Svalbard Longyear Airport

Svalbard Longyear Airport (IATA code: LYR, ICAO code: ENSB) is the main airport serving Svalbard in Norway and the nearby Russian settlement of Barentsburg. Located 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) northwest of Longyearbyen, the largest settlement on Svalbard, on the west coast, it is the northernmost airport in the world with scheduled public flights. 

Mainland Norway is part of the Schengen Area, but Svalbard is excluded. At the airport, no passport control is carried out, although exit checks are performed in Oslo or Tromsø. A passport, a national ID card from an EU/EFTA country, Monaco or San Marino, or a Norwegian driving licence/photo bank card/military ID card is needed.

Construction of the airport started in 1973, and the airport was opened on 2 September 1975. It is owned and operated by state-owned Avinor. 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 228 turboprop aircraft. There are also regular charter flights. In 2019, right before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport witnessed a peak in the number of passengers (more than 180,000) passing through its gates.