Georgia air deal boost for Qatar Airways

By Pratap John

Al-Noaimi and Kobalia exchange documents after signing the air transport agreement between Qatar and Georgia yesterday. Picture: Sheril Babu

Qatar and Georgia have signed a major air transport agreement based on ‘open skies’, which facilitates ‘unrestricted’ number of flights between the two countries.
The deal will be major boost for Qatar Airways as it will be the first Gulf carrier to fly to the Georgian capital Tbilisi.
"We are hoping to see Qatar Airways flights by the year-end,” Georgian Minister for Economy & Sustainable Development, Vera Kobalia, told Gulf Times yesterday.
Under the deal based on the ‘fifth freedom’ rights, there would not be any restrictions on tariff or the number of flights that could be operated between the two countries, she said.
The fifth freedom, also referred to as ‘beyond’ rights, allows an airline to carry revenue traffic between foreign countries as a part of services connecting the airline’s own country. It is the right to carry passengers from one’s own country to a second country and from that country to a third country and so on.
Asked about the number of flights which Qatar Airways will operate or the airports it will connect, Kobalia said, "It is only in the discussion stage, but most likely it could be a couple of weekly flights to begin with. It is something to discuss with Qatar Airways first.”
The deal could be utilised by the airlines of the two countries. Kobalia, however, said, in future Georgian carriers could
consider making use of the agreement.
"As of now, it will be about Qatar Airways and they will hopefully be flying to our capital city. We are planning to make Tbilisi an aviation hub, as Doha is in the case of Qatar. On that scale, there are plenty of growth opportunities for Qatar’s
national airline,” Kobalia said.
Since Georgia already has an ‘open skies’ agreement with the European Union, Qatar Airways will have opportunities to fly beyond Tbilisi to the EU, she said.
Kobalia said Georgia had more than 2mn visitors last year with a large portion of business travellers. Many of these visitors were from Asia, she added.
"We look forward to flying in more visitors to our country through Qatar Airways. We are definitely aware of the quality services being provided by your national carrier,” Kobalia said.
She said Georgia was keen
to boost bilateral trade with Qatar.
"Currently, the volume is not high. Whatever trade exists is mostly in livestock. There are opportunities for better trade in the farm sector, tourism and alternative energy resources, in which Georgia has considerable expertise. We have had meetings with Qatar’s Ministry of Finance & Economy and these were excellent,” Kobalia added.
Civil Aviation Authority chairman and managing director Abdulaziz al-Noaimi said the air transport agreement would cement bilateral relationship between the two countries.
"HH the Emir has given a directive to boost our relationship with Georgia. Air links between the two countries will see higher number of passengers between Doha and Tbilisi and greater trade between Qatar and Georgia,” al-Noaimi said.
Kobalia and the Georgian delegation also visited the New Doha International Airport project site yesterday.