[3] In May 2012, the director of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Civil Aviation Administration, Tigran Gabrielyan, announced that the airport would begin operations in mid-2012.

[2] According to Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Urban Development Minister Karen Shahramanian, the terminal building would be completed in November 2010; however this was delayed until April 2011.

[8] Dmitry Adbashyan, the head of NKR Civil Aviation Service announced that the airport launch would take place in summer of 2011.

[18][19][20][21][22] The OSCE Minsk Group, which mediates the conflict, reaffirmed that the operation of this airport could not be used to support any claim of a change in the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, and urged the sides to act in accordance with international law and consistent with current practice for flights over their territory.

"[24] Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who stated “that such provocative actions will not serve to promote the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict," and called on Armenia "to stop such provocative steps.”[25] The GUAM's Secretary General Valeri Chechelashvili responded by stating that the airport was within the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan and can not operate without Azerbaijan's permission.

[26] On April 14, 2011, 23 members out of 324 from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) endorsed a declaration condemning "the construction by Armenia of an airport in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

[28] It was expected that the airport would have regular flight services only to Yerevan, Armenia, with state-owned carrier Artsakh Air.