Russia restricts Tbilisi-Moscow flights of Georgian Airways

Georgian Airways could not perform its scheduled flight to the Russian capital of Moscow today as the Russian Transport Ministry has suspended its flights.

Four out of 21 flights per week have been suspended between Tbilisi and Moscow including weekends.

General Director of Georgian Airways Givi Davitashvili said the air company did not receive any preliminary notice.

General Director of Georgian Airways Givi Davitashvili released a special statement over the issue. Photo from Georgian Airways

Davitashvili said this will bring serious financial problems to his company as up to 2,000 sold or reserved tickets have been cancelled.

Citing Russia’s Transport Ministry, Russian media says this is a response to the restriction set by Georgia on the Russian owned Ural Airlines on performing flights from Moscow’s Zhukov Airport to Tbilisi.

A seven-year stalemate between Georgia and Russia broke down in September 2015 when Georgian Airways started performing direct flights to Russia.