Georgian Air Navigation rejects reports on runway problems on German FM’s landing
The Air Navigation Agency attributed the aborted first attempt to “pilot’s decision” and said repeated landing attempts were “normal practice” and never considered as an incident. Photo: Foreign Ministry press office
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The Georgian Air Navigation Agency, a company operating under the country’s Ministry of Economy, on Friday rejected reports by Der Spiegel about complications on the runway of the Tbilisi International Airport forcing the aircraft carrying German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to abandon its first landing run at the facility.
The company’s comments came after Der Spiegel said the German FM’s plane - arriving from the North Macedonian capital Skopje - had been scheduled to land at 11pm Tbilisi time before the presence of another aircraft on the runway forced a 20 minute delay in its landing.
The magazine said the plane had landed “without any problems” in the second attempt.
In its comments, the Agency denied the second run had been caused by the presence of an aircraft on the runway during the first landing attempt of the German Minister’s Airbus A340-300, stressing the landing strip had been “completely free” for the initial landing.
At about 11 pm on March 23 the Airbus A340-300, having the German Foreign Minister on board, landed at Tbilisi International Airport on the second attempt. The Georgian Air Navigation firmly denies the information by the German Der Spiegel, claiming the plane had a problem due to another aircraft on the runway. The runway was completely free and according to the primary reports, it was the pilot’s decision solely. It should also highlight that the decision of the crew to take the second run during the landing is a conservative, normal practice in civil aviation and is not considered as an incident" the agency said
Georgian Deputy FM Khatuna Totladze welcomed her German counterpart at Tbilisi airport.
Baerbock is on her first official visit to Georgia.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Friday hosted his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock during the latter’s first official visit to the country.
Annalena Baerbock, the German Foreign Minister, will pay her first official visit to Georgia on Thursday to “further strengthen bilateral” ties and discuss the country’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations and related reforms with the country’s top officials, the German Embassy to Georgia announced on Wednesday.
Georgian foreign minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Wednesday said the visit of the country’s prime minister to Berlin this week was “very timely and important” and would contribute to the “further strengthening” of relations between the two states.
Germany is a country that “actively supports” Georgia's European integration and its aspiration to receive the European Union membership candidate status as soon as possible, Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili said on Tuesday after a meeting with his German counterpart in Berlin.