Summer season to see over 13,000 flights to and from Georgia, nearly 2,500 with Europe

The Ministry of Economy of Georgia on Wednesday said 13,600 flights with connections to Georgia were scheduled for the coming summer season, including 2,480 to and from Europe.

The connections - comprising 18 percent of the total number - will be served by 11 airlines that will operate flights with European Union states in 38 directions, with the Civil Aviation Agency approving schedules between June-October following applications submitted by the companies. 

The frequency of flights with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is also increasing, with 2,255 flights planned with the Gulf countries - 17 percent of the total number.

The body added 1,761 flights were planned with Russia, which was 13 percent of the total, and added they would be operated by three airlines which were not on the EU sanctions list.

Flights will also not be carried out by aircraft whose technical support has been discontinued by manufacturers, which means limiting access to technical and flight documentation, as well as the supply of spare parts”, the Ministry said.

It also noted Dutch and Turkish budget airlines Transavia and AJET had started regular flights, while Austrian Airlines had resumed serving the Vienna-Tbilisi-Vienna connection after a “long-term pause” this year.

Between January-April, Georgian airports served 1,946,881 passengers with regular and non-regular flights, which marked a 31 percent increase over the same period of 2023 and a 34 percent rise over January-April 2019.