Was there an airport in Sukhumi before? LJ - I'm interested in this

Abkhazia is famous for its natural resources and low prices. For many years now it has had the status of a budget health resort, hospitably welcoming vacationers of middle and low incomes. Another important advantage is that you do not need a visa to enter the country.

Holidays here are much cheaper than on the Crimean Peninsula or in Sochi, and the conditions are in no way inferior to the famous resorts. Here you can enjoy the picturesque landscapes of mountains, lakes, rivers and the sea. History buffs will find many interesting ancient monuments and will be able to admire the most beautiful architectural structures. The spiritual heritage of the republic is represented by numerous monasteries.

Almost everyone who wants to visit this beautiful region has a question: “What is the best transport to get there? Which airport in Abkhazia accepts tourists?”

Operating airports in Abkhazia

Unfortunately, today there is no way to get to Abkhazia by direct flight. For several reasons, the air routes of the republic cannot accept passenger flights of tourist destinations. However, there are still airports on the territory of Abkhazia that will soon have such functions.

Babushara

This is an airport in Abkhazia that accepts exclusively government flights. The airport is at the stage of international certification and is not yet intended to receive passenger flights. Russian peacekeepers, UN aviation and helicopters on domestic flights land on its runway. This is a strategically important airport in Abkhazia, but it is used in extreme cases. The distance from it to the capital is only 18 km. The 3.64 km long runway accommodates almost all types of civil aircraft whose weight does not exceed 125 tons. Its location on the coastal territory of the Colchis Lowland allows it to receive aircraft from several directions. This makes the airport in Abkhazia more profitable than the airport in Sochi.

Passengers are received in the old building, which was opened back in the 1960s. In the 80s, a new air terminal began to exist. In the mid-80s, it was decided to lengthen the runway, and now civil Airbus class aircraft can land on it. The first flight was made by the Il-86 airbus on the route Moscow - Sukhumi - Moscow. After a successful landing, the number of flights was increased to 3-4 per day.

During Soviet times, the airport in Sukhumi was used as a backup site by cities such as Baku, Sochi, Simferopol, Krasnodar, Rostov, Yerevan and Mineralnye Vody.

The terminal's capacity during peak summer time is about ten thousand passengers.

The largest airport in Abkhazia received its name from the village of Babushara of the same name, near which it is located. Perhaps, after receiving international certification, the airport will be able to accept tourist flights.

Bamboura

You can quickly get a taxi that will take you to the border area. After passing customs control and paperwork, already on the territory of Abkhazia, you can use the services of private drivers or minibuses and get to the desired resort, for example, Sukhumi, Gagra or Pitsunda.

The country's leadership is still working to improve the international transport interchange. Perhaps tourists will soon have the opportunity to travel to Abkhazia by air.

The Sukhumi airport can operate under a temporary scheme from the end of 2015, adviser to the Abkhaz leader Amiran Lagvilava said on the evening broadcast of Abkhaz television.

He recalled the protocol of intent signed on November 14 last year between the Abkhaz regime and the Russian company Airport Development on the development of the airport in Sukhumi.

“Joint work is already underway, and I think that within a month the president will be presented with a preliminary plan for the development and modernization of the airport.

To begin rebuilding the airport, an agreement must be reached. A complete reconstruction will take about a year and a half, and its opening according to a temporary scheme, in principle, could take place at the end of this year.

We are negotiating with various airlines and do not see any particular problems in flying to Sukhumi airport,” Lagvilava said.

The most important problem, he said, is to “solve the issue with aeronautical equipment and light.”

The total cost of investments in the airfield part, according to the latest calculations made by the Aeroproekt company, is about one billion rubles. According to Lagvilava, calculations for the entire range of work have not yet been completed, but measures to fully commission the airport will be carried out in three stages.

“During flights under a temporary scheme, you can use the old building of the Sukhumi airport, which has been renovated. In addition, it is possible to transport the prefabricated terminal installed there during the 2014 Olympics from Sochi airport to Sukhumi,” Lagvilava said.

The second stage, according to him, involves the construction of a new modern terminal with all the services necessary for the passage and reception of passengers.

The third stage is the complete development of airport and airport infrastructure, including hotels, recreation facilities, in-flight catering facilities and everything else.

