Georgian PM announces plan for new “ultra-modern” int’l airport for Tbilisi

A new international airport will be built near Georgia’s capital city of Tbilisi, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced during a weekly Government meeting on Monday.

A former airfield in Vaziani near the city will be used for the project, which is expected to cost $1.26 billion.

The Prime Minister said the new airport was expected to have a “significant positive impact” on the domestic economy, increasing growth by 0.2 percentage points.

This means that an average of about ₾350 million ($129.65mln) will be added to the economy over the next few years”, he said.

Kobakhidze said the current international airport could serve around 4.5 million passengers per year, but the country was expecting an increase in the number of visitors, leading the Economic Council to consider either expansion of the current facility or construction of a new one.

The cost of expanding the current airport would be about $900 million, while constructing a new airport would cost $1.26 billion. The expansion would allow us to increase the passenger flow to a maximum of 15 million, but there would be no further development prospects. On the other hand, constructing a new airport would increase the number of passengers to 19 million with the potential for further expansion”, the PM explained.

He added design and tender procedures for the facility would be completed next year, and thanked the Ministry of Economy for their work on the project.