Departure
99%
vs 95% ▲ 4
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Norilsk-Alykel Airport (ICAO UOOO, IATA NSK) is the principal gateway to the closed industrial city of Norilsk in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, lying some 35 kilometres west of the city itself. A hub for NordStar and capable of handling wide-body jets, it also serves as a designated diversion field on transpolar route 1, making it a notable waypoint for any simulator pilot flying high-latitude Arctic routes.
Alykel International Airport is an international airport in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, serving the isolated industrial city of Norilsk. It functions as a hub for NordStar and is the only functional airfield serving the city, acting as the sole air gateway since Norilsk has no road or rail connection to the rest of Russia. Its long, ILS-equipped runway and wide-body capability also make it an official diversion airport on Polar route 1, giving it added significance for long-haul and Arctic-route simulator flying.
The airport sits roughly 35 kilometres west of Norilsk, a closed city in Krasnoyarsk Krai on the southern edge of the western Taymyr Peninsula, about 300 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. Norilsk itself has no road or rail link to the rest of Russia, so Alykel is reached only by air, and access to the city is restricted for foreign citizens, who require special permission to visit. The field lies in a remote, sparsely populated Arctic region with few other aerodromes nearby other than Norilsk's secondary Valek Airport.
The airport has a single physical runway, 01/19, with a hard surface measuring approximately 11,247 feet in length. Both runway ends are lit and equipped with ILS, reflecting the field's role in handling wide-body diversions and year-round operations in demanding Arctic weather.
Both ends of runway 01/19 are equipped with instrument landing systems, supporting approaches in the low visibility and poor weather common to this Arctic location.
The airfield was constructed in 1964, originally built with a 6,000 by 150 foot runway, a development first identified by US reconnaissance satellites some 16 nautical miles west of Norilsk. Its creation allowed Norilsk to serve as a staging base for Soviet bombers with reach into the United States, a strategic role that has persisted under caretaker status provided by the Russian Air Force's Arctic Control Group (OGA). Norilsk was also historically home to interceptor aircraft of the 57th Guards Red Banner Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO, which in 1991 operated 24 Sukhoi Su-15TM aircraft. The airport has seen two notable accidents: on 16 November 1981, Aeroflot Flight 3603, a Tupolev Tu-154, crashed on approach with 99 of 167 occupants killed, and on 9 January 2024 a NordStar 737-800 suffered a runway excursion on landing on runway 19 without injuries. A rail link connecting the airport to Norilsk-Oktyabrskaya operated from 1967 to 1998. The airport was granted international status on 1 February 2023.
Alykel serves as the hub for NordStar, with scheduled services to destinations including Krasnoyarsk, Moscow-Domodedovo, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Sochi, Ufa and a range of seasonal routes, alongside flights operated by S7 Airlines, Utair and KrasAvia. The runway underwent a large-scale upgrade between 2016 and 2018, and further reconstruction work began in 2020 as part of a state programme to develop Russia's transport infrastructure, with substantial investment from both state and Norilsk Nickel funding.
