President Wants British Airways to Resume Flights in Georgia

President Saakashvili expressed concern over pull out of British Airways from Georgia and requested from Minister of Infrastructure Tamar Sulukhia to settle the issue within a week. 

“This issue demands urgent solution. I support functioning of foreign air companies in Georgia. This is necessary for the country’s economy and prestige,” the Georgian President said at a government’s meeting on April 5.
 
The British Airways officially suspended its activities in Georgia on March 31.

Georgian authorities canceled flight license to the British Mediterranean Airways, a franchise partner to British Airways, which was conducting London-Tbilisi flights two times a week, in April, 2003. The Georgian side explained cancellation of the flight license with unpaid taxes, inadequate legal basis and unsolved disputes with the Georgian flagship company Airzena.

“In spite of the ongoing and resolute efforts of the British Embassy in Georgia, the British Government, the new Georgian Government and British Mediterranean Airways to resolve the situation, the Georgian Civil Aviation Authorities remained determined to obstruct the resumption of air services between Georgia and the United Kingdom by British Mediterranean Airways,” a statement issued by the company’s Tbilisi office in March reads.
 
President Saakashvili accused the former administration of the Civil Aviation Department of pressing on the British Airlines, saying that the company’s license was cancelled due to “private interests of a particular group.” However, he did not specified further details.