Svalbard Airport, Longyear

Svalbard Airport, Longyear (IATA: LYR, ICAO: ENSB; Norwegian: Svalbard lufthavn, Longyear) is the main airport serving Svalbard in Norway. It is located 1.6 nautical miles (3 km) northwest of Longyearbyen, and it is the northernmost airport in the world with public scheduled flights. The first airport near Longyearbyen was constructed during World War II. In 1959, it was first taken into use for occasional flights, but could only be used a few months a year. Construction of the new airport at Hotellneset started in 1973, and the airport was opened on 2 September 1975. It is owned and operated by state-owned Avinor.

In 2014, the airport had 154,261 passengers.Scandinavian Airlines operates daily flights to Tromsø and Oslo in mainland Norway. Lufttransport provides services to the two other airports on Svalbard: Ny-Ålesund and Svea, using Dornier Do 228 turboprop aircraft. There are also regular charter flights.

History

Adventdalen

The first air strip on Svalbard was constructed in Adventdalen, near Longyearbyen, by the Luftwaffe during World War II. This was not used after the war; during the summer the archipelago was served by ships, but was completely isolated from November to May. In the early 1950s, the Norwegian Air Force started postal flights using a Catalina aircraft that departed from Tromsø and dropped postal parcels at Bear Island and at Longyearbyen. However, these aircraft never landed until 9 February 1959, when a resident had become seriously ill, and needed to be flown to mainland Norway for treatment. The mining company Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani cleared the runway at Adventsdalen and the 14-hour flight and landing was successful. A second landing, this time for delivery of post, was made on 11 March.

Svalbard

Svalbard (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈsʋɑ(ː)lbɑːɾ] ; formerly known by its Dutch name Spitsbergen) is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Situated north of mainland Europe, it is about midway between continental Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range from 74° to 81° north latitude, and from 10° to 35° east longitude. The largest island is Spitsbergen, followed by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya.

Administratively, the archipelago is not part of any Norwegian county, but forms an unincorporated area administered by a governor appointed by the Norwegian government. Since 2002, Svalbard's main settlement, Longyearbyen, has had an elected local government, somewhat similar to mainland municipalities. Other settlements include the Russian mining community of Barentsburg, the research station of Ny-Ålesund, and the mining outpost of Sveagruva. Svalbard is the northernmost settlement in the world with a permanent civilian population. Other settlements are farther north, but are populated only by rotating groups of researchers; e.g. Alert, Nunavut—the northernmost year-round community.

Svalbard (disambiguation)

Svalbard may refer to:

Places

Ships

See also