Statistics

Ground transportation

Road

The airport is connected to the city's main highway infrastructure via Povitroflotskyi Avenue and served by a number of city transport routes, including:iev.aero – Directions to airport
retrieved 21 June 2018 * Trolleybus Route 22: 'Kyiv' Airport-Olzhycha Street ''(transfer for

metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...

at Dorohozhychi Station – )'' * Bus Route 78: 'Kyiv' Airport- Vasylkivska Metro Station'' (transfer for

– )'' As well as private bus routes. Car parking facilities at the airport itself are limited, but long-term parking can be found in the airport's immediate vicinity. Taxis can often be found waiting directly outside the terminal, in the passenger drop-off/pick-up area.

Rail

The airport's old passenger terminal is located about 0.5 km away from the Kyiv-Volynskyi rail station – a stop for

elektrichka Elektrichka (russian: электри́чка, p=əlʲɪˈktrʲitɕkə; uk, електри́чка, elektrychka) is a Soviet and Eastern bloc commuter (regional) mostly suburban electrical multiple unit passenger train. Elektrichkas are widespr ...

commuter trains as well as for the intracity Urban Electric Train service.

References

External links

Official website of the airport
* * {{Authority control Airports in Kyiv Airports established in 1923 1923 establishments in Ukraine Holosiivskyi District