page_title: Ny-Ålesund
section_title: Transport and communications
hierarchical_section_title: Ny-Ålesund / Transport and communications
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Aeroporto di Ny-Ålesund English: Ny-Ålesund Airport
context_page_description: Ny-Ålesund is a small city in Oscar II Land on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. It is situated on the Brøgger peninsula and on the shore of the bay of Kongsfjorden. The company town is owned and operated by Kings Bay, which provides facilities for permanent research institutes from ten countries. The town is ultimately owned by the Ministry of Climate and Environment and is not incorporated. Ny-Ålesund has an all-year permanent population of 30 to 35, with the summer population reaching 120. Its facilities include Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben, Svalbard Rocket Range, a port and Ny-Ålesund Town and Mine Museum, as well as fifteen permanent research stations. It is the northernmost functional civilian settlement in the world.
  The town was founded in 1917 by Peter Brandal and his mining company, Kings Bay Kull Comp. Initially mining was carried out until 1929, but it was unprofitable for most of the 1920s. There were a series of air expeditions launched from Ny-Ålesund towards the North Pole. The company was nationalized in 1933 and the town was used for tourism and as a fishing port. Mining resumed for some months in 1941 and then from 1945.
context_section_description: Ny-Ålesund has a road network which connects the buildings at the settlement, but this network does not extend beyond the settlement. Off-road motorized transport is prohibited on bare ground, but snowmobiles are used extensively during winter—both for commercial and recreational activities. Ny-Ålesund Harbour is operated by Kings Bay. In addition to serving the research community, it is open to commercial and recreational vessels. It has one large berth which is International Ship and Port Facility Security Code compliant and is commonly used by cruise ships. To reach the Zeppelin Station, located at 485-meter (1,591 ft) above mean sea level, there is an aerial tramway which runs up Zeppelinfjellet.
  Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben consists of a single 808-meter (2,651 ft) long and 30-meter (98 ft) wide gravel runway, located northwest of the settlement. It features a 30-by-75-meter (98 by 246 ft) apron and aerodrome flight information service, but lacks a terminal and hangar facilities. Kings Bay charters Lufttransport to fly two to four weekly flights using a Dornier Do 228 aircraft to Svalbard Airport, Longyear. Tickets are only available after permission from Kings Bay. Svalbard Rocket Range is a launch site for sounding rockets. Owned by Andøya Rocket Range, its high latitude makes it well-suited for launching rockets to investigate Earth's magnetic field. It is the world's northern-most launch site.
  From the implementation of the Svalbard Undersea Cable System in 2003 Ny-Ålesund had a twin 155 megabits per second microwave connection to Longyearbyen. Two redundant fiber pairs were laid in 2014, increasing capacity to 10 gigabits per second. The fiber line is owned by Uninett and cost NOK 90 million (roughly €9.2 million) to install. The very-long-baseline interferometry station at Hamnerabben is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation in certain frequencies. Thus there is enforced a 20-kilometer (12 mi) exclusion zone for devices transmitting at between 2.1 and 2.5 GHz. The ban includes mobile telephones, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and other wireless devices. Telenor Maritim Radio operates a VHF maritime radio transmitted in Ny-Ålesund, which is remotely controlled from Bodø Radio.
caption: A Lufttransport Dornier Do 228 landing at Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben
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