MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

Today, Tbilisi hosts the second day the fifteenth jubilee International Route Development Forum – CONNECT 2018 at the Biltmore Hotel Tbilisi. Over 500 representatives of 65 airlines and 250 airports will participate in the Forum.

On February 21, the Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Giorgi Cherkezishvili opened the second day of the Forum. The Director of the JSC United Airports of Georgia of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, Ketevan Aleksidze, First Deputy Head of the Georgian Tourism Administration of the Ministry of Economy, Tornike Zirakishvili, the Chief Executive Officer of the Airport Agency of France, which is the organizer of the Forum, Karin Butot and other honorable guests also delivered the speeches. The moderator of the event was the Chief Analyst at anna.aero, Nick Preston.

Within the framework of the forum, the heads of the Fly Dubai, the Transavia Airlines, the Nordica and other companies will hold the presentations. At 16:00 there is scheduled a panel where the Head of the Tourism Administration of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development Giorgi Chogovadze will deliver a speech. Georgian wine degustation will conclude the event.

Georgian Government made a decision to take part in the selection process of host-country for conducting CONNECT 2018 and Georgia become the hosts of the 15th jubilee Forum. Large-scale international forum is an annual event as is normally held in the European countries. 

Forum participant are such leading airlines as Royal Dutch Airlines, Gulf Air, Wizz Air, Ryanair, Ukraine International Airlines, Turkish Airlines, TUI France, Airzena, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, British Airways, Ernest Airlines, Transavia, HOP, MIAT Mongolian Airlines, Tajik Air, PTL Airlines, Flybe, Blue Air, SWISS International Airlines, Iberia, Croatia Airlines, Eurowings, Nordica, Meridiana, Pegasus Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Flydubai, Ellinair, Lufthansa, Volotea, Atlas Global, Air France, air Baltic, etc. 

The delegates of the Forum will discuss existing and expected challenges in the field of air traffic, and will provide grounds for the cooperation between the airlines and the airports. The aim of the forum is to attract the interest of even more airlines in the Georgian market and add more flight directions.