The old building of Zvartnots International Airport in Yerevan, also known as the "round building," is at risk of demolition. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's government is creating prerequisites for this:
Recently, a draft to amend the government's 2004 decision No. 1616 was published on the unified website for the publication of legal acts, e-draft.am. In other words, the executive branch wants to remove the old complex of Zvartnots Airport from the list of immovable monuments of history and culture of Yerevan, located in the Malatia-Sebastia administrative district:
The draft amendment was prepared by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure:
According to the justification of the draft, on January 22 of this year, the government approved the 5th amendment to the concession agreement signed on December 17, 2001, between it and Argentine-Armenian businessman Eduardo Eurnekian's company Corporacion America:
With this last amendment, the government agreed to extend the term of the contract until December 31, 2067, meaning the concession term has been extended by another 35 years:
Modernization and functional transformation of the old building is planned
Within the framework of the mentioned program, as reported by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, modernization and functional transformation of the old building of Zvartnots International Airport is planned to bring it in line with modern airport infrastructure, safety, and operational regulatory requirements:
The Ministry also noted that currently, the old complex is not used for its original purpose and does not meet the technical and safety requirements of the existing airport infrastructure:
"We believe that the old building of Zvartnots International Airport, as a transport infrastructure, is not appropriate to include in the mentioned list as a monument of national significance, as this circumstance hinders the implementation of reconstruction and functional modernization works envisaged by the airport development program," the Ministry stated in the justification of the draft:
The master plan can be considered a development program or vision for the coming years:
In December 2025, the publication "Hetq" already addressed this issue:
In September 2025, the American publication Forbes also addressed the economy of Armenia:
At the end of the year, it became clear that "Zvartnots" had set a record for passenger traffic:
The concessionaire has long had a plan to demolish the old complex of "Zvartnots"
In the master plan for 2013-2017, "Armenia International Airports" had already planned to demolish the "round building" of Zvartnots: the old VIP building, located east of the current passenger complex, was also included in the demolition plan:
According to this document, the demolition work was to be carried out in 2014-2016:
Below you can see satellite images of the old and new (operational) passenger complexes of "Zvartnots" from 2015 to 2026:
The "round building" was included in the list of monuments a year ago
As a result of professional and public resistance and pressure against the demolition of the "round building," on July 11, shortly after the change of power in 2018, the expert commission unanimously voted to grant the status of immovable monument of history and culture to the old building of Armenia's main airport and a number of other well-known buildings in Yerevan:
However, the Armenian government only included the old building of "Zvartnots" in the state list of immovable monuments of history and culture of Yerevan on August 14, 2025:
The "Arthur Tarkhanyan Center" (architect A. Tarkhanyan is one of the authors of "Zvartnots") has announced that it strongly condemns the initiative of the Armenian government to remove the old building of Zvartnots Airport from the state list of immovable monuments of history and culture of Yerevan:
"The old building of Zvartnots Airport is one of the best examples of Armenian modern architecture, which has gained wide recognition in the international community:
We call on the Armenian government to reconsider the master plan for the development of Zvartnots Airport and, following the requirements of legislation, preserve the old building of Zvartnots Airport as a valuable example of Armenian architectural and cultural heritage," the center stated:
