By Emilio Luciano Cricchio
Gyumri’s Shirak airport, Armenia’s second largest civilian airport, is having its runway fully restored and a new 870 square meter arrival hall built, with restoration works set to be complete by September 15, 2021.
Through an investment of $7.5 million by the Armenia International Airports Company, the airport’s passenger capacity will almost triple. According to Armenian civil aviation authorities, currently, 250,000 passengers pass through the Gyumri’s airport each year. This figure will grow to 700,000 once renovation works are complete.
After the 1988 Spitak earthquake, the airport fell into disuse and only restarted operations in 2004. Furthermore, according to aviation officials, the old arrival hall and runway did not meet international standards.
At the moment, Gyumri’s Shirak airport mainly operates flights to Russia.
In January 2020, Irish budget airline Ryanair launched new flight routes from Gyumri to Greece and Germany. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, those flights were suspended.
Tatevik Revazian, head of the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia, told CivilNet that Ryanair’s suspension of flights to Armenia is “temporary” and “short term.”
