Tiksi is an airport in Yakutia located in the Bulunsky district, 7 km north of the village of Tiksi. The Yakut Republican enterprise OJSC Polar Airlines, OJSC, as well as the state aviation of the Russian Defense Ministry and the FSB of the Russian Federation, are based at the airport.
Since April 16, 2013, by order of the commander of long-range aviation, Lieutenant General Anatoly Zhikharev, the Tiksi airfield has been opened for the reception and release of state-owned aircraft Il-18, An-12, An-26 and lighter, as well as all types of helicopters. An air commandant’s office has been formed at the airport. In order to ensure the resumption of the acceptance and release by the Tiksi airfield of civil aviation aircraft, the specialists of FSUE State Corporation for Air Traffic Management are installing and certifying the necessary equipment delivered to the airfield in August 2012.
In the Soviet period, it was used as an operational aerodrome and a dispersal airport for strategic aviation, as part of the Operational Group in the Arctic (OGA) of the 37th Air Army of the Supreme High Command. The 24th separate transport aviation squadron was based on an ongoing basis.
In addition to the main airfield in the 1970s and 1980s in winter (starting from the moment of formation of a stable snow cover, that is, the beginning of October), the forces of the “tundra company” (from the Tiksi OBATO Regional State Administration) rolled out the reserve snow “tundra” airfield “Tiksi- West". By December, this runway could receive strategic bombers - ZM (Myasishchev Design Bureau), Tu-95, etc.
The artificial runway was built in 1958. In 1964, additional taxiways were built; in 1975, expansion was carried out. In 1986-1995, the reconstruction of the airfield was carried out, which was significantly delayed as a result of underfunding. Tiksi airfield was able to receive most types of aircraft (with a maximum take-off weight of up to 260 tons). The length of the runway is 3000 m, the width is 60 meters, the reinforced concrete coating is 24-44 cm thick, reinforced with armored frames with 30 * 30 cm cells. The dimensions of the monolithic reinforced concrete slabs of the main coating are 7 * 7 meters.
In 2005, a decision was made to carry out a major overhaul of the aerodrome pavement; in 2007, a tender was announced for repairs. However, the work was never started. On October 1, 2012, the Tiksi airfield was closed for the reception and release of aircraft. In connection with the suspension of flights at Tiksi Airport, air navigation aids and approach systems were turned off. Flights Moscow-Tiksi-Moscow, which were operated once every 3 weeks by Boeing 737, were stopped. OJSC Polar Airlines arranged connecting flights from Yakutsk airport by An-24 plane to the airport of Ust-Kuyga, then passengers are delivered by Mi helicopter -8 in Tiksi.
In April 2013, the airport was reopened.
In 2016, the terminal building was reconstructed. The full reconstruction of the runway is planned to be completed by 2018.
