Georgian Airways breaks seven-year stalemate
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
The next sign of Russia-Georgia approximation was seen last week when Georgian Airways' airplane landed in Saint Petersburg.
After a seven-year break Georgian Airways performed a Tbilisi-Saint Petersburg flight on April 10 which is viewed as a significant step towards revising the mutual ties.
The air company’s Director General, Iase Zautahsvili said the flight was carried out with a one-time permit from the Russian side and it was not known yet whether or not regular flights would resume on this route.
Georgian Airways, previously known as Airzena, performed regular Tbilisi-Saint Petersburg flights until 2008, when Russia and Georgia clashed in a war and afterwards Tbilisi cut all diplomatic ties with Moscow.
In 2009, Georgian Airways, allowed by the Russian side, launched Tbilisi– Moscow charter flights, while in 2011 S7 Airlines of Russia also operated charter flights to Tbilisi. Since October 2014, Russia's Aeroflot and Transaero resumed their flights to Georgia.
Tbilisi-Saint Petersburg flight on April 10 had only three passengers on board, while the plane carried comparatively more passengers back from Saint Petersburg to Tbilisi.
Zautashvili said the lack of passengers was due to untimely notice from the Russian side as only a day before the flight date Georgian Airways was informed that it could perform the flight. "So, we had no enough time to inform our customers," he added.
Meanwhile, Georgian Airways has officially requested the Russian side on launching direct scheduled Tbilisi-Saint Petersburg and Tbilisi-Samara flights.
Zautashvili expressed his hope that they would get the final answer from the Russian side by April 15.
If the Russian side approves Georgia's request, Georgian Airways will carry out flights on these routes twice a week.
- - -
Follow Mushvig Mehdiyev on Twitter: @Mushviggo
Follow us on Twitter: @Azernews