Routes Silk Road 2014 opens in Tbilisi

TAV Georgia, Operator Company of Tbilisi and Batumi International Airports took part on the first “Routes Silk Road 2014”, the route development forum which connects Asia, the CIS, Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe and which has been opened at Radisson Blue Iveria, Tbilisi on 6-8 of July, 2014. The event brought together over 45 leading airports and 35 leading airlines, as well as tourism authorities, policy-makers and aviation stakeholders to develop new air services to, from and within the region, which is home to around two thirds of the world’s population. One of the highlights of the event is the Routes Silk Road Strategy Summit, which was opened with a keynote address from Mr. Giorgi Kvirikashvili Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. Around 20 high-level industry leaders spoke at this hard hitting conference covering some of the hot topics affecting the industry on 6th of July, including Mr. Mete Erkal, General Manager of TAV Georgia. On the Routes Silk Road summit conference Mr. Mete Erkal, General Manager of TAV Georgia said: “Over the years 2005-2006 we made investment in the capital city of Georgia, Tbilisi and on the Black Sea in Batumi. We built two new airports from the scratch and arranged their infrastructures. Both the Tbilisi and Batumi terminals are equipped with the state-of-art aviation technologies. The personnel are trained and retained on a regular basis. In 2005 Tbilisi airport provided its services to 547,150 passengers and starting from 2007- after the opening of the new terminal- this number was increased to 1,436,629 in 2014. The number of the performed flights rose as well. Cargo flights in particular saw their growth. So the tourism industry is developing in parallel with the positive economic progress that the country is experiencing and Tbilisi and Batumi Airports hold one of the leading positions in the country’s economy”. One more as well very important part of the “Routes Silk Road 2014” are face-to-face meetings, which has been started on 7th of July. On this meeting Representatives of Airports and Airlines had a great possibility to negotiate with each other and to discuss their future cooperation. Also within the frame of “Route Silk Road 2014” TAV Georgia as a one of the main sponsor of the event also has hosted day lunch for guests and delegates of Route Silk Route and has given special gifts to the participants of the event on 7th of July. About TAV Georgia “TAV Georgia ” is a daughter company of “TAV Airports Holding”. It started its operation in Georgia in 2005 year and will continue its activity until 2027 year as per the agreement in effect. Having made the investment worth over 100 million USD in Georgia, new passenger terminals of Tbilisi and Batumi airport were commissioned in 2007 year. Thanks to multimillion investment made in many different countries, long term experience in airport operations and efficient management TAV Georgia has become one of the most reliable, stable and dynamic company in Georgia. About TAV Airports Holding TAV Airports, one of the world’s leading airport operators, operates Istanbul Atatürk, Ankara Esenboğa, Izmir Adnan Menderes, Antalya GazipaşaandMilas-Bodrum airports in Turkey. Tbilisi and Batumi airports in Georgia, Monastir and Enfidha-Hammamet airports in Tunisia and Skopje and Ohrid airports in Macedonia, Madinah Airport in Saudi Arabia and Zagreb Airport of Croatia are also operated by TAV Airports. The Holding also operates in other areas of airport operations including duty-free, food and beverage services, ground services, IT, security and operation services. Within the same context, TAV Airports also operates duty free, food and beverage and other commercial areas at Riga Airport in Latvia. Together with its subsidiaries, the Company provided services to approximately 652,000 flights and 84 million passengers in 2013.