Flights resume between Georgia and Russia

Regular flights between Georgia and Russia have resumed, said the Federal Air Transport Agency.

Russian media reported direct, regular flights on the Moscow-Tbilisi-Moscow route resumed on September 15, 2014.

Negotiations to resume a flight service between the two countries began 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.

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

The successful airlines were Aeroflot, VIM-Avia, Globus, Sibir, Transaero, Urals Airlines and UTair.

In January 2010 airspace between Russia and Georgia reopened and the first direct passenger flight between the two countries resumed – two years after the countries clashed in the August 2008 war over 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’ require consent for each flight from relevant authorities, which complicated the process.

Georgia’s Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, who are in charge of transportation issues, said it had not received official information from the Russian side about the recommencement of flights.