China’s SF Airlines to launch cargo flights through Tbilisi Int’l Airport in July
SF Airlines, a Chinese cargo airline, will begin operating flights through Tbilisi International Airport in the Georgian capital city starting from July 20. Photo: TAV Georgia
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SF Airlines, a Chinese cargo airline, will begin operating flights through Tbilisi International Airport in the Georgian capital city starting from July 20.
TAV Georgia, the company operating the Airport, this week said the airline would be running weekly flights from Urumqi to Tbilisi using a Boeing B757 aircraft.
Following the initial launch, SF Airlines aims to increase its flight frequency to twice a week starting August 24.
The decision was confirmed after a meeting between TAV Georgia and representatives of the airline.
With a fleet of over 80 aircraft worldwide, SF Airlines is considered the largest cargo airline in China, TAV Georgia also said.
The first regular cargo train is heading from China to Georgia and is expected to reach the country in about 10-12 days, the Georgian Foreign Ministry says.
Kazakhstan and China on Friday started transporting transit cargo from the Kazakh port of Kuryk to Baku seaport via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, also known as the Middle Corridor, a logistics route connecting Central Asia and China to Europe via the South Caucasus, in trial mode, the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan said.
Georgian Deputy Economy Minister Guram Guramishvili on Saturday said the trial transportation of transit cargo from China using the Middle Corridor, a logistics route connecting Central Asia and China to Europe via the South Caucasus, through Georgia was “a historical fact”.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Thursday said China was a “significant” trade partner for both the European Union and the United States, and called criticism of Georgia’s deepening economic relations with the country a “double standard”.