The airport in Sukhumi, located in the occupied region of Abkhazia and reopened in May 2025 after a 30-year hiatus, is temporarily halting its operations. Starting October 25, regular flights will be suspended, jam-news.net reports.

The suspension of the airport’s operations is linked to the end of the tourist season and a decrease in passenger traffic. Flights to Sukhumi have become unprofitable.

The pause in the airport’s work may last until May 2026. However, it is not excluded that flights to Sukhumi could temporarily resume for several weeks during the New Year holidays.

Since its reopening, flights at the airport have only been operated from Russian cities. The airport has no air connections with other countries, lacks an international license, and its operation is considered illegal under international law.

From the time of the airport’s restoration, the de facto authorities of Sukhumi anticipated that by the end of 2025, passenger traffic would exceed one million people. In reality, however, only about 110,000 passengers have used the airport.

The de facto government of Sukhumi is now trying to reach an agreement with Moscow to maintain at least one or two flights per week through subsidies from the Russian budget.