As for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), according to Lagvilava, it “does not have the right to open, close or certify airports. This is the right of the state on whose territory the airport is located.”

“We need to restore the airport, certify it, publish information about it in the collection of aeronautical information of Russia and the CIS countries. The document is then sent to all countries of the world, including ICAO headquarters in Canada. The state that deals with it is responsible for the accuracy of the publication of this kind of information. Such publication is the right to operate Sukhumi airport,” emphasized the adviser to the President of Abkhazia.

Sukhumi Airport can accommodate any aircraft weighing up to 125 tons, which meets international standards. In Soviet times, it also served as a reserve site for Tbilisi, Yerevan, Baku, Minvod, Sochi, Simferopol, Krasnodar, Rostov.

According to Abkhaz experts, the airport has the best runway characteristics in the Caucasus. Its length is 3.64 thousand meters, which is twice as long as the length of the strip in Adler.

Before the start of the war in 1993, Sukhumi airport sent up to 5 thousand people per day during the summer holiday season, and up to a thousand in the winter.

After the war, ICAO, at the request of Georgia, banned the use of Sukhumi airport for international flights.

The airport of the city of Sukhum (Sukhumi) is located near the village of Babushara, Gulripshsky district of Abkhazia. The distance from the airport to the capital of Abkhazia is 18 kilometers.

Airport status

The length of the runway (3.6 km) allows the airport to accommodate almost all types of civil aircraft. During the Soviet period, the terminal served up to 5 thousand passengers per day.

Since 2010, the airport has been namedin honor of the first president of the Republic of Abkhazia -Sukhum International Airport named after. V. G. Ardzinba. The former name of the airport is Babushara.

WITH According to the legislation of Georgia, which considers Abkhazia its territory, Abkhazia is closed to international air traffic. The International Civil Aviation Organization decided not to assign international status to the airport in Sukhum.

Story

Sukhum Airport was built in the mid-1960s.

In September 1993, during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, the Georgian authorities used Babushara Airport to evacuate refugees and support their troops besieged in Sukhum.In this case, civilian airliners were involved.

During that period, Abkhaz forces destroyed five civilian airliners, including one traveling from Adler:

In the post-war years, the airport was used only for flights within the republic, as well as by the CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone and the UN Observer Mission in Georgia.

During the August 2008 events in South Ossetia, Sukhumi airport received dozens of Russian Air Force transport aircraft. The first civilian foreign aircraft to land in Babushary in the post-war years in September 2008 was the plane of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Then in 2009, Sukhumi airport hosted the Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Boris Gryzlov and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

In 2010, the President of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh, in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, said: “We are now working on the Sukhumi airport and will put it in order. But for now, flights will only be carried out to Russia. Technically, it is almost ready. The runway there is good. It was under construction for the Buran program as a backup airport. The airport is almost all-weather, aircraft approach is carried out from both sides of the runway..."

Reconstruction

Since 2011, Sukhum Airport has been preparing for reconstruction.

President of Abkhazia Raul Khajimba in an interview with the "Caucasian Knot" On November 4, 2014, when asked about the possibility of reconstructing the airport, he replied that this project was “not cheap”, and that a “Russian-Abkhaz company” would be involved in it. “The other day we met with potential investors who are ready to get involved in this project. They must carry out appropriate calculations of the necessary funds that will be invested in the airport,” Khajimba noted.

On November 14, 2014, the government of Abkhazia agreed on the reconstruction of the airport with the management of the Airport Development company, part of Oleg Deripaska's industrial group Basic Element. (TOThe company "Basel Aero" owns n the most significant airports in the South of Russia.) With The parties signed an agreement of intent for cooperation.

On November 25, 2014, Prime Minister of Abkhazia Beslan Butba announced that Sukhum Airport would be transferred to the management of a Russian company. At the same time, Butba clarified:“The runway and dispatching will remain with the state, the rest will be given to a Russian company, we are now working to find a structure that would take on this.”

The head of the State Administration of Abkhazia for Transport, Zaur Khadzhimba, estimated the cost of reconstruction of the airport at 1 billion rubles, and named May 2016 as a preliminary date for completion of the work. At the same time, Z. Khajimba noted that the reconstruction project will still be discussed. “The situation is quite slippery - it is unclear what the passenger flow will be there in months other than 2-3 months of the summer season,” he said.

