Russian air carrier Azimuth Airlines has been granted permission to begin charter flights to Georgia, the head of the Georgian Civil Aviation Agency, Givi Davitashvili, announced on Monday.
The agency is currently considering several applications for permission to carry out flights, Davitashvili told the broadcaster IMEDI. He said that five carriers, including the country’s flagship Georgian Airways, have already applied to launch direct routes between Georgia and Russia and revealed that one airline, Azimuth, had already been granted a permit.
“We have already completed studying the application of one of the carriers. This is Azimuth Airlines, which can operate flights starting May 17. This permit was issued today by the Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia,” Davitashvili stated, adding that the company will perform charter flights only.
Azimuth Airlines confirmed the development to TASS, stating that sales of tickets had already begun. The first flight between Moscow and Tbilisi is slated for May 19, the company said. It will operate one flight on the route each day.
The development comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced visa-free travel for Georgian nationals last week. The president also lifted a ban on Russian carriers operating flights to the country, which had been in place since 2019.
The move received a mixed reaction in Georgia, with the country’s President Salome Zourabichvili branding it a “provocation” and stating the resumption of flights and visa-free travel was “unacceptable as long as Russia continues its aggression against Ukraine and occupies our territory.”
The Georgian government, and the ruling Georgian Dream party, however, welcomed the move. The party’s leader, Irakli Kobakhidze, said the air travel ban having been lifted was a result of Tbilisi’s “pragmatic policy course.” Georgia took an explicitly neutral stance on the ongoing hostilities between Moscow and Kiev, refusing to impose sanctions on Russia over the conflict.
Several top Georgian officials have repeatedly signaled that the country’s government has no intention of changing that stance so as not to damage ties with Russia, which would harm Georgia’s own economy.
The removal of the air travel ban has invoked fury in the West, with the US openly threatening sanctions against Tbilisi should flights resume. “If flights between Russia and Georgia resume, given that companies at Georgian airports may be targeted for sanctions, we would be concerned if they serve aircraft subject to additional import and export controls,” a State Department spokesperson said last week.
The EU had a similar reaction, with Peter Stano, the bloc’s lead spokesperson for foreign affairs, urging Tbilisi to join the sanctions on Russia instead of resuming direct flights. “The EU encourages Georgia, which is aspiring to become [a] EU candidate country, to align with the existing EU sanctions,” Stano has said, warning the bloc had “taken note” of Moscow’s decision to lift the ban.