Stepanakert Airport, the sole civilian airport of the Republic of Artsakh, located about east of the capital, has been closed since the onset of the war in 1990. However, the government was pressing ahead with plans to reopen the airport , and raised about 1 billion drams ($2.8 million) for its reconstruction from unspecified "charitable sources". It began building a new airport terminal and repairing the runway in late 2009. In any case, its unresolved status makes direct air communication with other countries all but impossible according to IATA conventions.