Luhansk International Airport (; ) was an airport in

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine. Luhansk served as the administra ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The airport was located 20 km (12 miles) south of the city center, 9 km to the city limit. Since 11 June 2014, the airport has been officially closed. It was mostly destroyed during the

war in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

. A project for a new airport has been unveiled by the Russian authorities and is expected to be completed by 2028.

History

The history of Luhansk Airport begins in 1946, when in order to improve service in the regions, the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

began work on the 285th aviation division at the site. Luhansk Airport opened in 1964, with its construction accelerated by the involvement of multiple organizations in the

region. In 1974 the airport established the 99th flying division including 6 AN-24 planes, and since 1989, 2 TU–154–B2 planes. By the 1980s there were 100 daily departures, going to almost 70 cities of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, transporting at least 1200 passengers. Following the collapse of the

, in 2005-2006, the airport and runway were reconstructed, allowing it to take AN-124 aircraft, Airbus A320’s, and Boeing 737’s. By 2013, there were regular scheduled flights to

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, Moscow, and even charter flights to Turkey and Greece.

Closure and destruction

Due to the pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, airports in the Donbas region were closed, including

Mariupol Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

, and Luhansk International Airports. As of April 2014, Ukrainian forces were stationed there as part of the Anti-Terrorist Operation against the Luhansk People’s Republic. A fierce battle for the airport started on June 8, 2014, when Ukrainian forces were blockaded at the site by LPR forces. On June 11, the airport was officially closed. The Ukrainian Military attempted to create an air bridge to supply the besieged forces using 3 Il-76’s from the

25th Transport Aviation Brigade The 25th Transport Aviation Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Air Force based at Melitopol Air Base. History The unit was established as the 709 Night Bomber Aviation Regiment in Alatyr, Chuvash Republic, Alatyr, Chuvash ASSR at the end of ...

, in which one Ilyushin Il-76 (Registration: 76777) was shot down on June 14, 2014, resulting in the deaths of 49 Ukrainians. On the night of September 1, the last remaining Ukrainian soldiers left the ruined airport, after 146 days of defending. On September 4, the airport finally fell to the separatists. The airport terminal had been completely demolished by 2015, and eventually in 2019, a road was built over the rubble, where a museum of

Luhansk People's Republic The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR; , ) is a disputed territory administered as a republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk. The LPR was proclaimed by Russian-backed paramilitar ...

military equipment now sits on the runway. In 2022, Russia reportedly set up a helicopter base on the site of former Luhansk International Airport. As of August 2023, the

Russian Air Force The Russian Air Force () is a branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the latter being formed on 1 August 2015 with the merging of the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the reb ...

has begun basing Kamov Ka-52 attack helicopters at the airport apron and runway, to help support its troops its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. On October 17, 2023, as a part of Operation Dragonfly, the Ukrainian military struck the airport with

MGM-140 ATACMS The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS ) is a supersonic tactical ballistic missile designed and manufactured by the American defense company Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV), and later, through acquisitions, Lockheed Martin. The missile uses ...

tactical ballistic missile A tactical ballistic missile (TBM), or battlefield range ballistic missile (BRBM), is a ballistic missile designed for short-range battlefield use. Typically, range (aeronautics), range is less than . Tactical ballistic missiles are usually mo ...

s, leading to the destruction of multiple helicopters of the Russian Air Force.

Airlines and destinations

From December 2009 to its closure in 2014, Luhansk International Airport was a base airport of the Ukrainian airline UTair-Ukraine.UTair-Ukraine started flights. Avianews. 12 December 2009
/ref> Other airlines such as

Ukraine International Airlines Ukraine International Airlines PJSC, often shortened to UIA, is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Ukraine, with its head office in Kyiv and its main hub at Kyiv's Boryspil International Airport. It operated domestic and internationa ...

and Motor Sich Airlines also operated into Luhansk airport. Defunct Ukrainian Airline Lugansk Airlines was based out of the airport before it declared bankruptcy in 2010. Tavrey Airlines had operated into Luhansk Airport but declared bankruptcy in 2008.

Accidents and incidents

* On 31 March 1971, an Antonov AN-10 (Registered CCCP-11145) Crashed due to structural failure of the starboard outer wing while descending from 12000 meters to 600 meters on approach to Luhansk Airport. * On 14 June 2014, a

Ukrainian Air Force The Ukrainian Air Force (, PS ZSU) is the air force of Ukraine and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (ZSU). Its current form was created in 2004 by merging the Ukrainian Air Defence Forces into the Air Fo ...

Ilyushin Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-76 (; NATO reporting name: Candid) is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau as a commercial freighter in 1967, to replace the Antonov An-1 ...

aircraft was shot down on approach to Luhansk, killing all on board (9 Crew and 40 Paratroopers). This was the most severe loss suffered by the Ukrainian military since the start of the pro-Russian conflict in February 2014. * During the battle of Luhansk Airport, 2 Antonov AN-2R aircraft, Registered UR-33587 and UR-33590 were destroyed as a result of fighting between

and the

Armed Forces of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

References

External links

{{authority control 1964 establishments in Ukraine 2014 disestablishments in Ukraine Defunct airports in Ukraine

International Airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...