Svalbard,Norway, is a vast, very sparsely inhabitedArcticarchipelago. With fewer than 3,000 inhabitants in three main communities, plus some smaller meteorological and scientific outposts, there are no communities connected by road.[1]Off-road motorized transport is prohibited on bare ground, butsnowmobiles are used extensively during winter, both for commercial and recreational activities. Transport from Longyearbyen to Barentsburg (45 km or 28 mi) and Pyramiden (100 km or 62 mi) is possible by snowmobile at winter, or by ship all year round. Road systems exist within the communities ofLongyearbyen,Barentsburg,Ny-Ålesund and the now-closedSveagruva. All settlements have ports and Longyearbyen has a bus system.[2]
There are three airports in the Svalbard area,Svalbard Airport,Ny-Ålesund Airport andSvea Airport.
Svalbard Airport, Longyear is the main airport serving the archipelago. Located 3 kilometres (2 mi) northwest of Longyearbyen, it is the northernmost airport in the world with public scheduled flights. The firstairport (or more accuratelyairstrip) near Longyearbyen (inAdventdalen) was constructed during World War II by theLuftwaffe, it was the first airstrip on Svalbard.[3] It was first put into use for occasional flights in 1959, but could only be operated a few months a year. Construction of the new airport at Hotellneset started in 1973, and the airport was opened on 2 September 1975.[4] It is owned and operated by state-ownedAvinor. In 2009, the airport had 138,934 passengers.[5]Scandinavian Airlines System operates daily flights toTromsø andOslo on mainland Norway.[6]Lufttransport provides services toNy-Ålesund Airport andSvea Airport, usingDornier 228 turboprop aircraft. There are also regular charter flights.[7] On 29 August 1996,Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 crashed intoOperafjellet mountain about 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) from the airport. All 141 people on board theTupolev Tu-154M were killed. It is the worst air crash in Norwegian history.[8]
Arktikugol, the owner of thecompany town of Barentsburg, operates aMil Mi-8 helicopter from theheliport at Heerodden, 2 kilometres (1 mi) outside of town, as well as a heliport at their former town ofPyramiden. During theCold War,Aeroflot retained a large helicopter base at Heerodden, operating five Mi-8 which could quickly be retrofitted with arms, plus regular staff both at Svalbard Airport (for occasional charter flights) and Heerodden. In 2006, one helicopter was lost in theHeerodden helicopter accident.[9]
Narrow-gauge mining railways used to operate at a number of locations, in particular atNy-Ålesund andGrumant (built by the Norwegians and Soviets respectively).[10] Most of these railways have been abandoned, but the one atBarentsburg was reported as still functional in 2008.[11]
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