Antonov Airport ( ), also known as Hostomel (or Gostomel) Airport (), is an international cargo airport and testing facility in Ukraine, located near Hostomel, which is a northwestern suburb of Kyiv.
The airport is owned by and named after the Antonov aircraft manufacturing company and operated by its subsidiary Antonov Airlines. The destroyed An-225 was based here.
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the airport became the site of an intense battle. It was temporarily held by Russian forces and sustained heavy damage to facilities and aircraft.
History
Construction of the airport began in 1959. Commercial cargo operations at the airport began in 1989 with the first attempts at demilitarizing and commercializing of the Antonov Design Bureau.
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, the first day of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the airport was attacked and seized by the Russian military. On the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said "The enemy paratroopers in Hostomel have been blocked, and troops have received an order to destroy them". Later in the day, between 8-10 PM local time (UTC+2) reports surfaced that the airport had been retaken, but heavy fighting continued for weeks at the airport and in neighboring Hostomel. Ukrainian forces regained control of the airport by 2 April, but the airport sustained extensive damage and the notable An-225 cargo aircraft was destroyed.
The Virgin Galactic owner, Sir Richard Branson, visited the President of Ukraine and the damaged airport and had interest in investing in rebuilding it.
Aircraft testing operations
Gostomel Airport was originally built as a top-secret in-house Flight Testing and Improvement Base () for Antonov airplanes. It is equipped with special equipment for it (e.g., artificial lightning generator) and granted a purpose test flight zone. Its sister facility, responsible for manufacturing, is located inside Kyiv at the Sviatoshyn Airfield.
Cargo operations
The airport is used by Antonov Airlines, as well as by other interested cargo carriers. The following facilities and services are available on site: transshipping (air-to-auto; air-to-railway) storage capacities border control and customs aircraft maintenance
Military presence
Ukrainian Air Force was using the airport for its transportation forces.
The An-225 "Mriya" (tr. 'dream' or 'inspiration'), the world's largest cargo aircraft, was located at Hostomel Airport and it was partially destroyed during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. A number of other aircraft were also destroyed.
