Georgia signs contract with Ryanair
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Thursday, August 22
The agreement was signed in the building of the government administration by Giorgi Chogovadze, director of Georgian Airports Association operating under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, and David O’Brien, Commercial Director of Ryanair. As Chogovadze noted, negotiations with the airline Ryanair lasted almost 10 years.
Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Natia Turnava and Prime Minister, Mamuka Bakhtadze attended the event.
According to Turnava, the agreement has been reached on direct flights to 12 European cities, including three flights starting this year and the rest starting next year.
“We have completed quite intense and difficult negotiations - direct flights start in new directions both from Kutaisi and Tbilisi International Airport. We have agreed on 12 new destinations, including various attractive and exciting European cities, from which we expect to see new tourism flows,” said Economy Minister.
Turnava also announced about the upcoming meeting with two American leading airlines regarding establishing direct flights to the US. “In early September, I plan to travel to the United States with my negotiating team. There we will meet with two leading airlines, which we think will be interested in launching direct flights to Georgia and expect that, like Ryanair, which we have completed in a very short period, we will also complete this,” said Economy Minister. According to her, the survey, which PM Bakhtadze mentioned back in April, was completed and the detailed study showed that direct flights to the US were both strategically and commercially attractive.
Direct flights to Europe will be operated from both, Tbilisi and Kutaisi International Airports. Flights to Tbilisi and Kutaisi have already appeared on the official website of the airline.
In the first phase, Ryanair will operate flights from Kutaisi David Agmashenebeli Airport to the French city of Marseille and the Italian city of Bologna 2 times a week, and from Tbilisi Shota Rustaveli Airport to Bergamo airport of Milan 4 times a week. Direct flights to Europe will start on November 6, 2019.
According to the Prime Minister, the agreement will allow the country to attract more tourists from EU countries, while Georgian citizens will travel to Europe cheaper: “Ryanair is the most low-budget company in Europe, it is one of the most popular brands. This is an important part of our vision to make Georgia a business hub of our region and as for Ryanair, the introduction of such a large-scale brand in Georgia is truly remarkable,” said Bakhtadze.
Head of the government thanked the company, its leadership, Georgian team, the Ministries of Economy and Foreign Affairs for achieving this goal through very intense negotiations,” Bakhtadze said.
Together with Turnava and minister of foreign affairs, Davit Zalkaliani, Bakhtadze held a meeting with Ryanair’s Chief Commercial Officer.
After the meeting on behalf of Ryanair David O’Brien expressed joy regarding the meeting with the PM on such an important day. He noted that originally it was planned to launch direct flights to 3 destinations, but PM Bakhtadze assured him of the importance of Germany-Georgia ties: “I am very pleased that we will soon add one more destination to these 3, it will be Tbilisi - Cologne flight next summer,” said Ryanair commercial director.
The party "European Georgia" welcomed the arrival of the company Ryanair. As a member of the party, Giorgi Kandelaki stated briefing, Irish airline was supposed to start flights to Georgia in 2013, but Kutaisi airport expansion works were delayed.
He also remembered that the ruling party considered the reconstruction of the airport to be an improper expense that resulted in delaying the signing of the contract by 6 years.
According to him, Kutaisi airport, which made the flight accessible to many citizens and brought huge capacity to the economy of the country, is far behind the plan of two million passengers a year. “Achieving to the planned capacity of Kutaisi Airport means not only completely neutralizing tourism dependence on Russia, but also a serious leap for Georgia and, first of all, the economy of Western Georgia,” Kandelaki said.
Irish low-cost airline Ryanair was founded in 1984. The company's fleet consists of 455 Boeing 737-800s with a capacity of 189 passengers. The airline currently operates in 224 airports flying 1800 destinations in Europe, North Africa (Morocco) and the Middle East (Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan). As of 2018, the airline has carried a total of 139 million passengers and has become the second-largest airline on the European market.