Notes:

1. The government adopted a resolution to perpetuate the memory of the first president of the Republic of Armenia Vladislav Ardzinba // Apsnypress, 04/16/10.
2. Tu-154 crash in Sukhumi // Kommersant, 09/24/1993.
3. Aviation Safety Network.
4. Abkhazia is preparing to open flights with Russia // Voice of America, 06/07/2010.
5. Buran - Soviet space shuttle. Launch weight - 105 tons.
6. President of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh: “We are working in the range between Russia and Nauru” // Komsomolskaya Pravda, 03.27.2010.

For the last four years I have been hearing the same words in Sukhum: “We will open an airport this year.” "We'll definitely open it!" “Next year, Ora, you can come by plane if you want!”...

I searched on the Internet. Four is not four, but for 2010 I found a message:

In general, this year I decided to see with my own eyes what Sukhum Airport is like and what condition it is in now. Luckily it’s not far from the city. 20 minutes by car - maximum.

It's difficult to miss the turn to the airport. There, on the highway, there is a sign:

And nearby, what used to be a bus stop, apparently, is a large mosaic structure:

I don’t know what the red horse has to do with it - I only associate it with Petrov-Vodkin, but as they say: “What I see, I sing about it...”

Turn right before the sign. The concrete road ahead is as straight as an arrow's flight:


She is in perfect condition. And the whitewashed tree trunks along it only emphasize this.

In general, the quality of roads in Abkhazia needs to be written separately. From Psou and at least to Tkuarchal (I didn’t go any further) the road is very good. Smooth, in some places with luxurious, new asphalt. It seems that Russian companies are installing it. And in cities, including the capital Sukhum, there are no roads at all, according to Moscow standards of course. Continuous potholes, holes and, in places, rubble. At least to get from the “crooked house” along the street. You need to go around Yu. Kalmykova to Embankment or 4-school on the left, along the street. Dzhonua, or turn right and drive along the street. Chachba... Otherwise you risk, sooner or later, being left without a pendant.... However, I digress. This paragraph has nothing to do with the airport.)))

So... A chic concrete block lined with beautiful trees (larch and... ??? (Tell me!!!))

ends on the right with the Hotel building... Everything is not so rosy here:

At least there is no feeling that Abkhazia is waiting for vacationers and tourists arriving from day to day.

The terminal building itself has really been put in order from the outside:

This, if I'm not mistaken, is an old building, built in the sixties...
And the new terminals (built in 1982) are to the right. And apparently they haven’t gotten around to it yet:

The last uncensored shot with a view of the airfield is here:

Well, yes! Agree. Nothing is visible on it. I thought that by driving along the road to the left of the airport terminal building, I would be able to photograph both the takeoff and the famous trophy - Shevardnadze’s personal plane...

Did not work out. See - saw. But the vigilant guards at the checkpoint did not allow me to take photographs. State secret, they say.
Therefore, I will use the Internet and the icon again. Moreover, I didn’t have my own hang glider at hand. If interested, see:

And this is the same captured aircraft - the famous Yak-40. Opposite him are now standing in full combat readiness, small “whistles” - combat fighters of the Abkhaz Air Force. And several military helicopters. This is probably why I was forbidden to take photographs. Well, that's right!

In conclusion, lyrical and tactical-technical data of Sukhum Airport (Babushara. Babushery. Dranda):

The length of the Runway (and there are two of them, unlike, say, the Sochi airfield) is 3.5 km. An airfield and terminal building were built in the mid-1960s. At the end of the 1970s, the thickness of the airfield's concrete pavement was increased by 20 cm, which made it possible to accept Il-76 type aircraft.
- Class A airfield, capable of receiving Il-86, Il-76, Tu-154 and lighter aircraft, as well as helicopters of all types.
- The national airline of Abkhazia, Abkhazian Airlines, as well as UN aviation, are based at the airport.
- The International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO does not recognize Sukhumi airport as international, since it recognizes the unity of Georgia; the skies over Abkhazia cannot be opened without permission from the Georgian authorities, as this violates international norms.
- On August 11, 2008, during the war in South Ossetia, Russian military transport aircraft landed at the airport for the first time in 15 years, delivering paratroopers and military equipment.

On September 14, 2008, the first civilian plane in 15 years landed at the airport - the plane of Russian Foreign Minister S.V. Lavrov.

