Armenia plans a new airport

The Armenian PM has ordered the appropriate bodies to carry out a feasibility study for building a new airport to satisfy the needs of forwarding companies and airlines.

This idea has come about because many foreign airlines refuse to use Gumry airport when Zvartnoc-Yerevan airport is closed due to bad weather, which unfortunately happens quite often. Gumry airport is in the mountains and many international pilots refuse to land there. Therefore the planes land in Turkey or Georgia rather than Armenia. The latter has offered to train overseas pilots to land planes in the mountains but no one has yet responded to this offer.

To find an appropriate site for a new airport, develop a project and construct it will take at least five years, it is believed. However Armenia is also considering creating an economic zone around Yerevan International Airport to encourage further traffic.