The FINANCIAL — On September 26, new arrival terminal was officially opened at Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport.
The process of preparing the operational readiness and merging the terminal has been accomplished and the new arrival terminal is now operational. Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, together with the Turkish Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication, Ahmet Arslan and the TAV Holding President, Sani Sener opened the terminal.
Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, in his speech at the opening ceremony, expressed gratefulness to the employees of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia for the contribution to the development of the Georgian aviation and the Tbilisi International Airport, according to Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.
Members of the Cabinet of Ministers, representatives of the diplomatic corps, the TAV Georgia management and the invited guests attended the event. Giorgi Gakharia, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, addressed the audience at the opening ceremony. According to the Minister, if we want Georgia to become an economic business-logistic hub in the region, it should be started at the airport.
“In fact, the quality of the service will be, of course, improved and it will be comfortable to arrive in Tbilisi, which is very important. Everything is measured in figures and nowadays, after this renovation, the Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport became able to serve 4 million passengers a year, which is very important,” – Giorgi Gakharia stated.
The Minister highlighted that the Tbilisi International Airport should become a hub. “Of course we want the Tbilisi International Airport to expand not only in size but we expect it to become busier functionally. If we want our country to be the economic business-logistic hub in the region, of course, of course, it should start from the airport and the Tbilisi International Airport should become a hub. There are some problems and we need to work harder with the managing company in order to ensure the increased number of direct flies to and from more destinations at Tbilisi Airport. Of course, this is not an easy job, but we are working in this direction and since we really want our capital to become the center of the region, we have to achieve this goal,” – Giorgi Gakharia noted.
Construction of a new arrival terminal at the Tbilisi International Airport started on June 27, 2016 and was accomplished in the shortest period. The TAV Georgia invested 33 million USD in its construction. About 500 people were employed during the construction. The area of a new arrival terminal is 12 000 m2. The terminal received its first passengers on July 12, 2017.
According to the President of the TAV Holding, the airport has a very important role in the tourism industry. “Now, when tourism industry is developing so rapidly in Georgia and the number of tourists is growing, the Tbilisi International Airport can contribute significantly to the development of Georgia’s economy. In 2007, the passenger flow at the Tbilisi International Airport reached around 600 000 people while this year we are expecting to serve over 3 million passengers,” – Sani Sener stated.
The new arrival terminal is equipped with a boarding bridge with two gates allowing to serve two airships simultaneously. Also, there are 4 bus gates in the new terminal. In total, Tbilisi International Airport has a 5 boarding bridges, 6 bus gates and 5 baggage carousels. The new terminal of the Airport has 5 new airplane parking spaces. A new parking space for 250 cars is also available.
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