Sukhumi Dranda Airport (IATA: SUI, ICAO: UGSS)[2] is the main airport of Abkhazia. It is alternatively known as Sukhum Babushara Airport. Both Dranda and Babushara are villages located nearby. The airport derives the first part of its name from Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, which it is located some 20 kilometres (12 mi) away from the airport.
[edit] History
The airport was built in the mid-1960s, when the region was part of the Soviet Union. In the Soviet era, it was used only for domestic flights, primarily to transport people from across the Soviet Union to the sunny beaches of Abkhazia. The airport was heavily damaged during the civil war in the early 1990s. Land mines and other explosive remnants of war have been cleared from the airport since by the HALO Trust, the only land mine clearance agency active in Abkhazia at the present time.
The airport is currently only used for flights to the mountain village of Pskhu[verification needed] and for flights carried out by Russian Air Force.
In 2006 the government of the Republic of Abkhazia expressed its desire to resume international air traffic in the near future[3], but airport is not recognized as international by ICAO and flight can be allowed only with permissions of Georgian government.[citation needed]
There is another airport in Abkhazia near Gudauta, which serves Russian military troops located there.
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