MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

The experts of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) completed the work on the general plan for the development of the Kutaisi International Airport. The document prepared by the IATA Consulting, the world's leading consulting company in the field of aviation, was discussed at a meeting held in the Ministry of Economy. The First Vice Prime Minister Levan Davitashvili, the Deputy Minister Mariam Kvrivishvili, the Head of the Government Administration Levan Zhorzholiani and representatives of the Administration, the "Union of Georgian Airports", the Civil Aviation Agency and “Sakaeronavigatsia” leaders, as well as representatives of the ICAO and the IATA participated in the meeting.

As mentioned at the meeting, a number of aspects were investigated and evaluated during the development of the general development plan, based on which the final document for the Kutaisi International Airport was developed.

According to Levan Davitashvili, the need for the general development plan of the Kutaisi International Airport was determined by the dynamics of passenger flow growth, which has been observed in the Kutaisi Airport for the last few years. According to the minister, last year the airport served a record number of passengers - up to one million seven hundred thousand, and this flow will increase even more after the completion of various infrastructure projects, including the east-west connecting high-speed highway.

Experts from the International Air Transport Association explained that research and evaluations include the current condition of the airport terminal, runway, platform, access ways and other infrastructure of the airport; short-, medium- and long-term passenger flow and aircraft traffic forecasts; development of possible scenarios for the development of the airport terminal and airfield (including the runway, access ways, platform) and selection of the best alternative option based on the evaluation; Possible locations for the development of the VIP terminal, cargo terminals, technical service enterprise, as well as the development possibilities of the airport's outer territory, etc.

The participants of the meeting also discussed the development of the airport terminal and the airport part in the next 5, 10 and 20-year perspective within the framework of the general plan and the possibilities of how many passengers the airport will be able to serve and how many passengers it will be able to serve during peak hours.

According to the general plan, the development of the airport infrastructure is divided into several stages, which envisages the development in accordance with the achievement of a predetermined amount of passenger flow in a period of 20 years, which ultimately means the creation of service opportunities for 5,1 million passengers and up to 30000 flights per year by the Kutaisi International Airport. The implementation of the general plan will begin this year - in the summer of 2024, the construction of a new, 3,5 km long runway, appropriate three-way runways and a platform is planned at the Kutaisi airport, which will allow the airport to serve any type of passenger and cargo aircrafts.