The Government of the Republic of Abkhazia represented by the Republican Unitary Enterprise “Sukhum International Airport named after. V. G. Ardzinba"

The official operator of the airport is the Republican Unitary Enterprise “Sukhum International Airport named after. V. G. Ardzinba" (OGRN 107RA001238; state registration date 03/17/2011; legal address: Republic of Abkhazia, Gulrypsha district, Babushara village, Airport).

Description

In the mid-1960s, an airfield and terminal building were built. At the end of the 1970s, the thickness of the concrete surface of the airfield was increased by 20 cm, which made it possible to accept aircraft such as Il-76. In the 1980s, a new one was opened next to the first airport terminal, which is currently not in operation. In the mid-1980s, the runway was lengthened, which made it possible to receive Il-86 aircraft (in particular, they operated flights Moscow - Sukhumi - Moscow).

Until the early 1990s, airplane flights operated from the airport to many cities of the USSR, and Sukhumi was connected by helicopter lines to several settlements in Abkhazia. Passenger turnover was up to 5 thousand passengers per day in summer, up to 1 thousand in winter.

Republic of Abkhazia

The airport was closed in 1993 and there are no regular flights.

Currently, it is actively used for flights by top officials of Russia and Abkhazia.

Incidents

• On April 22, 1956, during takeoff, for unknown reasons, an Il-14P of the 65th air squadron of MUTA (Aeroflot) fell into the sea, killing 6 people.
  • On July 8, 1977, an An-24RV from the Kirovograd Flight School fell into the sea during takeoff, killing 6 people.
    • On August 14, 1982, two planes of the Sukhumi joint air squad (Aeroflot) collided on the runway when a Tu-134A crashed into an L-410M that had entered the runway during takeoff, killing 11 people (all on board the L-410M).
      • During Third Battle of Sukhumi in September 1993, as a result of attacks by Abkhaz troops, five Georgian airliners were destroyed: three Tu-134A and two Tu-154B, killing a total of 136 people.

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        Notes

        Airports of Abkhazia International Sukhum Local significance Military airfields

        Excerpt characterizing Babushar (airport)

        “Yes... I’ll tell him,” Pierre said, but... – He didn’t know what to say.
        Natasha was apparently frightened by the thought that might occur to Pierre.
        “No, I know it’s over,” she said hastily. - No, this can never happen. I am tormented only by the evil that I did to him. Just tell him that I ask him to forgive, forgive, forgive me for everything...” She shook all over and sat down on a chair.
        A never-before-experienced feeling of pity filled Pierre's soul.
        “I’ll tell him, I’ll tell him again,” said Pierre; – but... I would like to know one thing...
        "What to know?" asked Natasha's gaze.
        “I would like to know if you loved...” Pierre did not know what to call Anatole and blushed at the thought of him, “did you love this bad man?”
        “Don’t call him bad,” said Natasha. “But I don’t know anything...” She started crying again.
        And an even greater feeling of pity, tenderness and love overwhelmed Pierre. He heard tears flowing under his glasses and hoped that they would not be noticed.
        “Let’s say no more, my friend,” said Pierre.
        His meek, gentle, sincere voice suddenly seemed so strange to Natasha.
        - Let’s not talk, my friend, I’ll tell him everything; but I ask you one thing - consider me your friend, and if you need help, advice, you just need to pour out your soul to someone - not now, but when you feel clear in your soul - remember me. “He took and kissed her hand. “I’ll be happy if I’m able to...” Pierre became embarrassed.
        – Don’t talk to me like that: I’m not worth it! – Natasha screamed and wanted to leave the room, but Pierre held her hand. He knew he needed to tell her something else. But when he said this, he was surprised at his own words.
        “Stop it, stop it, your whole life is ahead of you,” he told her.
        - For me? No! “Everything is lost for me,” she said with shame and self-humiliation.
        - Everything is lost? - he repeated. “If I were not me, but the most beautiful, smartest and best person in the world, and were free, I would be on my knees right now asking for your hand and love.”
        For the first time after many days, Natasha cried with tears of gratitude and tenderness and, looking at Pierre, left the room.
        Pierre, too, almost ran out into the hall after her, holding back the tears of tenderness and happiness that were choking his throat, without getting into his sleeves, he put on his fur coat and sat down in the sleigh.
        - Now where do you want to go? - asked the coachman.
        "Where? Pierre asked himself. Where can you go now? Is it really to the club or guests? All people seemed so pitiful, so poor in comparison with the feeling of tenderness and love that he experienced; in comparison with the softened, grateful look with which she looked at him the last time because of her tears.
        “Home,” said Pierre, despite the ten degrees of frost, opening his bear coat on his wide, joyfully breathing chest.
        It was frosty and clear. Above the dirty, dim streets, above the black roofs, there was a dark, starry sky. Pierre, just looking at the sky, did not feel the offensive baseness of everything earthly in comparison with the height at which his soul was located. Upon entering Arbat Square, a huge expanse of starry dark sky opened up to Pierre’s eyes. Almost in the middle of this sky above Prechistensky Boulevard, surrounded and sprinkled on all sides with stars, but differing from everyone else in its proximity to the earth, white light, and long, raised tail, stood a huge bright comet of 1812, the same comet that foreshadowed as they said, all sorts of horrors and the end of the world. But in Pierre this bright star with a long radiant tail did not arouse any terrible feeling. Opposite Pierre, joyfully, eyes wet with tears, looked at this bright star, which, as if, with inexpressible speed, flying immeasurable spaces along a parabolic line, suddenly, like an arrow pierced into the ground, stuck here in one place chosen by it, in the black sky, and stopped, energetically raising her tail up, glowing and playing with her white light between countless other twinkling stars. It seemed to Pierre that this star fully corresponded to what was in his soul, which had blossomed towards a new life, softened and encouraged.

