Georgia: The Civil Aviation Agency announced on Tuesday, April 12, that Georgian airports served 700,200 passengers in the first quarter of 2022, a 565 per cent rise over the same period as compared to last year and a 69 per cent recovery from the pre-pandemic level in 2019.
In the reported period, Georgian airports held a total of 3,978 flights, with regular flights accounting for 2,996 and charter flights accounting for 982. This marks a 207 per cent increase as compared to the number of flights in the same period in 2021 and a 76.5 per cent recovery over 2019, according to CAAG.
In the first 3 months of 2022, services provided by Georgian airports-
- Tbilisi International Airport – 507,050 passengers (an increase of 407%)
- Kutaisi International Airport – 121,470 passengers (an increase of 37,047%)
- Batumi International Airport – 68,474 passengers (an increase of 1,635%)
Moreover, passenger traffic also witnessed an increase at local airports all over the country, with the number of passengers at the northern highland Mestia Airport increasing by 307% as compared to the past year and exceeding the figure from 2019 by 13%.
At Ambrolauri Airport in the west, services have also inclined by 153 per cent year-on-year, with a 43 per cent increase compared to 2019. Natakhtari Airport, in the suburbs of Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, saw a 17 per cent and a 234 per cent rise in 2019 and 2021, respectively.
Services provided by Georgian local airports:
- Mestia Airport – 1,407 passengers
- Ambrolauri Airport – 278 passengers
- Natakhtari Airport – 1,521 passengers
Furthermore, during the first quarter of this year, the cargo volume transported by air totalled 4,483,077 tonnes, up 3% year-on-year.
According to the CAAG, Turkish Airlines leads the Georgian aviation industry in terms of passengers transported in the first three months of 2022, followed by Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air, with both airlines accounting for 13% of market shares.
