Independently-owned Georgian carrier FlyGeorgia is preparing to take delivery of its second aircraft – a first Airbus A320 – as it looks to expand its network coverage across Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In an exclusive interview with The HUB last month, the airline’s Chief Executive Officer, John Kohlsaat, revealed plans to significantly expand the business and rival the country’s national carrier Airzena – Georgian Airways.

After launching operations in August this year with a single Airbus A319, FlyGeorgia has now formally signed lease agreements to add an additional two aircraft to its fleet from Irish lessor AerCap. These two larger A320s will be delivered this month and in March 2013 and will enable the carrier to start its first scheduled international services.

Since its inauguration, FlyGeorgia has been providing daily flights on the domestic route between Tbilisi and Batumi, and although it has been serving some international routes such as Amsterdam Antalya, Hurghada, Sharm el Sheikh and Tehran, these are all flown on a charter basis due to local licencing restrictions from the Georgian CAA which restricts carriers with only a single aircraft from flying scheduled flights outside national borders.

According to Kohlsaat, FlyGeorgia is positioning itself as a high quality carrier, offering reliability in what has been a troubled local market. A number of airlines have already ceased operations in Georgia in recent years, including the country’s leading operators, and the independent venture wants to bring a new level of efficiency to the country.

“FlyGeorgia is Georgian airline which aims to connect Georgia with the world and the world with Georgia, to support the development of tourism, economic growth and popularization of the country,” said Kohlsaat. “Our chief priority is to deliver the highest quality service which shall satisfy the requirements of any customer and meet their expectations.”

There are big plans to develop Tbilisi International Airport as a major regional hub and FlyGeorgia intends to play a major role in this. Alongside the recent A320 deal, the carrier plans to add another A319 to its fleet by year-end and grow to up to seven aircraft by the end of 2014. “The Georgian market has changed a lot over the past few years and requires enhanced air connectivity,” said Kohlsaat.

The airline is currently finalising its network plans but a number of new destinations are high on its list. “We are looking to now begin scheduled flights to Amsterdam and Tehran and to introduce services to a number of new cities, including Istanbul, Kiev, Minsk, Moscow and Tel Aviv. Europe will be a key growth market for us and we are considering Berlin as our next destination but Dusseldorf and Stockholm also appeal for future growth,” said Kohlsaat.

These are ambitious growth plans but as many of the markets are relatively thin, FlyGeorgia can serve the demand with lower frequency services and is understood to be looking at offering just two or three weekly rotations on some of its new routes. The hub plan at Tbilisi will help complement the point-to-point demand, with the airline expecting additional transfer traffic, particularly between CIS and European markets and on its flights to and from Tehran.

Looking further ahead Kohlsaat identifies potential strong trade between Europe’s Northern regions and the Middle East via Tbilisi, due to the Georgian diasporas in these areas, while France, Spain and the UK are identified as long-term markets of interest. The airline in the future expects to introduce a smaller aircraft type to the A319 and this will help support network growth.

In the table below we highlight the ten largest international markets from Georgia by O&D demand in 2011. The largest operator in the Georgian market is national carrier Air Zena – Georgian Airlines, which held a 16.9 per cent share of the international traffic in 2011, but it is closely followed by foreign carriers Turkish Airlines (16.0 per cent) and Aerosvit Airlines (11.0 per cent).