Georgian Airports Regain the Pre-Pandemic Passenger Turnover Indicators by Only 24%

Georgian Airports have regained only 23.6% of the pre-pandemic passenger turnover indicators. In the first half of 2021, the passenger turnover has shrunk by 76.14% compared to the pre-pandemic period (January-June 2019).

According to the Civil Aviation Agency, in January-June 2021, Georgian Airports served 594,067 passengers, down 17.75% compared to January-June 2020. In January-June 2020, Georgia-based airports served only 722,228 passengers, while the figure exceeded 2.5 million passengers in 1H19.

In January-June 2021, Tbilisi International Airport served 437,573 passengers, down 10.45% compared to January-June 2020, while the figure marked 1.87 million passengers in January-June 2019. As compared to the 2020 indicators, passenger turnover substantially increased at Batumi International Airport. In January-June 2021, Batumi International Airport handled 121,901 passengers, up 150.21% year on year (48,720 passengers) and down 50.73% as compared to the same period of 2019 (247,391 passengers).

As for Kutaisi International Airport, the annual passenger turnover has declined by approximately 83% year on year and by 91.55% compared to January-June 2019. Namely, the reporting period recorded 30,821 passengers at Kutaisi International Airport, 181,453 passengers in January-June 2020, and 364,834 in the same period of 2019. As for domestic airports, passengers turnover at Mestia King Tamar Airport declined by 23.45% to 1,283 passengers; Ambrolauri Airport recorded an annual 219.05% upturn to 603 passengers and Natakhtari Airport registered recorded a 22.07% growth to 1,886 passengers.