Stepanakert Airport

Stepanakert Airport (Ստեփանակերտի Օդանավակայանը) is an airport in Ivanyan, near Stepanakert, the capital city of the de-facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) which is internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan. The airport has been under the control of the Nagorno Karabakh forces since 1992 and flights already ceased to take place with the escalation of the war in 1990.

As the airport lies within the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan which lost de facto control over this territory in the early 1990s, its status as an international airport is unrecognized and there are no codes for the airport in the official IATA and ICAO lists.

In 2009, facilities reconstruction and repair work began. Though originally scheduled to launch the first commercial flights on May 9, 2011, Karabakh officials postponed a new reopening date throughout the whole of 2011. In May 2012, the director of the NKR's Civil Aviation Administration, Tigran Gabrielyan, announced that the airport will begin operations in summer 2012. However the airport still remains closed due to political reasons.

Facilities
The airport resides at an elevation of 2001 ft above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 05/23 with an asphalt surface measuring 2178 x.

History
By the end of 1980 the airport served a regular passenger flights Yerevan - Stepanakert. With the Karabakh conflict and the constituted authorities of the Azerbaijan Soviet blockade of the Armenian SSR and NKAO airport was the only means of communication blockaded the region with the outside world. The airport has been under the control of the NKR since the ceasefire agreement of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994.

Renovation
In 2009, work began on the construction of a new passenger terminal. Repair work is also being conducted on the main runway. According to Karabakh’s Urban Development Minister Karen Shahramanian, work on the terminal building will be completed in November 2010, however this has now been delayed until April 2011. Air navigation equipment is also being installed there. The newly renovated airport will be capable of receiving 200 passengers every hour.

On April 5, 2011 it was announced that the opening of the airport was postponed. Dmitry Adbashyan, the head of NKR Civil Aviation Service announced that the airport launch will take place during the 2011 summer. NKR officials also insisted that the postponement was not related to the dispute with Azerbaijan.

Reactions
Shortly after the NKR Civil Aviation Department's statement announcing the May 9, 2011 opening date, Arif Mammadov, director of Azerbaijan’s Civil Aviation Administration warned that according to aviation laws, flights from Yerevan to Stepanakert are not authorized and may be shot down.

The NKR response came from David Babayan, head of the central information department of the NKR president’s office, who said that NKR armed forces "will give an adequate response" if Azerbaijan attempts to shoot down an aircraft. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan condemned the threat to shoot down civilian aircraft, dismissing it as "nonsense". Sargsyan also said that he would be the first passenger on inaugural Yerevan-Stepanakert flight.

The Azerbaijani presidential administration condemned Sargsyan's statement as a provocation on the part of Armenia. A few days later, Elkhan Polukhov, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, declared that “Azerbaijan did not and will not use force against civil facilities.”

The United States Assistant Secretary, Philip Gordon, as well as then ambassadors to Azerbaijan and Armenia, Matthew Bryza and Marie Yovanovitch, respectively, characterized that threat as "unacceptable"; and advised that issues related to the security of the airport should be solved before its opening.

The OSCE Minsk Group, which mediates the conflict, reaffirmed that the operation of this airport could not be used to support any claim of a change in the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, and urged the sides to act in accordance with international law and consistent with current practice for flights over their territory.

A number of individuals and groups have openly voiced their opposition to the opening of the airport, including the United States ambassador to Azerbaijan Richard Morningstar who stated in November 2012 he was "convinced that the functioning of the airport would not help the peace process."

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who stated “that such provocative actions will not serve to promote the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict," and called on Armenia to "to stop such provocative steps.” The GUAM's Secretary General Valeri Chechelashvili came out with similar statements.

The Turkish government condemned the efforts of Armenia to open the airport, and reiterated that it will close its air space to Armenia, if the opening goes ahead.

Airlines and destinations
It is expected that Karabakh will have a regular flight services only to Yerevan, Armenia, and a state-owned carrier, Artsakh Air. Artsakh Air, created on January 26, 2011, intends to purchase three Bombardier CRJ200 jets. Officials have said only that a one-way air ticket to the Armenian capital will cost 16,000 drams ($45 USD). As of September 2013 the flights haven't started.