Oleksiivka Airfield

Primarily economic reasons following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The airfield was an agricultural aviation base, and its operations were tied to the Soviet collective farm (kolkhoz) system. With the collapse of the USSR and the subsequent economic crisis in Ukraine, the state-funded, large-scale agricultural aviation programs were dismantled. The collective farms that relied on these services were restructured or dissolved, making the airfield economically unviable and leading to its abandonment.

The airfield is completely defunct and abandoned. Satellite imagery shows the faint outline of a single, unpaved runway (approximately 1200 meters long) which is now entirely overgrown with grass and vegetation, blending into the surrounding agricultural fields. There are no visible signs of remaining aviation infrastructure such as hangars, control towers, or service buildings. The land has effectively reverted to farmland and is unusable for any aviation purposes. Furthermore, since the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kherson Oblast has been a major conflict zone. The area was under Russian occupation and has seen intense fighting. The site is located in a region that is likely contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXO) and is not safe for civilian use.

Oleksiivka Airfield was a typical Soviet-era agricultural airfield, part of a vast network supporting the region's farming industry. Its significance was local, serving the collective farms of Kherson Oblast, a major agricultural hub in Ukraine. Operations primarily involved crop dusting, aerial application of fertilizers and pesticides, and potentially aerial seeding. The main aircraft operated from this type of airfield would have been the Antonov An-2, the ubiquitous workhorse of Soviet agricultural and utility aviation. The airfield played a crucial role in the mechanized agricultural model of the Soviet period for the surrounding area.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Oleksiivka Airfield. The prospects are effectively zero for several reasons:
1. **Economic Irrelevance**: The model of large-scale, state-run agricultural aviation that the airfield supported no longer exists. Modern agriculture relies on more advanced ground-based technology and, increasingly, on smaller, more efficient drones for aerial application.
2. **Lack of Infrastructure**: The airfield is completely derelict. Re-establishing it would require a total reconstruction of the runway and all supporting facilities, an investment for which there is no economic justification.
3. **Ongoing Conflict**: The region is a recent and, in parts, ongoing conflict zone. The immediate priorities are security, de-mining, and the reconstruction of essential civilian infrastructure like housing, utilities, and roads. A defunct airfield is not a priority.
Given these factors, the site will almost certainly remain as agricultural land.