Gomel Airport Explained

Gomel Airport
Nativename:Аэрапорт Гомель
Nativename-A:Аэропорт Гомель
Iata:GME
Icao:UMGG
Pushpin Map:Belarus
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of airport in Belarus
Pushpin Label:GME
Pushpin Label Position:right
Type:Public
City-Served:Gomel
Location:Gomel raion
Elevation-F:472
Elevation-M:144
R1-Number:11/29
R1-Length-F:8,431
R1-Length-M:2,570
R1-Surface:Asphalt
Stat-Year:2013
Stat1-Header:Passengers

Gomel Airport is an airport located 3 km north-east from Gomel, the second-largest city in Belarus. It was opened in 1968.

History

Since the mid-1950s, regular flights to Minsk and Kiev from the old Gomel airport to remote regional centers of the region, and sanitary and agricultural aviation were also based here. In 1968, the current airport was built with a concrete runway, to which An-24 was the first to land.

Gomel airport was a hub of Gomelavia airline, which ceased operations on 22 February 2011 due to bankruptcy.

From 25 July 2011 Belarusian flag carrier, Belavia, started serving flights from Gomel to Kaliningrad during summer seasons once again.

Besides Belarusian air companies, Latvian flag carrier AirBaltic had served flights between Gomel and Riga in 2006, but this destination has been defunct ever since.

In summer 2014, because of local population's awareness about instability and ongoing war in Ukraine, Belavia started to carry out new charter flights from Gomel to Thessaloniki and Burgas. Flights to Kaliningrad since summer 2014 have a stopover at Minsk National Airport.[1]

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Gomel Airport was used by the Russian military for military purposes, including launching air strikes against Ukraine, as evidenced by a video released by the Russian Ministry of Defence.[2]

Ground transport

Suburban bus route from airport to Gomel central bus station goes once a day in both directions

References

  1. News: Инанец. Снежана. Выйти из штопора. История о том, как возрождается гомельский аэропорт. 7 April 2018. TUT.BY. ООО «ТУТ БАЙ МЕДИА». 13 June 2014. ru-RU. 17 September 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170917033451/http://news.tut.by/society/403022.html. dead.
  2. News: Для бомбежек Украины россияне используют гражданский аэропорт Гомеля . 20 March 2022 . reform.by . 20 March 2022 . ru.