Shirak Airport

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Shirak Airport
IATA: LWN - ICAO: UDSG
Summary
Airport type		Public
Serves		Gyumri
Elevation AMSL		5000 ft (1524 m)
Coordinates		40°45′01″N, 43°51′33″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
02/20	10,564	3,220	Asphalt

Shirak Airport (IATA: LWN, ICAO: UDSG) is an international airport serving Gyumri and the province of Shirak. It located about 5 km from the center of Gyumri. The airport was inaugurated in 1961, and is the second largest airport in the country, after Yerevan`s Zvartnots International Airport. At present, the airport has scheduled flights to Moscow, Rostov-on-Don and Sochi.

At the start of 2006, Armenia felt the importance of having a second airport, when adverse weather conditions meant that many flights had to be diverted from Yerevan’s Zvartnots Airport into Gyumri’s Shirak Airport. New traffic control equipment has now been put into operation at the airport, which allows identification of planes within a 400 km radius. The equipment is a newly developed system and according to the Czech company that implemented it, this is the first time it has been installed at an airport in a mountainous location, and the experience from it’s installation will serve as a model for its future installation in other regions.

According to the head of Armenian civil aviation, the reconstruction of the airport is of strategic importance to the Armenian government, and it will continue to support its improvement.

In 2005, a total of 46,100 passengers used the airport.