Petrozavodsk Airport (Russian: Аэропорт Петрозаводск, Karelian: Petroskoin lendoazema, Finnish: Petroskoin lentoasema; (IATA: PES, ICAO: ULPB); ex: Besovets, Petrozavodsk-2) is a joint civil-military airport in Russia located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) northwest of Petrozavodsk in Besovets, Shuya Rural Settlement (municipality). It services small airliners. It is a minor airfield with 12 parking stands and a small amount of tarmac space.
The airfield has seen military use as an interceptor base. During the 1960s or 1970s, Sukhoi Su-15 aircraft were based at Besovets. During the 1970s, it was home to the 991st Fighter Aviation Regiment (991 IAP), which flew Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 'Foxbat' aircraft. In 1992–93, the 159th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (159 IAP) transferred in from Poland, having left the 4th Air Army.[1] It now flies the Sukhoi Su-35S aircraft and is now part of the 105th Guards Mixed Aviation Division, 6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army.[2]
On 20 June 2011, a RusAir Tupolev TU-134, Flight 9605, operating for RusLine, with 43 passengers and nine crew crash landed, broke up, and caught fire on a highway short of Runway 01 at Petrozavodsk Airport, while en route from Moscow to Petrozavodsk, killing 47 people and leaving five survivors.[4]