Tbilisi International Airport
Tbilisi Airport თბილისის საერთაშორისო აეროპორტი | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | United Airports of Georgia LLC | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | TAV Airports Holding | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Tbilisi | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Tbilisi, Georgia | ||||||||||||||
| Hub for | Flyvista, Georgian Airways | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 1,624 ft / 495 m | ||||||||||||||
| Website | tbilisiairport.com | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  TBS Location within Georgia | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Helipads | |||||||||||||||
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Tbilisi International Airport (Georgian: თბილისის საერთაშორისო აეროპორტი) (IATA: TBS, ICAO: UGTB) formerly Novo Alexeyevka International Airport, is the main international airport in Georgia, located 17 km (11 mi) southeast[1] of the capital Tbilisi.
Overview
February 2007 saw the completion of a reconstruction project, with the construction of a new international terminal, a car park, improvements to the apron, taxiway and runway and the acquisition of ground handling equipment. A rail link to the city centre has been constructed, with an infrequent rail service of 6 trains per day each way. George W. Bush Avenue leads from the airport to downtown Tbilisi.[2]
The airport has a contemporary and functional design. It is designed to provide the optimum flow of both passengers and luggage from the parking lot to the planes, with a 25,000 square meter total usable area. There is scope for future expansions without interrupting terminal operations. It has high-tech contemporary systems, keeping passenger convenience and efficiency of the terminal operations in mind, throughout functional spaces organized in an elegant manner. The food and beverage operations are carried out by BTA at 7 points with a staff of 75, while ATU provides Duty Free services at its four stores.[3]
The implementing agency and the borrower for the project is TAV Urban Georgia, a concessionaire and special purpose vehicle for the construction and operation of the airport.
The total project cost was 90.5 million USD. The capacity of the new terminal building is 2.8 million passengers per year.[4]
History
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The first airport terminal building was constructed in 1952. Designed by the architect V. Beridze in the style of Stalinist architecture the building featured a floor plan with symmetric axes and a monumental risalit in the form of a portico. The two side wings featured blind arcades in giant order. A new terminal building was finished in 1990, designed in the International style.[5] In 1981 Tbilisi airport was the 12th largest airport in the Soviet Union, with 1,478,000 passengers on so-called central lines, that is on flights connecting Tbilisi with cities in other Soviet republics.[6] In 1998 the number of passengers had shrunk to 230,000 per year.[7]
Tbilisi airport mainly serves destinations in CIS, Europe and Middle East. In 2009 the Georgian government was negotiating with several airlines (Wizz Air,[8] Ryanair[9] and Air France) in the hope to increasing the number of destinations.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Cargo
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Cargolux | Baku, Kuala Lumpur, Luxembourg, Singapore |
| Coyne Airways | Aktau, Aktobe, Amsterdam, Ashgabat, Atyrau, Balkanabat, Baku, Kyzylorda, Mary, Oral, Shymkent, Turkmenbashi, Yerevan[16] |
| Etihad Cargo operated by Atlas Air | Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Sharjah[17] |
| Qatar Airways Cargo | Doha, Milan-Malpensa |
| Silk Way Airlines | Baku |
| Turkish Airlines Cargo | Istanbul-Atatürk |
Statistics
Passenger traffic at the airport more than doubled between 2009 and 2013 to almost 1.44 million passengers.
| Year | Total passengers | Change from previous year |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | ||
| 2006 |  3.7%
| |
| 2007 | 8.5%
| |
| 2008 | 16.1%
| |
| 2009 |  1.7%
| |
| 2010 | 17.1%
| |
| 2011 | 28.7%
| |
| 2012 | 15.2%
| |
| 2013 | 17.8%
| |
| 2014 | 9.7%
|
Many international airlines now operate from Tbilisi, connecting it with major European and Asian destinations. This also allows passengers flying to or departing from Georgia to benefit from the choice of additional destinations offered by the large European transit airlines who serve Tbilisi from their hubs.
TAV Airports Holding, which owns 76% shares in Tbilisi airport operator TAV Urban Georgia, agreed with the Georgian state-owned United Airports of Georgia to reconstruct the unused runway, one of the two runways at the Tbilisi airport. The old runway will be reconstructed and extended according to ICAO standards and code F regulations and will be able to accept all type of aircraft, including the Boeing 748-8, Airbus A380-800, Antonov An-225 and Antonov An-124. A new F Code taxiway is also planned.[23]
“The operational rights of TAV Urban Georgia have been extended for 10 years 9 months from February 2027 to November 8, 2037 within the scope of the agreement of Built-Operate-Transfer in exchange for the reconstruction investment,” TAV Airports Holding said in a statement on August 24.
“It has been planned to get the investment on reconstruction of the runway started in September 2012 and complete the project in less than 2 years,” the company said.
Tbilisi International Airport is operated by TAV since October, 2005. In Georgia the company also operates airport in Batumi for 20-year term starting from May, 2007.[24]
See also
References
- ^ a b "EAD Basic".
- ^ "Tbilisi Officials Name Street After Bush". Associated Press. 14 September 2005.
- ^ Tbilisi Airport Terminal Information
- ^ "tbilisiairport.com - Terminal features".
- ^ Baulig, Josef. Architekturführer Tbilisi (in German and Georgian). Landeshauptstadt Saarbrücken/Technische Universität Kaiserslautern. p. 70. ISBN 3-936890-39-0.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ Sagers, Matthew; Thomas Maraffa (July 1990). "Soviet Air-Passenger Transportation Network". Geographical Review. 80 (3). American Geographical Society: 269. doi:10.2307/215304.
- ^ "Global transport" (13–15). Stroudgate: Chartered Institute of Transport in the UK. 1998: 97.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Wizz Air".
- ^ http://www.geotimes.ge/index.php?m=home&newsid=22608
- ^ "Aeroflot resumes service to Tbilisi from October 2014".
- ^ L, J (19 February 2015). "Air Astana Adds Seasonal Astana – Tbilisi Link June – August 2015". Airline Route. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
- ^ "Flight schedule". http://dniproavia.com/. «Dniproavia» airlines. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
{{cite web}}: External link in|website= - ^ "Etihad Airways to launch services to Tbilisi". etihad.com/. Etihad Airways. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
- ^ "Flydubai launches Tbilisi flights".
- ^ "Scheduled Flight Search". Pegasus Airlines. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- ^ Coyne Airways Caspian network schedule
- ^ Etihad Crystal Cargo route map schedule
- ^ "Tbilisi Airport - Airport Statistics".
- ^ tbilisiairport.com - Tbilisi Airport Profile (p.15)
- ^ "Georgian Civil Aviation Agency - Number of Passengers Served".
- ^ "Тбилисский международный аэропорт обслужил в 2013 году 1 436 046 пассажиров". "Бизнес Грузия". 15 January 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
- ^ "Georgian Civil Aviation Agency - Number of Passengers Served".
- ^ "tbilisiairport.com - TAV Georgia to invest $65 million in Tbilisi Airport".
- ^ Civil Georgia. "Civil.Ge - TAV Gets Tbilisi Airport Operation Extension for Planned USD 65m Investment".
External links
Media related to Tbilisi International Airport at Wikimedia Commons
