Turkish Airlines maintains the leading position on the Georgian market by number of passengers served in 9M17. However, the increased competition over the last two years has weakened the airline’s lead. Its share on the Georgian market has almost halved from 19.8% in 2015 to 11.2% in 9M17. Georgian Airways, the only local carrier on the market, is close behind, with 9.6% of the market. Since the addition of direct flights from Kutaisi to European cities, Wizz-Air’s competitive position on the Georgian market has strengthened considerably.
The share of air travel in total arrivals to Georgia is on the rise, thanks to improvements in air connectivity and growth in the number of visitors from secondary source markets. The number of visitors arriving by air was up 49.0% y/y to 1.4mn in 10M17 and accounted for 21.5% of total arrivals, up from 13.5% in 10M15.
The number of international arrivals was up 15.2% y/y to 0.61mn in October 2017. Out of the top four source markets, there was strong growth from Russia (+30.3% y/y), Armenia (+12.7% y/y), and Azerbaijan (+9.1% y/y). The number of visitors from Turkey also increased (+2.4% y/y) for the fourth consecutive month, but the increase was a modest one. Arrivals from the EU were up 17.4% y/y to nearly 30,000 visitors.
Secondary source markets also posted robust performances in 10M17. Arrival growth from secondary (non-EU) source markets contributed 3.8ppts to the overall growth of 18.8% y/y. The number of Israeli visitors increased 35.9% y/y to over 115,000 visitors, while the number of visitors from Saudi Arabia was up 171.5% y/y to almost 55,000. Arrivals from the EU were up 24.0% y/y to over 293,000 visitors in 10M17, with Germany, Poland, and UK accounting for a third of the growth.
