Georgia and Korea launch talks on direct flights
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, July 12
The Georgian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development has started negotiations with the Korea Republic about the direct flights.
The parties have decided that the procedures needed to start the direct flights will be completed by the end of 2019.
“Within the framework of the visit of the Government delegation of the Republic of Korea to Tbilisi on July 8-10, 2019, negotiations were held to discuss the text of the agreement between the sides. An agreement was drafted and the relevant protocol was signed by the parties under which the sides took the obligation to complete the internal procedures and reach the agreement until the end of 2019,’ the Ministry reports.
The statement reads that after the signing of the agreement, Georgia will be allowed to have regular direct flights to Korea’s major international airports.
“There will be created a legal base in the field of air transport between the two countries, which will make direct flights between Georgia and the Republic of Korea more attractive,” the ministry added.
According to the information from the Georgian side, the agreement on direct flights will deepen trade and economic relations between the countries and develop tourism. The deal is based on liberal principles.
Before these talks, there have only been charter flights between the two countries, and in the 6 months of this year, Georgia was visited by 7,185 visitors from Korea, which is 28% more than the previous year data.
Georgian Ministry says the charter flights between the Republic of Korea and Georgia have been carried out since 2018, in the period between Tbilisi and Seoul, the airline Korean Air has launched two tourist charter flights and 557 passengers were transported. As for the current year, in the period of January- June Korean Air has implemented four tourist charter flights with 935 passengers.
“It is important that the number of visitors from the Republic of Korea to Georgia in recent years has significantly increased. In particular, 7,185 visitors from the Republic of Korea arrived in Georgia in January-June of 2019, which is 29.8% more compared to the same period of 2018 (5,536 visitors). As for 2018, a total of 13,278 visitors from Korea visited Georgia, which is 112.2% more than in 2017 (6,257 visitors),” the Ministry says.
It also notes that taking into consideration the above data, establishing a legal base in the air transport field between the two countries is a priority.
