Syunik Airport ( hy, Սյունիքի Oդանավակայան, translit=Syuniki' Odanavakayan) is located east of

Kapan Kapan ( hy, Կապան) is a town in southeast Armenia, serving as the administrative center of the urban community of Kapan as well as the provincial capital of Syunik Province. It is located in the valley of the Voghji River and is on the nort ...

, the sixth largest city in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

, and the largest city in the province of Syunik. On December 5, 2020, the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia announced that the reconstruction of the airport was completed and flights between Kapan and Yerevan are planned to begin in the nearest future. Syunik Airport will allow travel between

and

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

in just 40 minutes in sharp contrast to the five hour drive. It will also serve other communities of southern Armenia.

History

The airport originally started as an airstrip in the 1940s receiving occasional flights operated by Soviet Antonov 2 aircraft. However it was only officially opened in 1972 when scheduled air services commenced. In July 1971, it was decided that the city of

was in need of an air link to the capital

. However, due to the challenging topographical location of

, the location was deemed too dangerous and the whole plan was cancelled. Following negotiations with the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

authorities and the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

party, it was agreed that an

Ilyushin Il-14 The Ilyushin Il-14 (NATO reporting name: Crate) was a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950 in aviation, 1950, and entered service in 1954. The Il-14 was also manufactured in Eas ...

aircraft would be sent to test the airfield. In the following months, slight modifications to the runway and the installation of radio equipment were made, allowing the airfield to be operated with higher safety standards. By mid 1972, scheduled services commenced between

and

. All flights were operated by

Yak-40 The Yakovlev Yak-40 (russian: Яковлев Як-40; NATO reporting name: Codling) is a regional jet designed by Yakovlev. The trijet's maiden flight was in 1966, and it was in production from 1967 to 1981. Introduced in September 1968, the Yak ...

aircraft. Operations at Kapan Airport were quite challenging, as the published approach was for aircraft to fly into the nearby

Voghji river The Voghji ( hy, Ողջի, translit=Oġǰi) or Okchuchay ( az, Oxçuçay) is a river on the south slopes of the Lesser Caucasus range, and is a left tributary of Aras. It flows through the territory of Armenia and Azerbaijan. In its upper reach ...

valley, descend under the clouds and perform a left turn to line up on the runway. However, this did not hinder operations, and Kapan Airport even saw 10-12 daily flights at times. Following the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in the early 1990s and the subsequent Nagorno-Karabakh War, Kapan Airport fell into disrepair. After the 2020 Karabakh war the airport remained on Armenian side, but closer to the border separating Armenian and Azeri troops.

Ownership

In September 2017, a 25-year concession was granted to "Syunik Airport Ltd", a company founded by the state-owned Syunik Regional Development Foundation. In May 2018 50% of it shares were transferred to the benevolent foundation of

Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine The Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine ( hy, Զանգեզուրի պղնձամոլիբդենային կոմբինատ), commonly known as ZCMC, is a mining industry enterprise in Armenia, based in the town of Kapan. History The first geolog ...

Reconstruction

In 2013, talks to reopen the airport began between the governor of Syunik and businessmen from

and abroad. Due to the dismissal of the then governor, negotiations died down, only to be restarted in 2016 and finalized in 2017, in time for the start of the construction. About 2-km long runway is widened to 40 m and a new passenger terminal is constructed. As of May 2019, over 800 million drams have already been invested in the project with the total budget set at around 2.3 billion drams ($5 million). As of April 2020, about 2 billion drams have already been invested in the project with the total budget raised to around 2.8 billion drams ($5.8 million). In December 2020, the Armenian Civil Aviation Committee announced that the restoration of the airport had been completed. The runway and apron had been restored, a new terminal building constructed, and proper perimeter fencing established. The airport is said to commence working from January 20, 2022.

References

{{authority control Airports in Armenia Airports built in the Soviet Union Buildings and structures in Syunik Province

History

Ownership

Reconstruction

See also

References