Georgian Airways on strike: Moscow flight cancelled

Georgian Airways has stopped its flights to Moscow today and said it could suspend flights to other destinations too.

The company leadership protested against the recent Russia-Georgia contract about resuming direct flights, which Georgian Airways believed gave an unfair advantage to Russian companies.

The airline demanded equal conditions for the Georgian and Russian airlines, or the current financial loss would soon see Georgian aviation "no longer exist”.

Georgian Airways, also known as Airzena, is a privately owned flag carrier that operated a variety of services from Georgia to destinations mainly in Europe and Western Asia.

Today the company cancelled its Tbilisi-Moscow flight that was scheduled for 09:15am and held a briefing where company representatives read an eight-point list of demands.

One of the requests was for Georgia to abolish a note the country sent to Russia on July 8, where the Georgian side gave a green light to Russian companies to enter Georgia and launch regular flights between Tbilisi and Moscow.

Tbilisi-Moscow-Tbilisi flights resumed in autumn after lengthy negotiations between the two countries. Last year during a special meeting between special envoy of Georgian Prime Minister on Russian issues Zurab Abashidze and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin first discussed the issue.

Following the meeting the Russian inter-departmental commission responsible for authorising air carriers to operate international routes granted permission to several Russian airlines to resume flights between Moscow and Tbilisi.

General Director of Georgian Airways Iase Zautashvili said Georgia gave 13 Russian companies permission to enter the country. Each were allowed to conduct 14 flights a week.

"This means not only Airzena but the whole Georgian aviation was handed over the Russian government,” Zautashvili said.

The company also demanded Georgian Civil Aviation Agency Director Guram Jalaghonia to be dismissed and a "qualified person” to be appointed in his place.

In response to this request, Jalaghonia said he would not resign until his supervisors’ decided so.

He also said not 13 but two Russian companies, Aeroflot and Sibir, were authorised to provide flights.

"As for frequency, 14 flights a week is temporary until January 31. Airzena was also granted 14 flights a week from the Russian side so in an attempt to not tense situation until the negotiations end, we decided to have this scheme,” Jalaghonia said.

Meanwhile, Airzena said it would stay on strike until its requests are met.

A noisy meeting was held between the company’s representatives and the Civil Aviation Agency’s leadership this evening but it is not known yet whether the parties reached an agreement.

Tbilisi-Moscow-Tbilisi direct flights were cut after Russia and Georgia clashed in the August 2008 war over Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia), a breakaway region of Georgia.

Since 2011, Airzena and Russia’s Sibir Airlines have carried out direct charter flights to various cities between the two countries, including Tbilisi and Batumi. However, the airlines’ required consent for each flight from relevant authorities before they could fly to their neighbour country, which complicated the process.