text: svalbard airport , longyear svalbard airport , longyear ( iata : lyr , icao : ; 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 and the 14 - hour flight and landing was successful . a second landing , this time for delivery of post , was made on 11 march . while the catalina was suitable for postal flights , it was not suitable for a permanent solution for transporting passengers and freight , mainly due to its small size . store norske contacted the domestic airline braathens safe for a regular service . the first trial flight was made on 2 april 1959 with a douglas dc - 4 with 54 passengers from bardufoss airport . store norske cleared a 1 , 800 by 40 metres ( 5 , 910 by 130 ft ) runway for the aircraft . the next flight was done in 1962 , followed by one in 1963 and two in 1964 . due to lack of runway lights , flights could only be done during daylight , thus hindering flights during parts of december and january , when the sun never rises . by april , the runway could melt , and no flights could be done during summer . navigation was conducted using radio signals from bear island and isfjord . the first night landing was made on 8 december 1965 . the dc - 4 took off from the new tromsø airport and dropped mail at bear island before continuing to longyearbyen . the runway was lit up using paraffin lamps and lights from cars parked along the runway . a radio transmitter was also installed at hotellneset . during the 1965 – 66 season , braathens safe made 16 flights to svalbard . the following two seasons , the contract was awarded to scandinavian airlines system ( sas ) , but after that they reverted to braathens safe . fred . olsen airtransport made its first flight to svalbard in 1966 . by 1969 , a total of 50 flights had been made to svalbard , and by 1972 , the 100th was made . by then , braathens safe had started using douglas dc - 6b aircraft . during these years , store norske also installed permanent lights . the first jet plane , to land in adventdalen was a fred olsen dassault falcon 20 , ln - . the landing was in 1971 , and the aircraft brought in 1700 lbs of mail and passengers , picking up a geological survey party . a fokker f - 28 , landed on 29 april 1972 . from 1974 , boeing 737 - aircraft were taken into use . it had a side cargo door , allowing easy loading of cargo into the main cabin . braathens safe built a small depot with spare parts and up to 90 , 000 litres ( 20 , 000 imp gal ; 24 , 000 us gal ) fuel . aeroflot started flights to adventdalen in 1973 to serve the neighboring russian community of barentsburg . hotellneset the svalbard treaty specifies that no military installations are permitted on the archipelago . the soviet authorities were concerned that a permanent civilian airport could also be used by norwegian and nato forces . but the soviets also needed an airport to serve their settlements at barentsburg and pyramiden , and by the early 1970s , an understanding was reached between the two countries . construction started in 1973 . the airport needed to be built on permafrost . the runway is insulated against the ground , so it will not melt during the summer . the hangar is frozen into the ground , with the pillars being melted into place and then being frozen stuck . the runway was plagued with frost heave due to an incorrect construction method , forcing the airport to regularly re - asphalt the runway . in 1989 , parts of the runway were re - insulated , giving these areas that previously had been the worst an acceptable solution . in 2006 , this measure was conducted on the remaining parts of the runway . an upgrade to the terminal building to allow larger capacity was completed in 2007 . services both braathens safe and sas applied for the concession to fly from the mainland to norway . this was granted to sas , who would have one weekly service . from the airport was taken into use until the official opening , braathens safe continued to fly charter flights for store norske . the first landing at the new airport was made on 14 september 1974 with a fokker f - 28 , and braathens safe continued to fly until 1 september 1975 . russian authorities granted a concession for a semi - weekly service by aeroflot from murmansk airport . the first attempt to officially open the airport was made with a sas douglas dc - 9 on 14 august 1975 . among the guests on board was king olav v , but thick fog at longyearbyen forced the airplane to return . on 1 september , a fokker f - 27 from braathens safe was used to calibrate the runways ; on board were pilots from sas and aeroflot to learn about the landing conditions . the following day , the second attempt to open the airport was successful . in addition to the scheduled services , store norske chartered cargo flights from fred olsen air transport . lufttransport has been at the airport since 1976 . in 1984 , two bell 212 helicopters were stationed at the airport on contract with the governor of svalbard . the company signed an agreement with the norwegian coast guard to have a spartacus planes stationed at longyearbyen for fishery surveillance . since 1994 , the company has had a dornier do 228 stationed at the airport , and two since 2001 . on 14 august 1987 , braathens safe re - entered the market , flying in parallel with sas to tromsø and oslo . for the first time , the scheduled flights to oslo were offered as day flights instead of the night flights offered by sas . in 2002 , after sas bought braathens , the subsidiary took over all flights to longyearbyen for the group . from may 2004 , they merged to sas braathens , that again became sas from 1 june 2007 . from 1 april to 1 november 2004 , norwegian air shuttle introduced three weekly services to longyearbyen to tromsø and oslo , using boeing 737 - 300 aircraft , but the service was terminated due to low loads . a new service was started on 27 march 2008 , with two direct services to oslo , using larger boeing 737 - 800 but again the route was terminated later the same year . as of 2014 , norwegian is again flying to svalbard from oslo . finnair announced to begin flights from helsinki in summer 2016 , but norwegian authorities did not allow this route as it was not in bilateral agreement on air traffic between finland and norway . facilities the airport is located 1 . 6 nautical miles ( 3 . 0 km ; 1 . 8 mi ) northwest of longyearbyen , the largest settlement on svalbard . the airport also serves the nearby russian settlement of barentsburg . the mainland norway is part of the schengen area , but svalbard is excluded , so from 2011 there is passport control at the airport . a passport , a national id card indicating nationality , or a norwegian id card is needed . there are 200 free outdoor parking spaces at the airport . there are taxis , rental cars and airport coaches available at the airport ( a shuttle bus operates to hotels and guesthouses in longyearbyen and nybyen ) . scandinavian airlines provides handling services through sas ground services . the runway is 2 , 483 metres ( 8 , 146 ft ) long and aligned 10 / 28 ( roughly east – west ) , equipped with instrument landing system , but there are no taxiways . the 45 metres ( 148 ft ) wide runway has two culverts that allow water from the mountain platåberget to drain under it . about one third of the runway is dug into the terrain , while about two - thirds is built on an embankment . a layer of frost - stable fill , varying from 1 to 4 metres ( 3 ft 3 in to 13 ft 1 in ) is under the runway to hinder the soil from during summer . airlines and destinations passenger cargo lufttransport has a base at svalbard airport with two 19 - seat dornier do 228 - aircraft and 15 employees . the airline flies daily trips to ny - ålesund airport , hamnerabben on behalf of kings bay with research personnel and about thirty trips per week to svea airport on behalf of store norske spitsbergen kulkompani with mining personnel . these routes involve transport of 21 , 000 passengers and 500 tonnes of cargo per year . on behalf of the norwegian coast guard , lufttransport flies about 400 hours annual of aerial surveillance . scandinavian airlines flies six times a week to tromsø airport and onwards to oslo airport , gardermoen . the barentsburg mine has a mi - 8 helicopter used for travel to and from the longyearbyen airport and more . the svalbard global seed vault is located a few miles south of the airport . accidents and incidents on 10 october 1986 , a cessna 185 from crashed immediately after leaving svalbard airport en route to ny - ålesund , killing all six on board . on 29 august 1996 , vnukovo airlines flight 2801 from vnukovo airport , moscow , crashed into a mountain about 14 kilometres ( 8 . 7 mi ) from the airport . all 141 people on board the tupolev tu - 154m died . it is the worst air crash in norwegian history .