In a sensational interview given by Dmitry Medvedev to the Georgian television channel PIC, the Russian President said that, despite the enormous difficulties still existing in the Russian-Georgian relations, there are no more obstacles to the operation of direct flights between the two countries.
Indeed, the Georgian airline Airzena, like the Russian airline Siberia, were able to establish an air bridge between the two countries in the absence of diplomatic relations. The flights between Tbilisi and Moscow operate on a daily basis, like in the good old days. The resumption of air links became a manifestation of the good will of the Russian side, since Georgia has never introduced any restrictions, unlike Moscow, which introduced them in 2006 after the row surrounding the arrest of four Russian officers on spying charges.
After the events of August 2008 no one could dream about direct flights to Russia and citizens of the two neighbouring countries had to take a long journey through a third country.
However, the situation is changing for the better. Airzena already flies not only from Tbilisi, while Siberia operated flights to Kutaisi - the second largest city in Georgia. Given the importance of tourism, which Saakashvili has recently called "the principal industry of the country", these changes are symbolic in nature.
VK has talked about prospects of Airzena with an official representative of this airline, Nino Giorgobiani.
- Nino, tell us about the flights of your airline to Russia.
- We already fly every day in the direction of Georgia. In addition, during the summer period we operate flights from Moscow to Batumi. They operate twice a week, on Tuesday and Sunday. The decision was made based on the growing demand: many Russians are willing to fly directly to the Black Sea coast, and via Tbilisi.
In addition, flights to Batumi are very convenient for business travellers. They can spend only a few hours on flying, solve all the issues and return home the same night. Tourists generally come for a week or ten days and can also chose a convenient time. We provide Boeing aircraft for our flights and in both directions it is always almost full. This flight is becoming more popular among Russians.
- How did you manage to establish flight connections in the absence of inter-state relations?
- As a privately-owned company we sent a request to the Russian services and received a positive response from there. Firstly, it concerned flights between Moscow and Tbilisi and then we decided to ask about flights to Batumi.
- What other directions are there from Batumi?
- We have just launched flights in the direction of Odessa. Moreover, the demand turned out to be so huge that we are planning to increase the number of flights. Batumi and the Odessa region of Ukraine are to sign a cooperation agreement. There are daily flights from the capital of Adjara to Kiev. At first flights were carried out three times a week, but demand was so high that we decided to operate daily flights. There are also flights to Kharkov and Donetsk. Virtually every time there is an increase in the number of passengers flying from Tel Aviv to Batumi. The most successful route was Baku-Batumi-Baku: Azerbaijani citizens expressed great interest in the Black Sea coastal resorts of Georgia.
Interview by Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for VK
