Georgia's Myway to add European links
Georgian start-up Myway Airlines is planning to add new scheduled services to Rome, Athens, Munich and Dusseldorf this winter.
Speaking to FlightGlobal at the World Routes conference in Guangzhou today, commercial director Igor Aptsiauri says the carrier is also considering a Dubai service for later this winter.
Myway is currently operating three scheduled services: flights to Kharkiv from Tbilisi and Batumi, and a Tel Aviv service from Tbilisi. The carrier operated its first flight on 4 April this year – a charter service to Iranian capital Tehran.
A new service to Kiev is scheduled to due to begin on 5 October, then on 28 October it intends to start services to Budapest, which will represent the Georgian carrier’s first destination within the EU.
Myway will receive its third aircraft – a Boeing 737-800 – during April 2019. After this, Aptsiauri says he expects Myway to take delivery of one new aircraft per year over the next five to six years to reach a fleet size of approximately 10. This will include Boeing 777s.
From 2019 onwards, he says the Tbilisi-based carrier intends to start flights to destinations in India, China and elsewhere in Asia. Services to the USA could begin in three to four years, pending FAA approval.
Aptsiauri says load factors on new services to Israel are averaging 75-80%, while those to Ukraine are at between 70% and 75%. He says the airline's product has been well received by customers in the first few months of operations.
He adds that talks are under way with several European and Chinese carriers for potential codeshare agreements. Aptsiauri identifies China Southern as one airline where an agreement may be secured.
He says a future focus for Myway is to develop Tbilisi into a transfer hub. Approximately 97% of passengers at the Georgian airport are origin and destination, with 3% transfer. Aptsiauri says he would like to see transfer traffic growing to 25-30%.
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Georgian start-up Myway Airlines is planning to add new scheduled services to Rome, Athens, Munich and Dusseldorf this winter.
Speaking to FlightGlobal at the World Routes conference in Guangzhou today, commercial director Igor Aptsiauri says the carrier is also considering a Dubai service for later this winter.
Myway is currently operating three scheduled services: flights to Kharkiv from Tbilisi and Batumi, and a Tel Aviv service from Tbilisi. The carrier operated its first flight on 4 April this year – a charter service to Iranian capital Tehran.
A new service to Kiev is scheduled to due to begin on 5 October, then on 28 October it intends to start services to Budapest, which will represent the Georgian carrier’s first destination within the EU.
Myway will receive its third aircraft – a Boeing 737-800 – during April 2019. After this, Aptsiauri says he expects Myway to take delivery of one new aircraft per year over the next five to six years to reach a fleet size of approximately 10. This will include Boeing 777s.
From 2019 onwards, he says the Tbilisi-based carrier intends to start flights to destinations in India, China and elsewhere in Asia. Services to the USA could begin in three to four years, pending FAA approval.
Aptsiauri says load factors on new services to Israel are averaging 75-80%, while those to Ukraine are at between 70% and 75%. He says the airline's product has been well received by customers in the first few months of operations.
He adds that talks are under way with several European and Chinese carriers for potential codeshare agreements. Aptsiauri identifies China Southern as one airline where an agreement may be secured.
He says a future focus for Myway is to develop Tbilisi into a transfer hub. Approximately 97% of passengers at the Georgian airport are origin and destination, with 3% transfer. Aptsiauri says he would like to see transfer traffic growing to 25-30%.
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