Shirak airport in Armenian Gyumri under major renovation
YEREVAN, August 11. /ARKA/. The Shirak airport in Armenia’s second-largest town of Gyumri is undergoing a major renovation, the Armenia International Airports company, running the facility, said.
It said apart from the renovation of the runway, also a new arrivals hall is under construction. The old arrivals hall with an area of 400 square meters did not meet any of the requirements and created problems for passengers.
The new arrivals hall under construction will have an area of 870 square meters with 8 passport control booths and a baggage conveyor belt. It will be able to handle 1 flight per hour, which, if necessary, can be increased by 3 times. The actual capacity of Shirak airport is now 250 thousand passengers per year; this figure will be increased to 700 thousand passengers.
Commissioning of the new arrivals hall is scheduled for September. In parallel, work is underway on the overhaul of the runway, which began on July 15 this year and is planned to be completed by September 1.
Although the average service life of the asphalt surface of the runway is 10 years, the need to repair the runway at the Shirak airport arose 14 years later (the last time the repair was done in 2007). After 14 years of operation, the runway has developed many cracks.
The total volume of investments made in the renovation of the Shirak airport by the Armenia International Airports company is about $7.5 million, of which about $1.5 million was invested in the construction of the arrivals hall, and $6 million - in the renovation of the runway.
“There are other promising projects related to the development of the Shirak airport, which should be discussed with the Armenian government,” the Armenia International Airports said.
Gyumri's Shirak airport has been operating since 1961. The airport is located 5 km from Gyumri and 120 km from the capital city Yerevan. The airport's runway is 3,220 m long and 45 m wide. In 2007, the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia awarded Shirak airport the status of an ICAO first class airport. -0-
