Tbilisi airport is being doubled, after a year in which it ran over capacity

The design capacity of the terminal is around five million passengers a year, and 2025 traffic passed 5.4 million. Anyone who has queued at passport control on a summer evening has met that number in person. The expansion is sized to take the airport to ten million a year, which is less an ambition than a correction of something already binding.

The programme enlarges the terminal and airfield infrastructure and modernises operational systems. In concrete terms: passenger boarding bridges doubled to ten, seven remote aircraft parking positions, nine additional check-in counters, two baggage belts, passport control expanded to 24 points, renovated passenger areas with new retail, catering and lounge space, and more parking near the terminal. The work is scheduled across 2026 to 2028.

Airport capacity is the ceiling over every other tourism plan. Routes cannot be added to an airport that cannot handle the aircraft or process the arrivals, so slots, stands and passport booths decide how many visitors a season can physically hold. For tour operators, hotels and short-let owners, the useful part of this announcement is the direction of the ceiling rather than the investment figure.

TAV Georgia has operated Tbilisi and Batumi airports since 2005 and puts its total investment in Georgian infrastructure at USD 250 million. Under this agreement the Georgian Airports Association received a one-time upfront payment of USD 25 million, and the agreement includes funding for airline marketing support. Annual revenues from the Tbilisi airport are expected to rise roughly threefold once the work is finished, which is the part of the arithmetic that explains the willingness to spend.