Tag Archives: aviation

Construction starts on $85m aircraft parts plant in Georgian capital

TBILISI, SEPT. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s PM Irakli Garibashvili officially initiated construction of a factory near Tbilisi airport that will produce structural components for airplanes.

Last March, Israel’s Elbit Systems and Georgia’s Partnership Fund, a state-owned holding, set up a joint- venture called Aero-Structure Technologies to build the $85m plant.

“The fact that Elbit Systems is returning to Georgia means a lot to me personally and to the Georgian government, because this is an expression of confidence towards our government and our country,”

Mr Garibashvili said at the opening ceremony.

The plant will give Georgia’s tech industry a major boost as well as create 300 new jobs. It will open in 2017. A Georgian government press release said the plant’s production was aimed at the major aircraft manufacturers Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier and Sukhoi.

For Elbit, one of Israel’s biggest weapon’s manufacturers, the new factory marks a remarkable turn around in its business relationship with Georgia.

Elbit Systems had previously built and sold Hermes 450 reconnaissance drones in Georgia. In 2011, though, it fell out with the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili.

The government launched a $100m law suit against Elbit which it settled for $35m.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)

Borajet flies to Georgian city

SEPT. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a boost for Georgia’s tourist sector, privately-owned Turkish airline Borajet opened a new air route from Istanbul to the Georgian Black Sea resort town of Batumi. Borajet will fly to Batumi three times a week from Istanbul’s second airport. Turkish Airways already flies from Istanbul’s main airport to Batumi.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)

Uzbekistan Airways shuts Kiev office

SEPT. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan Airways closed its office in Kiev, due to delays in reinstating flights between the Ukrainian capital and Tashkent. “Our airline has been expecting to receive permission from the Ukrainian aviation authorities since May,” Alisher Abdualiyev, the Uzbek ambassador to Ukraine, told the kapital.ua website. In May 2015, flights between Tashkent and Kiev were discontinued due to the absence of an agreement between the two countries.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Qazaq Air flies for the first time in Kazakhstan

AUG. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Qazaq Air, the new state-owned domestic Kazakh airline, flew its maiden flight from Almaty and to Astana on the night of Aug. 27, media reported. Qazaq Air is a fully-owned subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Armenian businessman reports agression

AUG. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Arsen Avetisian, majority shareholder in Air Armenia, said he was beaten up in central Yerevan after meeting with Ruben Hayrapetian, another wealthy Armenian businessman. Mr Avetisian declined to give media full details of his row. Air Armenia is Armenia’s largest private airline. It has not flown since last year when it was declared bankrupt.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 244, published on Aug. 21 2015)

Georgia-Russia number of people flying increase

AUG. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Data from Georgia’s ministry of economy showed that the number of people flying between Tbilisi and Moscow had risen by three-quarters to around 143,000 people in the first seven of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. Russia and Georgia have resumed direct air links, severed after a brief war in 2008.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 242, published on August 7 2015)

Azerbaijan airline looks to cut fees

JULY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan Airlines will reduce the cost of is tickets in-line with a direct order from President Ilham Aliyev, local media quoted the company as saying in a press release. The statement showed just how much control Mr Aliyev has over Azerbaijan’s various state-linked companies.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Kazakh airline makes profit

JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Air Astana, the Kazakh airline part-owned by Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna and BAE Systems, said that profit was $8.3m in the first half of the year compared to a $36.5m loss in the same period in 2014. The main driver of the increased profit was the cheaper price of jet fuel.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Qazaq Air prepares to take off

JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s new, low-cost domestic airline Qazaq Air will begin commercial flights on July 20, it said at its official launch in Astana.

Qazaq Air is a fully-owned subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, which will concentrate on flying less well served routes between regional cities across Kazakhstan.

At the launch party, the company director Blair Pollock said: “Many of the 12 routes on which the Q400 aircraft will operate are not currently served by any other carrier.”

The Kazakh government has made improving travel links between cities in this vast country a priority and the airline should improve business ties and trade between regional centres.

Qazaq Air said it had leased three Canadian Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 which can carry between 68 and 85 passengers, depending on the seating configuration

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)

Air cargo starts to Turkmenistan

JUNE 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Cargolux, one of Europe’s largest air freight carriers, started flights to Turkmenbashi on Turkmenistan’s Caspian Sea coast, the company said. Cargolux said it would fly four times a week to Turkmenbashi. Turkmenbashi can be used as a hub for Central Asia’s Caspian Sea region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)