        From the end of 1811, increased armament and concentration of forces in Western Europe began, and in 1812 these forces - millions of people (including those who transported and fed the army) moved from West to East, to the borders of Russia, to which, in the same way, from 1811 year, Russian forces were gathering. On June 12, the forces of Western Europe crossed the borders of Russia, and war began, that is, an event contrary to human reason and all human nature took place. Millions of people committed each other, against each other, such countless atrocities, deceptions, betrayals, thefts, forgeries and the issuance of false banknotes, robberies, arson and murders, which for centuries will not be collected by the chronicle of all the courts of the world and for which, during this period of time, people those who committed them did not look at them as crimes.
        What caused this extraordinary event? What were the reasons for it? Historians say with naive confidence that the reasons for this event were the insult inflicted on the Duke of Oldenburg, non-compliance with the continental system, Napoleon's lust for power, Alexander's firmness, diplomatic mistakes, etc.
        Consequently, it was only necessary for Metternich, Rumyantsev or Talleyrand, between the exit and the reception, to try hard and write a more skillful piece of paper, or for Napoleon to write to Alexander: Monsieur mon frere, je consens a rendre le duche au duc d "Oldenbourg, [My lord brother, I agree return the duchy to the Duke of Oldenburg.] - and there would be no war.
        It is clear that this was how the matter seemed to contemporaries. It is clear that Napoleon thought that the cause of the war was the intrigues of England (as he said this on the island of St. Helena); It is clear that it seemed to the members of the English House that the cause of the war was Napoleon’s lust for power; that it seemed to the Prince of Oldenburg that the cause of the war was the violence committed against him; that it seemed to the merchants that the cause of the war was the continental system that was ruining Europe, that it seemed to the old soldiers and generals that the main reason was the need to use them in business; the legitimists of that time that it was necessary to restore les bons principes [good principles], and the diplomats of that time that everything happened because the alliance of Russia with Austria in 1809 was not skillfully hidden from Napoleon and that the memorandum was awkwardly written for No. 178. It is clear that these and a countless, infinite number of reasons, the number of which depends on the countless differences in points of view, seemed to contemporaries; but for us, our descendants, who contemplate the enormity of the event in its entirety and delve into its simple and terrible meaning, these reasons seem insufficient. It is incomprehensible to us that millions of Christian people killed and tortured each other, because Napoleon was power-hungry, Alexander was firm, the politics of England was cunning and the Duke of Oldenburg was offended. It is impossible to understand what connection these circumstances have with the very fact of murder and violence; why, due to the fact that the duke was offended, thousands of people from the other side of Europe killed and ruined the people of the Smolensk and Moscow provinces and were killed by them.