Georgian Airways refused to let Georgian President on board

Georgian Airways will not let Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili on board, who earlier announced a boycott to the carrier. This is stated in the statement of the founder of Georgian Airways, Tamaz Gaiashvili.

“Mrs. Salome announced a boycott of the national airline, we declare her persona non grata and until she apologizes to the Georgian people, we will not let her on board,” Gaiashvili emphasized (quote by Rustavi2).

20 May Salome Zurabishvili statedthat she would not use the services of Georgian Airways and called on Georgian citizens to join the boycott. In her opinion, the carrier is only interested in profit, and now he wants to take advantage of the “new reality, which is unacceptable for a very large part of the population” of Georgia.

On May 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the resumption of air traffic with Georgia, which was terminated in the summer of 2019. In addition, by a separate decree, on May 15, he canceled the visa regime for Georgian citizens.

After that Zurabishvili named the decision of the Russian authorities is a provocation and unacceptable against the backdrop of the continuation of the military operation in Ukraine. At the same time, the government supported the decision of the Russian authorities. Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili declaredthat anything that makes “life, movement and business easier for our citizens is positive and welcome.”

After that, the Georgian airline Georgian Airways announced its desire to resume flights to Moscow. May 20 carrier fulfilled the first direct flight from Tbilisi to Moscow after the resumption of air traffic between Russia and Georgia.