Business
TAV to Invest $150M Doubling Tbilisi Airport Capacity to 10M by 2028
July 27, 2026
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TAV Georgia, the local arm of French airport group Groupe ADP, has committed more than $150 million to expand Tbilisi International Airport between 2026 and 2028, a project designed to double annual passenger capacity from 5 million to 10 million and reshape the largest air gateway in the South Caucasus. The operator has already made a $25 million upfront payment to the Georgian Airports Association, signalling that the multi-year construction programme is moving from planning to execution.
The timing reflects mounting pressure on Georgia's aviation infrastructure. Tbilisi's main terminal handled more than 5.4 million passengers in 2025, pushing throughput past its designed ceiling of roughly 5 million and leaving little room for the double-digit traffic growth Georgia has recorded as tourism, business travel and diaspora flows rebound. With the country positioning itself as a transit hub along the Middle Corridor linking Asia and Europe, a congested capital airport had become a visible bottleneck for the wider economy.
The investment funds a broad physical overhaul rather than a cosmetic refresh. Plans call for enlarging the passenger terminal and airfield, installing 10 passenger boarding bridges, adding 7 remote aircraft parking stands, and expanding front-of-house capacity with 9 additional check-in counters and 24 passport-control points to ease the queues that have dogged peak-season travellers. The programme also covers modernised technological and operational systems, alongside new retail, dining and business-lounge space with an emphasis on Georgian products, according to Georgia Today.
For investors and the broader regional economy, the commitment carries weight beyond the terminal itself. A doubling of capacity supports Georgia's ambitions in tourism, logistics and trade, sectors that depend on reliable connectivity, and the government projects that annual airport revenues will rise roughly threefold once the works are complete. The involvement of Groupe ADP, one of the world's largest airport operators, also lends international credibility to Georgia's infrastructure pipeline at a moment when the country is courting long-term foreign capital. Georgia's international airports together handled 8.5 million passengers in 2025, as reported by Xinhua, underscoring how central Tbilisi's hub is to national mobility.
The expansion slots into a wider wave of transport spending across the Caucasus, from Middle Corridor rail and road upgrades to Black Sea port modernisation, all aimed at capturing east-west trade that increasingly bypasses northern routes. If TAV delivers on schedule by 2028, Tbilisi would gain the headroom to compete with regional rivals in Baku and Yerevan for connecting traffic, while giving airlines the confidence to add routes and frequencies. The build-out will test Georgia's ability to execute large infrastructure on time, but a successful completion would leave the capital with an airport sized for a decade of growth rather than one perpetually running to catch up.
