Aeroexpress

Last week, I rode the new Aeroexpress service from the airport in Sochi's Adler District to the central station in Sochi.  The ride was quiet, comfortable, very pleasant and at just 50 minutes from station to station, it is shorter than the usual automobile trip.  I think this is a godsend to travelers and will help to reduce traffic on Sochi's main road.  For those who use have used the Aeroexpress service in Moscow between the city center and Sheremetyevo, Domodedov and Vnukovo Airports, the comfort and convenience of the service will be familiar and the bright red wagons will be a welcome sight on arrival at the airport in Sochi.  The train has one stop at Adler, where a new station is being built and costs 200 rubles for standard class and 350 rubles for a business class ticket.

We made a video of the trip.  Please watch it:

Russian Firm to Operate and Invest $100 Million in Abkhazia Airport

The Republic of Abkhazia and Russian airport operator, Novaport agreed on July 22 on a deal for Novaport to operate the airport in Sukhum, Abkhazia.  The deal involves an expected investment of $100 million.  Novaport believes that the airport will see 250,000 passengers by 2015.  It is viewed as an alternative airport for the 2014 Winter Olympics to Sochi/Adler.  The airport in Sukhum has the longest runway in the Caucasus region.  I was told by an airport development expert in 2010 that Sukhum's airport is ideally situated geographically and because of its length to be an important transportation hub for flights not only to and from Russia, but also North America, Europe, Central Asia, the Persian Gulf and the Caucasus.  

This is welcome news and because the redevelopment of the airport makes Abkhazia more accessible, it will also make the country more attractive for other commercial development.  Currently, tourists come by car, bus, train or fly to Sochi/Adler and cross the border into Abkhazia.  Just this summer, the rail line was rebuilt and passenger service was reinstated from Russia to Sukhum.

Return to Sochi from Sukhum, December 3

I returned from Sukhum to Russia on Friday, December 3.  It takes between 1/12 and 2 hours to reach the border.  Fortunately, almost no one was at the border, so I quickly was over the bridge, through passport control and customs and on the Russian side.  

On the way from Sukhum to the border, I asked the taxi driver about the war in 1992-93 and if he had been in Abkhazia at the time.  He told me he had fought in the war, been wounded and evacuated to convalesce in a hospital for several months.  He also lost both his brother and father in the fighting.  In a country that lost about 4 % of its population in combat, almost no family was left untouched by tragedy.  

Despite this, Arsen was upbeat about the future in Abkhazia.  Like me, he believes that there are great changes coming to Abkhazia.  Like most Abkhaz, he is uncertain exactly what form it will take, but he believes that tourism is going to be the backbone of growth.  The day before in Sukhum, I explained at length to and accomplished local businessman about a contact I had with a well-known insurer of unusual risks.  I told him that if this firm would "rate" the political risk in Abkhazia and if the cost was economical, it would help draw investment capital at much lower cost.  Initially, he was unfamiliar because most Abkhaz have not been exposed to western capital market information.  However, he quickly grasped what this would mean.   Of course, this is not the only way forward and there are a lot of other scenarios for capital to enter the country. It is apparent that there are other investors who see what I see in Abkhazia.  I saw several foreign business groups and there are already Turkish entrepreneurs engaged in retail and restaurant businesses.  Tim Post, an American Krasnodar-based entrepreneur who has is becoming well-known in the Russian language internet and who developed BarCamp Krasnodar, toured Abkhazia with me the previous week.  Tim was very enthusiastic.  He said  "Abkhazia is what you get if Rancho Sante Fe "married" New Zealand."  and when talking about development possibilities Tim thought that Abkhazia "is analogous to discovering another Hawaii. If political events break favorably, this "middle earth" kingdom will be one of the most sought after in Europe."

When I got back across the border, I had to change my ticket for my return to the US at the airport before I went to the train station.  On the way, I was delayed by traffic due to Russian President Medvedev's arrival.  The Sochi/Adler Airport is an impressive and modern facility, by any standard.

I saw the new high speed rail connecting Sochi/Adler with Krasnaya Polayana, the site of the Alpine events.  I am often in the area, but even so I noticed a lot of progress since my last trip through in October.  Including event venues there ore than 200 new projects scheduled to be completed in time for 2014.  Watch for more information here on Sochi going forward.