Ban on regular flights may be extended until end of July

By Natalia Kochiashvili

Friday, June 26

“A separate rule has been developed for business visitors and students, and the regulations will be made public soon, but it will be easier to enter our market,” Turnava said.

On June 9th, PM Gakharia said that ‘imported infections from tourism could cost the country so much that it would leave no cost to tourists.’

Natia Turnava, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development announced that the ban on regular flights may be extended until the end of July due to the rapid increase in the number of the coronavirus cases in neighboring countries. She said that the restoration of regular flights depends primarily on the epidemiological situation in the rest of the world, and it is up to the country with whom these regular flights should be resumed.

According to Turnava, the issue of regular flights is expected to be resolved by the end of July, but charter flights will be operated regularly.

Turnava mentioned that the main task for the Georgian government is to strengthen the gains made in properly managing the epidemiological situation and protecting the population.

“It is in our best interest to resume regular flights, as you know that our ministry was at the forefront of the process of bringing in new airlines, but now the epidemiological situation is more favorable,” the economy minister said, adding that probably by the end of July, regular flights will be opened on a full scale, but nevertheless charter flights will be carried out, albeit very selectively.

The minister announced that the government will be very careful with international visitors and tourists in July as well and there will be different rules for business visitors and students. According to her, the government is waiting for the decision of the European Union, which has just opened borders between its member states and soon it will make decisions for non-member countries as well.

The EU has gradually begun to open its internal borders, as most of the continent, at least temporarily, seems to have managed to stop the growth of cases of coronavirus infection. And now the bloc is preparing for a second, and much more difficult step - to ease restrictions on passengers on its external borders from third countries.

This month, the European Commission issued a recommendation to gradually open the borders from July 1st, proposing that citizens of non-EU member states in the Western Balkans continue to be able to enter the EU for unavoidable purposes.

EU member states are now trying to come up with a clear list of countries whose citizens the bloc should accept.

After five meetings, a preliminary list of countries that the EU should open from July 1 has been developed. The list included 47 countries from around the world, including seven European countries - Georgia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia, as well as three micro-states. But ahead of the June 24 meeting, the list was reduced to 29 states. Georgia has been removed from this second, truncated list - sources told RFE/RL that although the country has handled the pandemic well so far, questions remain about the country's healthcare capabilities. The next meeting is scheduled for today, 26th of June.

The EU hopes to compile a list of the 20 countries from which the bloc will open its doors to citizens. However, so far nothing can be said for sure. After the agreement, the countries may be removed from the list if the epidemiological situation worsens there.

Note that Georgia has completely shut down air traffic in the country on March 21st in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Since late March Georgia has carried out over 60 charter flights to evacuate thousands of Georgians from abroad amid the coronavirus outbreak.