| Georgian Airways Adds BOEING 737-700 to its Air Fleet |
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24/03/2009 17:06 (242 Day 05:50 minutes ago) | |||||
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The FINANCIAL -- Tamaz Gaiashvili, Chairman of Directors' Board of Georgian Airways, talks about the company’s top priorities, reviews the hardest time for the company in terms of the recession and announces some of the novelties that the company is planning for 2009.
Georgian Airways, winner of Golden Brand 2008, is planning to add to its air fleet in 2009 a new generation BOEING 737-700. The Russo-Georgian conflict and global economical problems have reduced the passenger flow for Georgian Airways by about 50%. Tamaz Gaiashvili, Chairman of Directors' Board of Georgian Airways, says that the company served 110,000 passengers in 2008, which is 51,000 less than in the year 2007 when the company served 161,000 passengers.
Tamaz Gaiashvili talks about the company’s top priorities, reviews the hardest time for the company in terms of the recession and announces some of the novelties that the company is planning for 2009.
Q. Golden Brand is often quoted by the media as being the most important business award in Georgia. What does it means for your company?
A. We have been named winners of the Golden Brand awards for the second time. For our company this award is estimation of our work and stimulation for continuing our plural activities successfully in the future. Carrying the title of a famous Georgian brand is of course a great pleasure for us also.
Q. Are you going to use the Golden Brand award in your promotion campaign?
A. We will definitely use our Golden Brand status in our promotional campaign. Information about our title is already available on our website. We plan to make advertising promo clips, which will include the Golden Brand award ceremony and the moment when we were given the award.
Q. Your company has existed in Georgia since 1993. How did you manage to remain one of the leading Georgian airline companies in terms of the competition?
A. Competition should be healthy. The most important thing for our company is aviation safety. Many people, among them my family members and relatives also use our company’s aircraft flights. Each passenger’s life is very important for me and for our company.
Airzena Georgian Airways’ history began in the year 1993 during the then hard political and economical situation in the country. At that time the company operated only charter and tourist flights. In the year 2000 our air company’s authorities made the decision to add to the fleet two BOEING 737-500-400-300 aircrafts. It was the first case of Georgia commencing the operation of western technology aircrafts.
In September 2007, three new aircrafts of CRJ-100 type were added to the fleet of the air company. Our air company’s priorities are permanent and strict protection of flight safety standards, continual renewal of service, keeping of own place in the international market despite the surrounding strict competition.
As well as caring about passenger safety and comfort, the air company’s authorities pay much attention to social projects. Airzena Georgian Airways organized the competition Aviatori, in which most Georgian school children took part. More than 100 competitors represented aircraft models.
Q. What has your company’s success story been since its creation until now?
A. I will underline once more that our company’s priorities are permanent and include strict protection of flight safety standards and continual renewal of service. In addition to this, we have very highly qualified pilots who are very well trained and prepared. They practically produce error-free flights. Our company has its own safety service and I personally lead the monitoring on aviation safety. Before flight every aircraft is comprehensively checked and prepared for the trip.
We train our pilots in Germany and the USA where experienced and qualified instructors do their best in training them. Our company has a European certificate and European specialists execute weekly monitoring of our company.
Q. In 2007 three new aircrafts of CRJ-100 type were added to the fleet of the air company. Since then have you added some new aircrafts to your company and if so, then which?
A. We are going to offer a novelty to our customers in the next few weeks. Very soon we will add to our air fleet the new generation BOEING 737-700.
Q. How many passengers did your company carry in 2008?
A. We carried 110,000 passengers in total in the year 2008.
Q. Has demand for flights decreased in 2008 compared to the numbers of 2007?
We may say that the results for 2009 won’t be quite as satisfying as we would like, mostly in terms of the massive numbers of unemployment. We should also foresee a sharp decrease of tourist flow and serious problems in this sphere.
Q. Which are the most popular flight destinations at the moment?
A. The bulk of our passengers fly to Ukraine , Holland and Germany. The most popular destination at the moment is Ukraine .
Q. One of the most important priorities for your company was the establishment of business relations with major air companies throughout the world. Georgian Airways has concluded Interline Agreements with 52 major airlines over the last few years. Which of the new partner companies have you added to your list and do you still continue relationships with old partner companies?
A. We have just begun active cooperation with Armavia. We have opened the Yerevan-Tbilisi-Yerevan route, which will be a very comfortable trip for Armenian as well as Georgian citizens. From Tbilisi , passing trough Yerevan, passengers will be able to travel to MOSCOW as well as to different countries.
Q. The personnel of Georgian Airways’ maintenance centre were trained at CSA and KLM Technical Maintenance Centres, how did this affect the company’s success and do you still continue training your staff?
A. Our company’s employees are permanently trained. This is our company’s top priority. We have highly qualified, experienced personnel who are always examined and tested. Georgian airways’ technical base has a European certificate.
In my view, no technical resources should be working in aviation without a certificate from the Government. Pilots, technicians and all aviation personnel should be certificated. Airports, technology and navigation systems should be certificated by highly qualified specialists.
Q. In terms of the global economical downturn, many passengers have cut their expenses on flights. How did this affect your company’s income?
A. Of course financial problems have influenced our company’s income. The Russo-Georgian conflict significantly affected the Georgian aviation market.
Georgian companies’ shares on the aviation market have decreased by about 50%. Civil aviation is a strategic means for the country. If not for Airzena, the country would have been in complete isolation during the August events, because except for us no other companies continued flying. From the beginning of the war throughout 10 days, no other foreign company produced flights. Airzena continued executing flights according to its schedule as usual, without any interruption.
As an example I can tell you the story of about 8 years ago when I arrived in Switzerland and my visit coincided with the bankruptcy of the SwissAir. The Swiss people took this fact very close to their hearts and I even saw some of them crying. If the Georgian people’s dependence on and loyalty towards Georgian airlines would be like the Swiss, then I’d be a happy man. In most countries there is a law in place where the Government allows the budgetary organization’s employees, to use the service of national aircrafts only. For a small country like Georgia, it’s necessary to choose this kind of method of approach, because aviation is a very expensive sphere and permanent control of safety issues demands the assignment of quite large expenses.
Q. Most companies have cut the number of their personnel due to the recession. What about your company, have your reduced the number of your employees?
A. We have not reduced personnel numbers at our company. But it’s worth mentioning that the company has been facing a very tough economical situation since the Russo-Georgian conflict and global economical crisis. And as a result the number of passengers has greatly declined.
Q. How many personnel do you employ at the moment?
A. Georgian airways holding employs 800 personnel at the moment.
Q. What is your flight meal menu and what kind of products do you use?
A. Our company pays much attention to onboard nutrition. According to the decision of the company’s authorities, a new chief cook has been invited who offers a fresh new menu to passengers. Passengers will be able to taste different meals prepared of beef and chicken meat, 10 kinds of salads. The ones who love sweets will be able to taste pastries in accordance with the season.
As well as well decorated and tasty food, passengers also have the choice of the best Georgian wine, alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages, mineral waters and fruit juices. They will also be able to get hot drinks.
Q. Have you any discounts on offer at the moment?
A. We have discounts on Kiev trips; a one way ticket price is EUR 85. There is also a discount on Tel-Aviv trips and instead of a USD 500 round trip ticket, the cost is USD 299.
Q. Why should passengers choose Georgian Airways?
A. Passengers should firstly choose Georgian airways because it is a national carrier and as aviation is a very important sphere for the country, all people should support its development.
Moreover we have European service onboard and the most important thing is that we pay the biggest attention to safety issues. So enjoy flying with Georgian Airways!
Written By Tako Khelaia
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