Sofiysk Airport

Primarily economic reasons. With the end of Soviet-era state subsidies, regional air carriers could no longer afford to operate unprofitable routes to small, remote settlements. The decline of the local gold-mining industry, which was the village's main economic driver, led to a drastic reduction in population and eliminated the demand for regular air service, making the airport financially unsustainable.

The airport is completely abandoned and defunct. Satellite imagery of the coordinates reveals a clearly defined but unmaintained dirt and gravel runway, approximately 1,200 meters in length. The runway surface is degraded and overgrown with vegetation. There is no remaining infrastructure, such as terminals, hangars, or air traffic control facilities. The site is unused and is slowly being reclaimed by the surrounding taiga forest.

During the Soviet period, the Sofiysk airfield was a vital transportation link for the remote mining settlement. It was an integral part of the 'Local Air Lines' (Местные воздушные линии - МВЛ) network, operated by the Far Eastern Directorate of Aeroflot. The airport primarily handled passenger, mail, and light cargo flights, connecting the isolated community to larger regional hubs like Khabarovsk or Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Operations were typically conducted using rugged, short-takeoff-and-landing (STOL) aircraft suitable for unpaved runways, such as the Antonov An-2 biplane and possibly the Let L-410 Turbolet.

Effectively zero. There are no known or publicly discussed plans by federal or regional authorities to restore the airfield. The village of Sofiysk has a very small and declining population (under 100 people as of recent estimates), and there is no significant economic activity to justify the immense cost of rebuilding the airport and subsidizing flight operations. The focus of Russian regional airport development is on larger, more strategically important population centers.