International airport opens in Azerbaijani Nakhichevan
By Sevindzh Abdullayeva, Viktor Shulman
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 12, 2004 Wednesday
NAKHICHEVAN (Azerbaijan), May 12 – Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev
attended on Wednesday a ceremony to unveil an international airport
in Nakhichevan.
The commissioning of the airport will make it possible to link that
southwestern region of the country with Moscow, Ankara, Istanbul,
Tehran and some capitals of former Soviet republics, the first deputy
general director of the Azerbaijanskie Avialinii state carrier told
Itar-Tass.
According to Sabir Ilyasov, two landing strips of the new airport
will be able to land heavy passenger and cargo planes of the Il-76,
Mria and Boeing types.
The air terminal can accommodate up to 300 passengers an hour. The
new airport has a cargo terminal and flight-control points ensuring
the safety of flights in mountainous conditions. Nakhichevan Airport
has got the status of international one.
President Aliyev emphasized the importance of opening an international
airport in Nakhichevan, which has been cut off from the rest of
Azerbaijan since 1992 as a result of a conflict around the mostly
Armenian populated Azerbaijani enclave of Nagorno Karabakh.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, he drew attention to the fact
that such a major facility had been for the first time built without
the attraction of foreign investments.
Aliyev also said Azerbaijan was planning to buy several
state-of-the-art aircraft in 2006.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
