Flydubai to Begin Georgian Adventure

United Arab Emirates (UAE) low-cost carrier Flydubai is to inaugurate a twice weekly flight between Dubai and Tbilisi, the capital of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Republic of Georgia. The new service will commence from November 4 and will represent the first time a UAE carrier has provided a non-stop link between the two countries.

“Flydubai's entry into Georgia is a momentous step in UAE-Georgia relations and I am sure the connection between Tbilisi and Dubai will help to establish and strengthen ties between the countries,” said George Karbelashvili, Deputy Minister of Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development in Georgia. There is actually a lot of business links between the two countries with a number of common areas of interest such as banking, real estate, oil and gas and tourism; and air service connectivity will provide the opportunity to step-up collaboration in these sectors while exploring new relationship avenues.

An estimated 19,000 O&D passengers travelled between the UAE and Georgia in the past year, up 9.2 per cent on the previous 12 month period. The majority of these (around 95 per cent) flew on the Dubai – Tbilisi route, making use of the flights of Georgian Airlines – the carrier offers two rotations per week.

“We are grateful to the Georgian authorities for welcoming flydubai into Tbilisi. As Georgia's largest city as well as its industrial, social, and cultural centre, Tbilisi is gaining prominence in the Middle East both as a business and leisure destination,” said Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer, flydubai.

Located at the crossroads of West Asia and Eastern Europe, Georgia has one of the strongest and fastest developing economies in the region and in recent years has made foreign investment more attractive through reduced regulation and taxes. It is also one of the members of the GUAM Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development along with Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova. There are estimated to be more than 55,000 expatriates from Georgia and the neighbouring region residing in the UAE and more than a million tourists visit the emirates from this area every year.

“Improving air links between Dubai to Central and Eastern Europe is of great strategic importance to us,” added Ghaith Al Ghaith, noting the airline’s expanding network in this part of the world. Flydubai currently operates five routes to former Soviet states, namely: Yerevan (Armenia) Baku (Azerbaijan), Ekaterinburg and Samara (Russia) and Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) and will be launching two additional routes to Russia - Kazan from September 14 and Ufa from September 17. It is also preparing for its expansion into the Ukrainian market with new links to Kiev and Kharkiv beginning on September 16 and Donetsk from September 17.