Abkhazia plans to open international flights

According to the business portal Buying Business Travel, Sukhumi Airport will be restored to open international passenger flights.

President Abkhazia Raul Khadzhimba signed a decree on granting the air harbor the status of a joint airport, that is, it can be used by military and civilian aircraft. It is planned that the first foreign flights will start to Russia.

Reconstruction of the Sukhumi air harbor at the final stage. The operation of the airport will be ensured by approximately 1 November 2019.

The airport is located 18 km from the city center on the shore of the Sukhum Bay of the Black Sea. It was built in the mid-1960s, but closed in 1993 due to the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict.

In Soviet times, there were regular flights to Moscow, Kazan, Tyumen, Kharkov, Brest, Baku, Tashkent, Dnepropetrovsk, Lviv. It was also a backup for different cities. The airport is now used by the military.

Abkhazia is a partially recognized state, which Georgia and the International Civil Aviation Organization consider their territory, because of this, international flights to Sukhumi airport are not available.

Russians can now get to Abkhazia by bus. In summer, there are ferries that run from Adler to Gagra. In 2018, more than 1 million tourists visited Abkhazia, most of them Russian citizens.

Source: turizm