In occupied Abkhazia, the Russian investor company has started dismantling depreciated buildings on the territory of Sokhumi Babushara Airport. According to the Minister of Energy and Transport, Jansugh Nanba, construction equipment and workers will be brought to the site soon.
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According to the press service of the de facto president, the mentioned issue was discussed at a working meeting on February 19. The so-called President Aslan Bzhania instructed Jansugh Nanba to submit the plan and schedule of construction works.
In the autumn of 2023, it became known that Sokhumi Airport would be restored by the son of the former Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia and currently the First Deputy Secretary of the Security Council, Rashid Nurgaliev (junior), LLC Infrastructural Development, to restore air traffic.
The de facto government of Abkhazia and the company signed a public-private partnership agreement. According to the agreement, the investor will renovate a runway 3100 meters long and 45 meters wide, after which it will be possible to "receive modern Russian and foreign aircraft." It is also planned to build a new passenger terminal and renovate the historical building of the airport.
"The capacity of the new airport complex will be 1,300 passengers per hour," said the so-called Abkhazia in the press office of the president.
Regarding the restoration of the Vladislav Ardzinba Sokhumi International Airport, an agreement was signed between the governments of Russia and the de facto Abkhazia in June 2023. The Abkhaz side undertook to hand over the airport to the Russian company implementing the reconstruction for 49 years.
LLC Infrastructural Development (ООО "Инфраструктурное развитие") was established on July 10, 2023, and is registered in Moscow.
Babushara Airport was opened in the 1960s and closed in 1993 as a result of the ongoing conflict in Abkhazia. The airport is located 18 kilometers from Sokhumi, in the village of Babushara. It is not certified by the Aviation Authority of Georgia and has not been assigned a four-digit International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) location code. Therefore, international flights cannot be operated from Babushara. ICAO recognizes Abkhazia as a constituent part of Georgia.
