Private Jet Charter at Chernihiv Shestovitsa (UKRR/CEJ)

Chernihiv Shestovitsa: A Northern Ukrainian Field Under Active Airspace Closure

Chernihiv is a regional city in northern Ukraine, situated approximately 140 km north of Kyiv and roughly 70 km from the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. Shestovitsa Airport (CEJ) actually ceased civil operations back in 2002 due to financial difficulties, well before the 2022 invasion — its runway was subsequently broken up for aggregate and is no longer intact. Separately, the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 closed all Ukrainian airspace to civil and private aviation under a NOTAM-based restriction that remains in force. Between the airfield's own 2002 closure and the nationwide 2022 airspace closure, no private jet operations — inbound, outbound, or positioning — are possible into or out of CEJ under any circumstances.

Operational Profile

Before its 2002 closure, CEJ operated as a small regional airfield with a single paved runway of approximately 2,200 metres — a figure confirmed across multiple independent aeronautical sources, not a placeholder — which would have been sufficient in principle for light to midsize jets including the Phenom 300 and Citation XLS+. By the mid-2000s, roughly 400 metres of that runway had been demolished for scrap aggregate, leaving the strip unusable even before the 2022 airspace closure. The field sits at low elevation, eliminating any performance concerns related to density altitude in any case.

Transfers & Connections

Under normal circumstances, Chernihiv city centre is approximately 15 km from the Shestovitsa airfield, accessible via the H07 highway in under 20 minutes. For clients requiring access to northern Ukraine or Chernihiv region once airspace reopens, Prague (PRG) and Warsaw (WAW) are the most practical staging points for onward routing into Ukraine, subject to airspace status at the time of operation. The nearest major Ukrainian hub, Ukraine's Boryspil International (KBP), is approximately 130 km south of Chernihiv and was itself closed to civil traffic as of the same February 2022 restrictions.

Handling & Customs

No handling, customs, or FBO services are currently accessible at CEJ. Any pre-conflict data indicating premium handling quality or H24 customs should be treated as historical. Flight planners and EA teams should monitor NOTAM updates and consult with their handling agent regarding restoration of civil access. When Ukrainian airspace reopens, coordination will require direct contact with Ukrainian authorities (UkSATSE) and confirmation of PPR, customs availability, and fuel supply status at Shestovitsa before any positioning flight is planned.