"Shirak” airport is starting its operation, which was temporarily suspended for a modernization purpose.
During
the renovation works of the runway with the length of 3220m and width
of 45m the layer was entirely changed, using special materials it is
conformed to international standards.
A
new Arrival Hall with a total area of 870 sq. m was built at the
airport, which will give an opportunity to serve up to 700.000
passengers per year.
The
opening ceremony of the new Arrival Hall and the runway was attended by
Deputy Prime Minister of RA Suren Papikyan, Minister of Territorial
Administration and Infrastructure of RA Gnel Sanosyan, Executives of
"Armenia” International Airports”. They visited the newly built
constructions, looked through the conditions.
The
airport "Shirak” of Gyumri has been operating since 1961 and with its
indices, it is the second in the Republic of Armenia. The airport is
located 5 km far from Gyumri and 120 km far from Yerevan.
The building and the runway of the present functioning airport have
been put into operation in 1982. As thorough, repairs had not been
carried out on the runway and in the airside, the runway had been in a
rather bad state.
In 2007, owing to the resources allotted by "Armenia” International
Airports” CJSC, the runway has undergone major overhaul and has been
completely asphalted (length 3220m, width 45m), a new light-signal
system IDMAN of Finnish production has been installed, repair works have
been carried out in the ramp and special ground handling technics have
been imported. The airport "Shirak” of Gyumri can be considered the second international alternate airport of Armenia.
In 2007 General Department of Civil Aviation at the Government of the
Republic of Armenia has granted "Shirak” airport the status of ICAO
First Class Airport.