UNITED AIRPORTS OF GEORGIA
UNITED AIRPORTS OF GEORGIA
United Airports of Georgia LLC is a 100% state-owned enterprise under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. The Company was established in 2010 and owns all three international and three domestic airports in Georgia.
Second largest – Kutaisi International Airport is managed by United Airports of Georgia, as well as three domestic – Mestia, Ambrolauri and Telavi Airports, that serve as one of the main drivers for the development of Mestia, Ambrolauri and Telavi as a touristic destination.
Tbilisi and Batumi International Airports are handed over to the private company – “TAV Urban Georgia” for management, however the property itself of the airports belongs to the United Airports of Georgia and the aviation security in all the airports is also provided by UAG.
Apart from the Airport operations and concession management United Airport of Georgia is responsible for promotion of all Georgian Airports on international level, managing negotiations with the airlines and incentivizing new routes to/from Georgia. Accordingly, Since 2021, Georgia's international airports have expanded their route network with 52 new destinations, 19 of which are located in Europe.
UAG representatives actively attend all the major international aviation events to increase the country awareness and to have Georgia on the radar of major carriers in the world.
United Airports of Georgia as an airport authority manages the aviation security in all Georgian Airports, including Tbilisi and Batumi Airports and manages and operates its own training center - AUG Academy for aviation personnel.
During the record-breaking year of 2019, all the three International Airports served 5,190,283 million passengers and 23,953 flights. In 2024, all international airports welcomed 7,425,399 million passengers and handled 31,937 flights. In the number of passengers grew up by 43% and flights by 33% compared to the 2019 year.
Supervision of the civil airports of Georgia.
Ensuring aviation security in the civil airports of Georgia directly or through a contractor company.
Provision of airport services to airlines in the civil airports of Georgia directly or through a contractor company.
Ensuring design, construction, modernization, and development of the civil airports of Georgia.
Management and optimization of human and technical resources existing in the civil airports of Georgia.
Drafting of unified guidance documentation regarding airport services and fees for the civil airports of Georgia.
Management of property of the civil airports of Georgia in agreement with the partner and the supervisory board.
Introduction and maintenance of applicable international standards and norms (ICAO, IATA, etc.) in civil airports.
Drafting of the development plans for the civil airports of Georgia.
The Government adopted a liberal aviation policy in 2005. The country provides a virtually unlimited number of third and fourth freedom rights to foreign airlines, as well as some fifth freedom rights, a rare phenomenon worldwide. A Common Aviation Area Agreement was signed with the EU in December 2010. The agreement facilitated the integration of Georgia’s air transport sector into the European aviation standards and rules framework. As a result of the liberal regulatory framework and the growth in the hospitality sector, the number of foreign airlines operating in Georgia has been consistently increasing in recent years, and before the impact of COVID-19 in 2019, Georgia was served by more than 50 foreign airlines.
Georgia has been one of the fastest growing aviation markets worldwide, with passenger traffic in the international airports increasing almost sixfold over the last 10 years, from just 0.9 million in 2010 to 5.2 million in 2019. Tbilisi international airport has been the largest contributor to growth in absolute numbers. While Georgia’s two other international airports, Batumi and Kutaisi have grown even faster, they are relatively small. Between 2015-2019, passenger traffic in Tbilisi airport grew by 14.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and more than doubled from 1.8 million to 3.7 million passengers. The second largest airport in Georgia – Kutaisi International Airport grew by a staggering 35.1% CAGR over the same period from 0.2 to 0.9 million passengers, while Batumi airport grew at 24.6% CAGR from 0.2 million to 0.6 million. This rapid growth in passenger traffic in recent years has been driven by Georgia’s booming hospitality sector. Between 2015 and 2019, number of international travelers in Georgia by air increased by 48% from 0.7 million to 1.8 million. While Georgia is mostly an inbound market, with foreign the visitors accounting for threequarters of all passenger traffic, the outbound travel has been also increasing as a result of Georgian citizens’ visa-free travel to the European Union (EU) - Schengen area granted in 2017 in the framework of the Association Agreement with the EU.3.
