YEREVAN, March 3. /ARKA/. The passenger traffic through Zvartnots airport in Yerevan and Shirak airport in the second largest city of Gyumri grew by 21.6% in the first two months of 2017, when compared to the same time span of 2016, to 309,628 people, according to spokeswoman for the Civil Aviation Department Satenik Hovhanisyan.



She said the passenger traffic through Shirak airport alone surged by 233% in February to 4,224. The passenger traffic through Zvartnots airport in February alone increased by 18.5%. The growth in January and February amounted to 19.8%.



Also 2,576 metric tons of cargo were handled by Zvartnots airport in January and February, by almost 50% more form the year before.



The growth of passenger traffic through Shirak airport is attributed to low-cost Pobeda airline, a division of Russian Aeroflot, which started direct flights between Moscow and Gyumri last December 15. The minimum cost of a ticket is about $16.



Pobeda operates three regular flights from Moscow to Gyumri – on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. The airline also transfers passengers from Yerevan to Gyumri by comfortable buses. Pobeda operates 12 Boeing-737-800 aircraft making flights to 58 destinations, including international ones.



Currently Armenia has two operating airports – Zvartnots in Yerevan and Shirak in Gyumri, both run by Armenia - International Airports company in accordance with the 30-year concession management agreement signed with the Armenian government in 2001. Armenia - International Airports is owned by Eduardo Eurnekian. -0





18:59 03.03.2017