Minister of Economy criticizes TAV Georgia for shortcomings in Tbilisi Airport, company responds
By Levan Abramishvili
Tuesday, October 29
The Minister inspected the arrival and departure terminals of the airport, shops, and cafes in the building, as well as airline tickets and registration slots.
According to Turnava, Georgia is one of the most attractive countries for tourism and first of all, the airports should show our real image to the guests, with which we welcome them
According to the Minister of Economy, she was dissatisfied that she had discovered many flaws while visiting Tbilisi International Airport. The minister gave TAV Georgia leadership a deadline to correct the flaws.
“Much has been done, of course, to enable the airport to provide better service to citizens. I looked at both terminals today, however, and there are still many deficiencies to be eliminated. We gave a very strict warning to TAV Georgia. I should also note that TAV Georgia recognizes these problems and provides timely solutions to them,” Turnava noted.
According to the Minister, attention needs to be paid to the basic infrastructure, such as bathrooms various services in the departure hall, such as cafes and restaurants, whose interior has not met the necessary standards for a long time.
"We planned specific measures, I gave some time to TAV Georgia. I will visit Tbilisi International Airport again after this deadline has expired and will check to see if the problems are solved," said Turnava.
TAV Georgia has responded to the Minister, saying that they are aware of the issues and the bathrooms are periodically undergoing renovation. As for the restaurants, the company states that in both terminals all cafes and restaurants are new, except for one, which is currently under reconstruction.
“We plan to complete the ongoing renovations by the end of February. I would also like to tell you that TAV Georgia has joined the International Airport Council International’s (ACI) Airport Service Quality (ASQ) program, which checks the quality of airport services. A week ago came the third-quarter results and we received a 4.27 rating out of a maximum of 5. Of course, we will take into consideration everything [the Minister noted]. We had had everything planned already,” said Tea Zakaradze, Deputy Executive Manager of TAV Georgia. “The opinion of the Minister is important to us, but I would also say that the opinion of our passengers is also very important,” she added.
The Airport Service Quality (ASQ) program is the only international survey that assesses passenger satisfaction with airport services. Within the framework of this program, according to the results of passenger surveys for the three quarters of 2019, Tbilisi International Airport received 4.27 points on overall satisfaction.
TAV is operating Tbilisi International Airport since October 2005. In Georgia, the company also operates Batumi Airport for a 20-year term, which started in May 2007.