Georgian Economy Minister: there is will to resume flights with Greece, but confirmation has not been issued yet

Ambassador of Greece to Georgia Dimitrios Karabalis earlier said that Greece would have been one of the first countries Georgia to resume flights with in July. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.

Agenda.ge, 05 Aug 2020 - 14:20, Tbilisi,Georgia

Georgian Economy Minister Natia Turnava stated today that there is a will to resume flights with Greece but flight confirmation has not been issued yet.

With this statement Turnava responded to the Ambassador of Greece to Georgia Dimitrios Karabalis who earlier said that Georgia would have been one of the first countries with which Greece would have resumed flights in July.

The flights have been confirmed by the Georgian Civil Aviation Agency. If there was confirmation [of the resumption of regular flights to Greece] there would have been a document issued by this agency. [But] business interest must be balanced with the epidemiological interests of the population of our country. Therefore, we are [still] making the final decision", Turnava said.

Georgia has already received the first tourists since the coronavirus lockdown. On August 3, German airline Lufthansa carried out the first flight from Tbilisi to Munich, while yesterday Air France resumed flights. 

About 188 passengers arrived from Munich to Tbilisi and another 188 from Paris to Tbilisi. Head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration Mariam Kvrivishvili said these tourists are now traveling in Georgia without first going through 14-day quarantine. 

Turnava said that she is happy to see the first tourists in the streets of Tbilisi. She said that three quarters of the passengers were tourists. She said that in addition to its own natural attractiveness, the status of a corona-free, safe country also helps Georgia to attract more tourists.