Shana Emergency Landing Field

The airfield was rendered obsolete and replaced by the new, modern Yasny Airport (ICAO: UHSI), which opened on Iturup Island in September 2014. The Shana field, also known as the old Kurilsk Airport, was notoriously unreliable due to its short runway, lack of modern navigation equipment, and its location in an area prone to dense fog from the Sea of Okhotsk. The Russian government constructed Yasny Airport as part of a federal program to improve transportation infrastructure in the Kuril Islands, specifically to provide a reliable, all-weather air link.

The site is abandoned and in a state of disrepair. Satellite imagery confirms the runway and taxiways are still visible but are unmaintained, cracked, and overgrown with vegetation, making them unusable for any aviation purposes. The associated buildings are derelict. The land has not been repurposed for other significant development and remains a relic of the island's past transportation challenges.

For decades during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, this airfield was the primary civilian air connection for Kurilsk, the largest settlement on Iturup Island. It was a critical but challenging lifeline, handling passenger and cargo flights, typically operated by small turboprop aircraft like the Antonov An-24, connecting the island to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island. Its operational unpredictability was legendary; flights were frequently delayed for days or even weeks due to weather, severely isolating the local population. It operated concurrently with the larger, primarily military, Burevestnik Air Base (ICAO: UHSB) located on the opposite side of the island, which also faced significant weather-related operational issues.

There are no plans or prospects for reopening the Shana Emergency Landing Field. The substantial federal investment in the state-of-the-art Yasny Airport, which is capable of handling larger, modern aircraft with high reliability, has made the old airfield completely redundant. Any future aviation needs for the region are fully met by Yasny, making the reopening of the old, poorly-sited field economically and logistically unviable.