Airports Council International, an organisation of airport authorities, has ranked western Georgia’s Kutaisi International Airport third out of 450 European facilities in its 2023 ranking, the United Airports of Georgia said on Tuesday.

Irakli Karkashadze, the Director of the body, said a “sharp increase” of up to 1,700,000 passengers served over the year had caused the Airport to move from a small-sized to medium-sized category in international rankings.

According to the updated classification of ACI, medium-sized airports include all airports in the world that serve between 1 and 10 million passengers annually. We are talking about 450 medium-sized airports in Europe. [Serving over one million] passengers in Kutaisi Airport in 2023 made history of our airport once again and brought international recognition”, he said.

The United Airports cited the ACI report as saying last year the passenger flow at the Airport increased by 91 percent compared to the pre-pandemic figures of 2019 and saw the facility occupy fourth place among European venues.

Image: United Airports of Georgia

January 2024 data from ACI saw the Kutaisi Airport ranked third among medium-sized airports in Europe with a 171.8 percent increase in passenger flow, the Ministry of Economy said.

Georgian Deputy Economy Minister Mariam Kvrivishvili said the ranking had “proved” the Kutaisi Airport was “one of the fastest-growing not only in the wider region, but throughout Europe”.

She said the Airport operated direct flights to 37 destinations, of which 28 were in Europe.

This year, we have very ambitious plans to further expand the airport and increase its capacity in order to host more airlines, receive more direct flights, designate new destinations in European countries, and as a result host even more people both in the Imereti region and in Georgia as a whole”, she said.

Kvrivishvili also highlighted the Airport’s “greatest contribution” to the development of the tourism and airline industry of the country.

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