Passenger traffic increased by 5.4% in the first three quarters of 2019 compared to the same period of last year, Georgian Civil Aviation Agency (GCAA) reported.
Georgian airports serviced 4,139,955 passengers in total in the first nine months of 2019.
The number of passengers is about 9-10% below forecast data for that period, due to the summer interruption of air traffic between Georgia and Russia.
Tbilisi International Airport serviced 2,971,398 passengers (+0.68%), Batumi International Airport – 524,068 passengers (+2.01%), Kutaisi International Airport – 629,618 passengers (+39.79%), Mestia Airport – 6,497 passengers (+20.23%) and Ambrolauri Airport – 1,519 passengers (+15%)
Georgian airports had 512 more flights than in the first three quarters of 2018.
There was a slight decrease in freight traffic.
The volume of cargo transported by air amounted to 18,507,686 tons, down by 2.01% YoY.
The number of take offs and landings at Georgian Airports decreased by 13%, which was also the result of the termination of air services between Georgia and Russia, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL) reported.
It is worth noting that the number of domestic flights increased by 12.6%.
The airlines that entered the Georgian aviation market during 2019 were Air France, Air Malta, SmartLynx Airlines (charter flights), GetJet (charter flights), Onur Air (charter flights), Uzbekistan Airways and Aircompany Armenia. (Agenda/Business World Magazine)
