Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Irkutsk International Airport (UIII/IKT) is a major civil and former military aerodrome on the outskirts of Irkutsk in Eastern Siberia, some 60 kilometres from Lake Baikal. It offers a single long, ILS-equipped runway and a full range of approach, tower and radar services, making it an interesting and demanding destination for the simulator pilot flying long-haul or regional Russian routes.
Irkutsk International Airport serves the city of Irkutsk in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, and functions as both a major domestic hub and an international gateway, principally for flights toward Central Asia, Mongolia and beyond. It is operated by JSC International Airport Irkutsk and acts as a hub or focus city for several Russian carriers including Angara Airlines, IrAero, Nordwind Airlines, S7 Airlines, Ural Airlines and Yakutia Airlines. For the sim pilot, the field is notable for its single very long runway, its ILS approach, and its role as a diversion field for transcontinental and polar-route traffic when weather closes in.
The airport lies on the outskirts of Irkutsk, close to the city centre, in Eastern Siberia at coordinates 52.2672 N, 104.395 E. It sits at an elevation of 1,631 feet and is roughly 60 kilometres from Lake Baikal. When Irkutsk is closed by weather, Bratsk Airport, Ulan-Ude Airport, Irkutsk Northwest Airport and the Belaya air base are used as diversions, indicating an area with several other aerodromes within reasonable range for planning alternates.
Irkutsk has a single physical runway, 12/30, a hard-surfaced strip lit for night operations and equipped with an ILS on both ends, with a length of approximately 10,600 feet (10,604 to 10,626 feet as measured from each threshold). This is an unusually long runway for the region, reflecting the field's dual civil and former military role and its use by wide-bodied and heavy transport aircraft.
Pilots should expect the following services and frequencies at Irkutsk: Approach on 125.2 MHz, ATIS on 124.85 MHz, Ground (taxiing) on 121.7 MHz, a miscellaneous/taxiing frequency on 131.7 MHz, a transit Volmet service (PMSV) on 125.475 MHz, Radar on 119.3 MHz, and Tower on 118.1 MHz. The runway is equipped with ILS, supporting instrument approaches to Category I minima according to its published classification.
No specific joining or visual circuit procedures are given in the available sources; pilots should expect to operate under full air traffic control given the airport's status as a controlled international and former military aerodrome, coordinating with Approach and Tower on the frequencies listed above.
No published visual reporting points are given in the available sources. The airport's proximity to Irkutsk city and to Lake Baikal, some 60 kilometres distant, provides broad regional orientation, and the airport's terminals are sited off the western end of the runway.
Irkutsk Airport opened on 24 June 1925, when six aircraft from Moscow, four domestic and two foreign, landed as part of a flight to Beijing under the command of captain I. P. Shmidt, marking the beginning of aviation in Siberia. A postal and passenger seaplane service on the Irkutsk-Bodaybo route began in August 1928 using a Junkers F 13 named Mossovet, and in 1932 the Moscow-Vladivostok air route was extended through Irkutsk. Daily services on the Irkutsk-Moscow and Irkutsk-Bodaybo-Yakutsk routes started in January 1948, and the airport was elevated to international status on 30 December 1954. On 15 September 1956 a Tupolev Tu-104 arrived on a technical flight from Beijing, and the subsequent Moscow-Irkutsk service became the first Soviet jet-airliner passenger route. The Tupolev Tu-154 first landed on 7 March 1975, with the first Tu-154 service to Moscow following on 4 April 1975. The first Ilyushin Il-76 arrived on 11 November 1980, and the type began flying the Irkutsk-Polyarnyi route from 19 December 1980 under air detachment commander V. I. Sviridov. Following the reorganisation of Irkutsk United Air Group on 1 April 1992, the airport was separated into Irkutsk Airport State Enterprise and the Baikal air company. On 28 October 1994 the airport received certification permitting international flights, and the international terminal was commissioned on 16 December 1994. The field held its first aircraft-spotting event on 13 November 2009, becoming only the third large Russian city airport to do so after Moscow and Novosibirsk, and celebrated its 85th anniversary on 2 July 2010.
Irkutsk International Airport today handles daily domestic services to destinations including Moscow, Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Yakutsk, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Sochi, alongside regional flights to Ust-Kut, Bratsk, Bodaybo, Kirensk and other Siberian towns, as well as international routes. The airport is subject to a local microclimate of frequent fog owing to its proximity to the Angara Reservoir, a factor worth noting when planning a flight in. It comprises separate domestic and international passenger terminals with a combined handling capacity of about 1,450 passengers per hour, together with a cargo complex, an airport hotel and associated aviation service facilities.