Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Baikal International Airport (UIUU/UUD) serves Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Republic of Buryatia in eastern Siberia, and lies close to the shores of Lake Baikal after which it is named. It is a substantial public and military aerodrome with a single long, ILS-equipped runway capable of handling everything from regional turboprops to wide-bodied jets, making it a notable waypoint for simulator pilots flying trans-Siberian or Mongolia-bound routes.
Baikal International Airport, formerly known as Ulan-Ude Airport, is a public and military airfield serving the city of Ulan-Ude in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia. Operated by Novaport, it handles scheduled domestic and a growing number of international services, and takes its name from nearby Lake Baikal. For a simulator pilot the field is interesting both for its long ILS runway and for its position on historic Siberian and trans-Mongolian air routes.
The airport lies about 12 kilometres west of Ulan-Ude, Buryatia, in eastern Siberia, not far from the shores of Lake Baikal. Approach control is provided under the callsign Ulan Ude Approach and tower control under Ulan Ude Tower, indicating that the field sits within controlled airspace served by its own approach and aerodrome control units.
The airfield has a single physical runway, 08/26, of hard surface construction measuring approximately 9,774 feet in length. Both directions are lit and equipped with ILS, allowing instrument approaches from either end.
Pilots should expect to work Ulan Ude Approach on 129.3 MHz and Ulan Ude Tower on 118.1 MHz, with ATIS broadcast on 126.6 MHz. The runway is served by ILS on both 08 and 26, supporting instrument approaches in either direction.
Ulan-Ude's airport traces its origins to 1925, when the first passenger service began flying between Moscow and Beijing, with pilots Volkovoyinov and Polyakov among those involved. Regular flights to Ulan-Bator began on 1 August 1926, and the field also served as a technical landing stop for flights linking Irkutsk, Chita, Moscow and Vladivostok. Construction of the first air terminal started in 1931 and was completed in 1935. From 1966 the airport began accepting Antonov An-24 and Tupolev Tu-104 aircraft, and in 1971 a new runway was built to allow larger types such as the Ilyushin Il-18 from Moscow; between 1980 and 1981 this runway was extended by 800 metres, enabling the first Tupolev Tu-154 services. A new terminal opened in 1983, and during runway reconstruction in the late 1980s the airport took on a significant volume of transit traffic, including international services such as Moscow-Pyongyang, at times handling around 70 flights a day, 30 of them by Tu-154. By 1990 annual passenger numbers had reached 800,000. Through the 1990s and 2000s the field regularly absorbed diverted traffic from Irkutsk and Chita during periods of poor weather or construction, with no international flights operating until 2011. The runway underwent a major overhaul in 2006, followed by taxiway and apron renovation in 2007. Metropol acquired the airport and began renovating the external terminal complex in March 2011, work completed later that year. A new parallel runway, costing around 157 million US dollars and turning the former runway into a taxiway, entered service overnight on 12 December 2018 with an S7 Airlines flight to Beijing. Novaport bought the airport from Metropol in September 2017 and secured Russian 'open skies' status, granting fifth-freedom rights to foreign carriers and prompting interest from airlines such as Air China, China Eastern, Lucky Air, MIAT Mongolian Airlines and Spring Airlines. Aeroflot, which had previously suspended services owing to poor runway quality, announced a resumption of flights. Construction of a new passenger terminal began on 28 April 2018 and was completed by 2024, with the new domestic terminal, spanning over 6,500 square metres and fitted with two jet bridges, entering operation on 21 November 2024.
Baikal International Airport is operated by Novaport and today handles scheduled domestic and a growing number of international routes, with carriers including Aeroflot, Aurora, Centrum Air, IrAero and KrasAvia among those serving the field. Its new domestic terminal, opened in November 2024, was built to modernise infrastructure and support growing tourism in the Buryatia region, and the airport's open skies status continues to attract interest from foreign carriers.