Aircraft takes off for Soho airport after three decades
After a 30-year hiatus, Sukhumi International Airport, named after Vladislav Ardzinba, has resumed operations. Reconstruction of the airport began in 2023, with the first test flight taking place on February 7 of this year. Today, May 1st, marked a significant milestone as the first civilian flight in modern history took off from Sukhumi.
The flight, which was photographed by Thomas Tkhatsuk for Sputnik, is currently in the air and is expected to arrive at its destination at 18:26. The airport where this historic flight took place is not explicitly named in the search results, but the earliest known civilian airport with a scheduled landing was Flughafen Stuttgart-Böblingen on April 20, 1925.
The reopening of Sukhumi International Airport is part of a larger effort to establish air communication with various cities across Russia. Flights to Abkhazia are now being operated from Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, and Nizhny Novgorod. Efforts are underway to extend this network to include Ufa and Kazan as well.
Unfortunately, a flight from Vnukovo Airport was delayed by 17 minutes, but this did not deter the excitement surrounding the resumption of civilian flights from Sukhumi. The airport, which had not been operational since 1993, is once again a beacon of hope for the region, offering a new avenue for travel and connectivity.
As the plane soars through the skies, it symbolises not just a return to normalcy, but a step forward towards a brighter future for the people of Abkhazia. The reopening of Sukhumi International Airport is a testament to the resilience and determination of the community and a significant milestone in the region's development.
