Departure
92%
vs 95% ▼ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Ambrolauri Airport is a small regional aerodrome serving the town of Ambrolauri in the historic Racha region of western Georgia, set in a mountain valley on the right bank of the Rioni river. Rebuilt and reopened in January 2017, it handles light turboprop services to Natakhtari near Tbilisi and offers a striking VFR destination amid the Racha and Lechkhumi mountain ranges.
Ambrolauri Airport is a small public airfield owned and operated by United Airports of Georgia, a state-owned company, serving the town of Ambrolauri in the Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti region of western Georgia. Since its reopening in 2017 it has handled scheduled light-aircraft services, notably Vanilla Sky Airlines flights linking Ambrolauri with Natakhtari Airfield near Tbilisi using a 19-seat Let L-410. For a sim pilot, it offers a short mountain-valley strip with dramatic surrounding terrain, making it an interesting VFR destination rather than a hub of major traffic.
The airfield lies at the edge of Ambrolauri town, on the right bank of the Rioni river, sandwiched between the Racha and Lechkhumi mountain ranges. This is a remote, mountainous part of western Georgia, and the surrounding valley terrain should be factored into any VFR approach or departure planning.
Ambrolauri has a single physical runway, 11/29, surfaced in concrete and lit, measuring approximately 3,544 to 3,544 ft (with the reciprocal direction listed at 3,534 ft) in length. There is no ILS available at the field.
No communications frequencies are published for Ambrolauri Airport, and there is no ILS or other instrument approach aid recorded for the field. Flights to and from Ambrolauri are conducted under visual flight rules and are dependent on actual weather conditions.
The airfield sits at the edge of Ambrolauri town on the right bank of the Rioni river, between the Racha and Lechkhumi ranges, which provide clear visual landmarks for pilots approaching the valley. The nearby village of Khvanchkara, about 10 kilometres to the west and known as the source of the Khvanchkara wine, lies within the same valley system.
Ambrolauri was named by then-President Mikheil Saakashvili in 2010 as one of several regional airports slated for development to stimulate tourism. In 2015 the Georgian Aviation Authority identified four old airfields suitable for revival, with Ambrolauri the first, and to date the only one, to be redeveloped. Construction of a new 1,100 m paved concrete runway and a 600 square metre terminal, designed with room for future expansion, was completed in 2016, and the airport formally opened in January 2017.
Since reopening, Ambrolauri has been served by Vanilla Sky Airlines operating a 19-seat Let L-410 several times a week to and from Natakhtari Airfield near Tbilisi. Services were suspended for six months in 2020 owing to the coronavirus pandemic but resumed that summer, with passenger traffic recovering to pre-pandemic levels by 2021. The terminal is sized for around 50 passengers and was built with scope for future expansion, though this had not been required as of 2022.