The FINANCIAL — Prices of air tickets are meant to decrease in the coming days in Georgia.
The FINANCIAL — Prices of air tickets are meant to decrease in the coming days in Georgia.
New airports, new airlines and Georgia becoming an air hub, are all resulting in cheaper tickets, experts and sector representatives claim.
A new airport was recently opened in Kutaisi, Georgia, which is mainly oriented on low cost carriers. At present flights to Kiev are available twice a week from 22 EUR (45 GEL). Flights to Moscow will start from end of October and Minsk is on negotiations from winter 2012.
“The exact prices of the flights to Moscow are not yet known,” Ketevan Aleksidze, Director of the United Airports of Georgia, told The FINANCIAL. “The airport fee is very low in Kutaisi and therefore prices of tickets to and from there will be much lower compared to other airports. This is our strategy and we plan to maintain the trend. If prices grow then it will be proportional to general prices in the country and will still remain low in comparison with others.”
“Kutaisi Airport is competing with the other airports quite well, but this doesn’t mean that it is replacing Tbilisi or Batumi airports. Still, the tough competition may result in the cheapening of tickets in Tbilisi and Batumi as well. Frankly speaking, I appreciate this fact as healthy competition always brings about lots of benefits for the people,” she explained.
Flights to Kiev are full to capacity therefore From winter season Wizzair will do 3 flights per week. Furthermore, flights will be available daily from Spring to high demand. The high demand means that Georgia is attractive for tourists but they are hesitant to travel to this country for such high prices. The reduced prices have already brought lots of new visitors to Georgia. And as the prices are so low, they can even visit the country just for a weekend, which is convenient, and is bound to increase traveller numbers significantly.
Other air agencies are also supposed to reduce their prices.
“Prices will decrease by 20-25 percent in the near future,” said Ia Khomeriki, Country Manager at APG-Airagencies. “Opening Kutaisi Airport will have an important influence on this. We don’t plan to add flights from Kutaisi Airport, but opening a new airport is essential for market development.”
Currently APG-Airagencies offers flights to Kiev for GEL 850, London – GEL 800, Amsterdam – GEL 750.
Georgian Avia Service Agency (GASA), which is the official seller of Pegasus in Georgia, has already cut prices significantly from Batumi Airport. Somehow this is a result of increased prices and the precedent of lower prices. Pegasus is a low cost air agency as well.
“Georgia is already becoming an air transit hub,” said Salme Beraia, Senior Sales Executive at Fly Georgia. “Quite big financial resources are being mobilized in the air market and this will bring positive results to retail prices as well as increase the competition.”
Fly Georgia is a new local air agency that entered the market with lower prices. For the moment it offers flights to Amsterdam for GEL 700, Tehran – GEL 620. Flights to Batumi and Hurghada are available as well. Soon the company will add flights to Berlin, Kiev, Minsk and Moscow.
In general the cheapened air tickets are the result of Kutaisi Airport, everyone agrees. As for Kutaisi Airport itself, the lower prices were reached by flexible management. Paata Sheshelidze, Economic expert and President of the New Economic School – Georgia, doesn’t exclude the possibility that Kutaisi Airport may be subsidised by the Government.
“Kutaisi airport is a treasury and therefore it may be subsidised. This will be a guaranty that prices will be low. But I hope that the Government doesn’t do this,” Sheshelidze said. “TAV, which is managing Tbilisi and Batumi airports, is not motivated yet to review their politics due to prices. But the competition will make them work on new politics.”
“Every company is trying to get more and more benefit from the situation on the market. TAV is oriented on revenue the same as every business subject. The reason for the prices is the state regulations, which do not really create a competitive environment. But I think that this will soon change.”
Nowadays there are 20 airlines operating in Georgia with two Georgian ones. The main destinations for Georgians are Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain and The Czech Republic.
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