Alykel Airport
Alykel Airport is a large airport in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located west of Norilsk. Alykel is the only functional airfield near Norilsk. It handles medium-sized airliners and is serviced by 24-hour operations. Since it is capable of handling wide-body jets, it is a diversion airport on Polar route 1. Since Norilsk does not have road or railroad connections to the rest of the country, the airport is the main gateway to the city.
It was constructed in 1964, when US reconnaissance satellites reported a new airfield with a runway west of Norilsk. This allowed the use of Norilsk as a staging base for Soviet bombers to reach the United States. This role continues to this day with caretaker status provided by the Russian Air Force's OGA. Norilsk also is served by interceptor aircraft under the 57 IAP, which in 1991 had 24 Sukhoi Su-15TM aircraft.Passenger
