The President of Georgia opened the construction of the Kutaisi International Airport today. The Head of State inspected the ongoing work and noted that next year Kutaisi will have not only an airport of regional meaning but of international meaning as well. According to the statement of Mikheil Saakashvili, the main goal is to attract low budget companies to Georgia and create an opportunity for people to fly to other countries at a lower cost.
The President of Georgia symbolically participated in the demolition of the old building and tore down one of the walls with the help of heavy machinery.
“We are beginning the construction of the Kutaisi Airport today, which should be completed during summer next year. This city must also have an international airport, with flights in every direction. Planes should fly to Munich, London, New York, Shanghai, Istanbul and etc. from here. The main goal is to work with companies that have low budgets and provide low prices. Low budget companies have trouble coming to Georgia, because the prices at the Tbilisi airport are not flexible yet. However, since we started talking about this airport, the situation is improving there. Because the main highway will pass Kutaisi, this airport will service passengers not only from Tbilisi but from Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia as well. This will also cause a lowering of the tariffs at the Tbilisi airport. We don’t have high incomes, but people should still be able to travel, do business, and study, that is why they should be able to fly more inexpensively. Kutaisi will be a stimulator not only for this city, but for the rest of Georgia as well. We have to bring low budget companies here, which will compete with other airports so that they cannot artificially increase costs anymore. The work has been planned by a Dutch company and the runway is already under construction. It will be ready in a few months.” – stated Mikheil Saakashvili.
The rehabilitation work will be completed in September of next year. The length of the runway is 2600 meters and this airport will be able to receive any type of aircraft. Considering the environment and climate conditions, this airport will not only have meaning for Georgia but for the entire Asia-Europe corridor and will be used as a reserve airport.
The project is implemented by a Dutch architectural company “UNSTUDIO” along with Georgian companies. The construction of the new airport and observation tower will be the largest scale and distinguished among all of the projects implemented in Georgia recently.
The project is also important, because local population will be employed during and after the construction.