Chelyabinsk Shagol Airport was opened in 1938 as the first
airport in Chelyabinsk, named after the adjacent village of Shagol which has since been absorbed by the city, and can park over 40 aircraft. The airfield operated passenger flight services and was the primary airport for Chelyabinsk until 1953, when all passenger traffic was redirected to
Chelyabinsk Balandino Airport. It was re-purposed to military use, housing aircraft of the
Soviet Air Force and the local
pilot training school, the
Chelyabinsk Red Banner Military Aviation Institute of Navigators. OJSC "712 Aviation Repair Plant" was founded in 1954, and has an aircraft parking area of 4 hectares connected by taxiways to the airport runway. During the
Cold War, it was a military
bomber training base, and had about 35
Tupolev Tu-134 UBLs based as recently as 1995.
Kommersant-Vlast indicated in 2005 that the 239 Separate Mixed Aviation Regiment was based here. In August 2007, Shagol was used in military exercises of
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. It is also used for air shows. From 2010, it also serves as the base for the 6980th Guards Aviation Base (
Military Unit Number 69806) equipped with
Su-24M bombers and Su-24MR
reconnaissance aircraft. In 2015, one of the Su-24's based at Shagol was
shot down in Syria after reportedly violating
Turkish airspace, worsening the relations between Turkey and Russia. On 3 January 2024, a Su-34 bomber was set on fire at the Chelyabinsk Shagol Airport by a Ukrainian saboteur according to the Ukrainian GUR. ==Noise complaints==