Georgian delegates and flydubai officials with Deputy Minister of Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia George Karbelashvili, with flydubai CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith. Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, has been named as the 45th destination of flydubai, Dubai's pioneering low-cost carrier. The only airline to offer direct flights from the UAE to Tbilisi, flydubai received an official seal of approval from the Deputy Minister of Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia George Karbelashvili, who hailed the entry of flydubai into Georgia as an important milestone in the development of relations between the two nations. On his official visit to the UAE and accompanied by Georgian state television, Karbelashvili said: "flydubai's entry into Georgia is a momentous step in UAE-Georgia relations and I am sure flydubai's connection between Tbilisi and Dubai will help to establish and strengthen ties between the countries. We have a number of common areas of interest such as banking, real estate, oil and gas and tourism; and this is the opportunity to step-up collaboration in these sectors while exploring new relationship avenues." Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO, flydubai, said: "We are grateful to the Georgian authorities for welcoming flydubai into Tbilisi. As Georgia's largest city as well as its industrial, social, and cultural centre, Tbilisi is gaining prominence in the Middle East both as a business and leisure destination. Also, improving air links between Dubai to Central and Eastern Europe is of great strategic importance to us. There are more than 55,000 expatriates from this region residing in the UAE and more than a million tourists visiting the emirates every year. We hope our network of direct flights will play a part in making travel between the UAE and Central and Eastern Europe easier and more affordable." Located at the crossroads of West Asia and Eastern Europe, Georgia has one of the strongest and fastest developing economies in the region. flydubai currently operates five routes to former Soviet states, namely: Yerevan (Armenia) Baku (Azerbaijan), Yekaterinburg and Samara (Russia) and Ashgabat (Turkmenistan). In addition, flydubai will be launching two additional routes to Russia with flights to Kazan beginning Sept. 14, and flights to Ufa beginning Sept. 17. The airline's flights to Ukraine will take off to Kiev and Kharkiv from Sept. 16 and to Donetsk from Sept. 17.
