The city of Yaroslavl in Central Russia plans to create a new international airport on the site of a former air force base, a local official said Thursday.


Valery Firago, deputy regional governor, said the airport, 250 kilometers from Moscow, will be the only one along the famous Golden Ring tourist route and that it will be able to host all types of modern planes.


"We hope that the airport will boost economic development of the region and will help to attract crowds of tourists," he said in a telephone interview. "It will also strengthen economic ties of the region with other parts of the country."


The new airport will begin to take domestic cargo and passengers flights at the end of September, but modernization will take three years and international certification is not expected before 1997, Firago said.


Investment in a terminal, hangars and other infrastructure will cost $200 million, he said, with the money to come from airline fees, banks and local government funds.


Firago did not specify what the new airport's handling capacity will be, but said it will help to ease the burden of "extremely busy Moscow airports."


Four Moscow airports now account for 27 percent of Russia's total passenger volume and 17 percent of domestic cargo flights.


The airport is one of a growing number of military facilities to be put to civilian use.


The Russian government is planning to convert a former rocket base in the Far East into a civilian space-launch site.