Pobeda Airlines, Russia, left the Georgian civil aviation market with dumping prices, says Givi Davitashvili, Director General, Georgian Airways. According to him, Georgian Airways has repeatedly made statements about operating with Russian and Turkish air companies at dumping prices, but the authorities do not take any retaliatory steps.

“The same thing is with Turkey, there is a problem, and it requires a resolution of, for example, in those days, when we have a flight to Amsterdam on the same day, as Turkish Airlines; the latter offers a price by 2-3 times cheaper than ours”, Mr. Davitashvili said.

He also told about discrimination against the Georgian air companies. According to Mr. Davitashvili, business can not fix it independently, therefore, the government support is required.

“Russian airlines operate Moscow – Tbilisi flight and it costs for them by US $ 12-15 thousand cheaper, because, for example, the air navigation tax for Russia is much lower than one for Georgian airlines. If you compare the length of the flight en route Tbilisi – Moscow, then 88% of the time we fly over Russiaand only 12% over Georgia, which naturally causes damage for us. Payments in airports in Russia is three times cheaper for Russian companies. At the same time, a visa is required for our crew to fly to, but Russian crews do not need one, and so on”, Mr. Davitashvili said.

Mr. Davitashvili also announced that due to the closure of the runway at Tbilisi International Airport, his air company suffered losses of up to 5 million (Mr. Davitashvili did not name the currency). The losses were due to the fact that the airport is functioning only at nights, and 95% of Georgian Airways’ flights are operated during the daytime.

According to Mr. Davitashvili, the full amount of damages has not yet counted.

He also expressed his hope that the authorities will take appropriate steps to support this Georgian airline.