Sukhumi Babushara Airport(IATA: SUI, ICAO: UGSS),[3] previously known as Sukhumi Dranda Airport, and also known as Vladislav Ardzinba Sokhumi International Airport(ICAO: URAS),[4] is the main airport of Abkhazia. It is located in the village of Babushara next to the larger village of Dranda and some 20 kilometres (12mi) from Sukhumi, the capital of the republic.
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 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.
From 1993 to 2025 the airport was used only for flights to the mountain village of Pskhu and for flights carried out by Russian Air Force.[citation needed]
In 2006, the government of the Republic of Abkhazia expressed its desire to resume international air traffic in the future;[5] however, the facility is not recognized as an international airport by ICAO, and flights can be allowed only with the permission of the Georgian government.[6]
There is another airport in Abkhazia near Gudauta, which serves Russian military troops located there, and an airstrip in Pskhu.
In July 2019, the leadership of Abkhazia issued a decree to open the "Vladislav Ardzinba Sukhumi International Airport" for international flights.[7]
In July 2023, the People's Assembly of Abkhazia ratified an agreement that will allow a Russian investor to reconstruct the airport.[8]
On February 7, 2025, there was a test flight from Moscow Vnukovo airport.[9] The first scheduled flight was on May 1.[10]
Babushera Airport, Sukhumi (Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR)
Destination
Kopitnari Airport, Kutaisi (Georgian SSR)
Occupants
11
Passengers
9
Crew
2
Fatalities
11
Survivors
0
On August 14, 1982 two airliners collided on a runway at Babushera Airport. The aircraft involved were a Tu-134A and a Let L-410M operated by "Aeroflot" on flights 974 (Sukhumi to Moscow) and G-73 (Sukhumi to Kutaisi). The collision resulted in the deaths of 11 people—all 9 passengers and both pilots on the L-410.
The Let L-410M Turbolet (registration number CCCP-67191, factory number 781120, serial number 11-20) was manufactured by the Czechoslovak plant "Let" in 1979 (first flight on February 7). On 18 April of the same year, it was delivered to the customer — the MGA USSR, which assigned it to the Sukhumi Joint Aviation Detachment of the Georgian UGA. By the day of the accident, it had completed 4,098 flight cycles and had flown 2,738 hours.[15]
↑ The political status of Abkhazia is disputed. Having unilaterally declared independence from Georgia in 1992, Abkhazia is formally recognised as an independent state by 5 UN member states (two other states previously recognised it but then withdrew their recognition), while the remainder of the international community recognizes it as de jure Georgian territory. Georgia continues to claim the area as its own territory, designating it as Russian-occupied territory.
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