Tbilisi airport is being rebuilt to take ten million passengers a year, with the work running to 2028
TAV Georgia, part of France's Groupe ADP, has started a 150 million dollar expansion of Tbilisi International Airport that runs from 2026 to 2028 and lifts design capacity from five million passengers a year to ten million. The airport handled more than 5.4 million passengers in 2025, which is effectively its current ceiling. Boarding bridges double to ten, passport control goes to 24 positions, and seven remote aircraft stands are added.
What is actually being built
The terminal and the airfield are both being enlarged, and the operational systems behind them modernised. The published list is specific: boarding bridges rise from five to ten, seven remote aircraft parking positions are added, nine more check-in counters and two more baggage belts go in, and passport control expands to 24 positions. Passenger areas are being renovated, with more retail, catering and lounges, and more parking close to the terminal. The implementation window is 2026 to 2028.
Why now: the airport is full
Design capacity is five million passengers a year. In 2025 the airport handled more than 5.4 million, which the government describes as nearly reaching that capacity. That is the whole case for the project: the constraint is no longer demand for flights to Georgia but the building they land in. Anyone running a tour business, a guesthouse or a serviced flat has felt the consequence already in queue times at passport control and in how few remote stands there are when weather backs flights up.
Who is paying, and what the state gets
The investor is TAV Georgia, a TAV Airports subsidiary and part of Groupe ADP, which has operated Tbilisi and Batumi airports since 2005 and says it has put 250 million dollars into Georgian infrastructure over that period. Alongside the expansion, the Georgian Airports Association received a one-time upfront payment of 25 million dollars, and annual airport revenues to the state side are expected to roughly triple once the work is finished. The agreement also funds marketing to attract new airlines and routes, which is the part that matters most to regional hotels.
What to plan around
Two practical things follow. First, there will be live construction at a working airport through 2027 and into 2028, so guests arriving on tight connections deserve a warning and a longer transfer buffer than you used last year. Second, a terminal built for ten million is a bet on route growth, and route growth is what changes occupancy in Tbilisi flats and in regional hotels rather than anything happening in the property market itself. If you are modelling a purchase on rental demand, the airport schedule is a more honest leading indicator than price-per-square-metre charts.
Written by us from the source linked above, not investment, legal or tax advice. Figures and rules change — confirm anything that matters before acting on it.
