Tbilisi airport's terminal is being enlarged by 19,500 square metres — half again its current size — with capacity going past 10 million passengers

The operator, TAV Airports, announced in January an investment of about $150 million at Tbilisi International under an agreement with the government. The terminal grows by 19,500 square metres on top of the existing 37,500 — so roughly half again. Passenger bridges double from five to ten. Seven new remote stands are added, along with ten check-in counters, 24 passport control desks and two more baggage carousels. Parking grows by 500 vehicles, and existing areas are refurbished with new commercial space the company says will lean on Georgian food and products. Annual terminal capacity is to rise above 10 million passengers.

The company's own figure for 2025 is more than 5.4 million passengers through Tbilisi, up 13.7 per cent on the year before. A terminal built for a fraction of that is why queues at passport control and check-in have become the standard complaint about arriving in Georgia. Doubling the bridges matters as much as the floor space: aircraft parked remotely mean bus transfers, and bus transfers are where turnaround time and passenger patience go. The project is planned for completion as early as 2028, which on an operating airport means several years of working around construction.

The concession for Tbilisi was due to expire in January 2027. Under the new agreement it runs to the end of 2031, which is how an operator justifies spending $150 million it needs years of operation to recover. For anyone letting apartments to visitors, running tours or planning a hotel, the capacity number is the one to hold on to: more terminal throughput is the precondition for more scheduled seats, and seats, not marketing, set the ceiling on arrivals. TAV also runs Batumi airport, so the two Georgian gateways sit with the same operator.