The second Tbilisi airport has a capacity figure but still no tender
OC Media reported in July 2026 that the government's planned new international airport near the Vaziani military base is still without an announced tender, even as $150 million is being spent expanding the existing Tbilisi airport. Deputy Economy Minister Tamar Ioseliani has previously put the new airport at up to 20 million passengers a year, opening in 2032. Opposition figure Roman Gotsiridze estimates the cost at GEL 3.5 billion, around $1.3 billion. A travel-industry source told the outlet the plan has gone quiet.
Two plans for the same city
On 13 July 2026 TAV Georgia launched a $150 million expansion of the existing Tbilisi International Airport, running to 2028 and raising annual capacity from five million passengers to ten. Separately, the government has said it intends to build a new airport near Vaziani with capacity for up to 20 million a year, opening in 2032. Both are official. What has not been published is how the two fit together, or what happens to the expanded terminal if a second airport opens four years after the works finish.
The criticism, and what is behind it
Gotsiridze argues that spending $150 million on the current airport makes little sense if a new one opens only a few years later, and he also claims the spending favours the ruling party's political and business network. Khatia Dekanoidze says discussions about moving the airport began in 2023 and raises the site itself, noting that Vaziani is a NATO-standard training facility Russia has long objected to. These are opposition arguments, not findings, but the first of them is an ordinary question about sequencing that the government has not answered publicly.
Why the absent tender is the real signal
An anonymous travel-industry source told OC Media that the Vaziani plan has gone quiet with no tender announced, and suggested the government may simply have chosen to expand the existing airport instead. The outlet says it contacted the Economy Ministry and government spokespeople about Vaziani without reply, and that TAV declined to discuss relocation. For a project of this scale, the absence of a procurement notice is more informative than any capacity figure: nothing gets built without one.
What it changes for property and tourism businesses
Airport location shapes land value, hotel siting and transfer times, so a decision this unsettled is a reason to hold off on buying land on either a Vaziani or an airport-corridor thesis. The near-term certainty is the expansion already under contract: more boarding bridges, more check-in and passport capacity, and double the passenger throughput by 2028 at the airport that exists today. Deputy Minister Ioseliani also said Kutaisi International Airport is being studied for expansion, which matters more to Imereti and Black Sea operators than Vaziani does.
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.
