Tiksi Air Base

Tiksi Airport, also known as Tiksi Aerodrome, is located 1 km northeast of Tiksi, Russia. It was constructed in the 1950s to serve as a staging base for Soviet Long Range Aviation bombers, intended for operations towards the United States. The air base is regularly used by Tupolev Tu-95 aircraft for military exercises, including one in 1999 involving practice flights to the Canadian arctic. The airport is operated by the Russian Aerospace Forces. The main air unit stationed at Tiksi is the Aviation Command, 200th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, which operates Mil Mi-8 helicopters as part of the 326th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division. The airport was temporarily closed on October 1, 2012, by the Defense Ministry due to an unsafe runway requiring repair work. This closure caused significant disruption to the delivery of essential goods to the city. Following negotiations, the airport reopened for service in June 2013, and reconstruction of the runway was scheduled to be completed by 2015 or 2016. In July 2014, it was announced that infrastructure restoration at Tiksi Airport was underway. In addition to military operations, the airport also provides scheduled civilian air services.