Kutaisi International Airport could begin flights to Spain, Germany

Kutaisi International Airport is in talks with a range of international airlines to bring new air carriers, add new routes and increase flights from the regional airport.

Airport officials are in negotiations with Spain, Turkey, Germany and other Asian countries regarding new flight services to the Georgian airport.

In an interview with Commersant, Georgian Airports Union's Director Ketevan Aleksidze said: "We hope to promote new directions from April-May this year.”

She also summarised the 2014 year as "extremely successful” for Kutaisi International Airport.

"Two new destinations were added - Vilnius and Budapest – and current directions were maintained. In total, 218,000 passengers were handled throughout the year,” she said.

In her words, she said it was unfortunate the developments in Ukraine meant the airport had to stop a number of flights to Donetsk, Kharkov and Lviv.

"But in spite of the tragic events, we had a very successful summer and August was the most successful period. If things had not happened in such a way, we would have handled up to 300,000 passengers,” Aleksidze noted.

Statistics showed in 2014 about two million passengers took regular or charter flights from Georgia’s four airports. This figure was a 9.5 percent increase compared to 2013.

Tbilisi International Airport served 1.5 million passengers last year, which was a 9.7 percent increase on 2013.

As for Batumi International Airport, about 213,000 passengers utilised the service in 2014 – a 2.15 percent increase.

Meanwhile Mestia Airport served 1,343 people, which was a 51.75 percent increase on the previous year.

And at Kutaisi International Airport, about 218,000 passengers were transported on regular or charter flights last year – a 16 percent increase to the previous year.