According to Ekho Kavkaza, the Federal Air Transport Agency of Russia (Rosaviatsia) has given permission for 284 flights a week between Russia and Georgia. The document was published on the agency’s website.
The Echo of the Caucasus publication mentions that the Georgian authorities, for their part, have not yet issued permission for new flights.
According to media reports, most of the permits were issued by Rosaviatsia to Red Wings, which wants to fly to the following destinations:
from Vladikavkaz to Batumi and Tbilisi;
from Yekaterinburg to Batumi and Kutaisi;
from Zhukovsky to Batumi, Kutaisi and Tbilisi;
from Kazan to Batumi and Kutaisi;
from Krasnodar to Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi;
from Makhachkala to Batumi, Kutaisi and Tbilisi;
from Mineralnye Vody to Batumi and Tbilisi;
from Moscow to Batumi and Kutaisi;
from Nizhny Novgorod to Batumi, Kutaisi and Tbilisi;
from Perm to Batumi, Kutaisi and Tbilisi;
from Rostov-on-Don to Batumi, Kutaisi and Tbilisi;
from Samara to Batumi and Kutaisi;
from Sochi to Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi (from seven to seven flights);
from Tyumen to Kutaisi and Tbilisi;
from Ufa to Kutaisi and Tbilisi;
From Chelyabinsk to Batumi, Kutaisi and Tbilisi.
Flights to all these destinations will be carried out seven times a week.
It is also mentioned that Rossiya (Sochi-Tbilisi, seven flights a week) and Yamal (Tyumen-Tbilisi and Tyumen-Batumi, one flight a week) will be able to fly to Georgia, although the airlines themselves have not yet commented on this.
In 2022, the US Department of Commerce imposed sanctions on two Red Wing aircraft for flights to Russia and Belarus that violated export restrictions imposed by the Biden administration against Russia.
On July 5, 2023, it became known that the Georgian airline Georgian Airways is starting transit flights from Moscow to Nice via Tbilisi.
● Direct flights between Georgia and Russia have been restored by Vladimir Putin’s decision of May 10, 2023.
● Despite the protests of the President of Georgia, civil society, opposition and Western partners, the Georgian government joined Putin’s initiative. On May 20, Georgian Airways, the main national carrier, made its first flight to Moscow. President Salome Zurabishvili announced a boycott of Georgian Airways.
● On July 1, Ukraine adopted a new package of sanctions, which, along with Russian and Belarusian companies, also includes Georgian Airways. Sanctions against it were introduced for a period of 10 years. Among other things, this implies an asset freeze and a complete ban on flights through Ukrainian airspace.
