Sochi Airport

The Sochi Olympics chief, Dmitry Chrnyshenko has denied rumours that the recent conflicts are affecting the Sochi Winter Olympics which is to be held in 2014. The IOC chief inspector, Jean-Claude Killy confirmed it by adding that he is confident that the Winter Olympics is going to be a great success and a magnificent spectacle.

Putin’s favorite ski resort, the Crimean resort will be the venue for the 2014 Winter
Olympics. It is reported that he was very particular about Sochi playing the host for
the 2014 Olympics, to the extent that he made a trip to Guatemala City in 2007 to
apply pressure on the IOC into opting for Sochi instead of Korea. He succeeded in his
mission but only because he agreed to some supposedly explicit conditions that
includes “guaranteed snowfall” and that the roads will be “traffic free”. Cheers to Putin for his efforts!

Georgia has remained loyal to the acting contract in regards to supplying electricity to Russia and Sochi, despite having ruffled each other’s feathers recently. Reports of a possibility of disrution of electricity supply from Georgia was doing its rounds last week.
Further reports, this time from the ITAR-TASS, revealed that all flights to Europe, except to Turkey and Ukraine from Tbilisi’s airport,  have been cancelled. Flights to Russia have also been cancelled. This situation has brought air traffic to a standstill in these regions, leaving many travelers stranded.

The Russian Prime Minister is expected to have a meeting with his French counterpart in the Krasnodar region of Sochi in September this year. The prime focus of this session would be on the bilateral cooperation where issues relating to the aerospace, energy sector, transport and aircraft services would be discussed. This should, hopefully bring about further developments in these sectors, which should be great news for Sochi!

The Olympics organizing committee in Sochi submitted its first year progress report to the IOC (International Olympics Committee) after having accomplished all their goals in terms of environment, planning and integration, construction, marketing and legal aspects, brand protection, finance and transport.
The report received positive feedbacks from the IOC, which is a fantastic beginning for the Russian Government and the respective organizing committees.

The UCI Cycling Protour is to be inaugurated in 2009 in Sochi and the maiden race would take place between May 20th to May 24. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s deputy PM, Alexander Zhukov would be supervising the event as the chairman of the race organizing committee. Developments are well under way with additional roads being built in the areas in preparation for the spectacular event.
A trial race will be held between September 10 and September 14 this year and it should create quite a bit of excitement in Sochi. So if you are planning a trip to Sochi in these months, it would definitely be worth adding these events in your travel itenary.

Austria, being one of the major investors in South Russia, has now gained tremendous prominence since Strabag, a reputed builder has signed a contract worth US$90 million. This fund is to be used for the purpose of renovating the existing Sochi airport. The business relations between the two nations have improved considerably over the years and this is being reflected in terms of a steady inflow of investments into Russia.

The Austrian minister of Economics and Labor confirmed that such investments would strengthen the ties between the two nations to a great extent.

As a result of the new makeover the Sochi airport is expected to undergo shortly, flights by Austrian airlines, which would be connecting Sochi and Vienna directly, will appreciate this welcoming gesture.

Regular flights between Sochi and Abkhaz Gagrami that were suspended in early 1990s were resumed on July 1st this year. With the ability to carry 189 passengers in one flight, it takes around 45 minutes for these carriers to reach Abkhazia. It should cost you 1200 rubles for a business class ticket while an economy class ticket is available at 800 rubles. Thus, this puts the Georgian and Arkhas conflict to rest.