The Yanair airline (Zhytomyr) plans to increase its volume of passenger transportation to Georgia by 15-20% in 2017. The airline’s Commercial Director Yevhen Pushenko announced this at a meeting of the Ukrainian Tourist Press Club, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports.

Yanair transported more than 37,000 passengers on flights between Kyiv, Odesa, and Batumi and about 23,000 passengers on flights from Kyiv and Odesa to Tbilisi in 2016.

Pushenko said that the airline company has already begun selling summer flights to Georgia from Kyiv and Odesa. The flights will be operated from the Kyiv (Zhuliany) airport.

According to him, the airline company will increase the frequency of its Kyiv-Tbilisi flights to three per week in April and four per week in June. The cheapest roundtrip ticket will cost UAH 5,832, including fees. This price covers one piece of luggage weighing up to 23 kilograms and on-board meals.

The airline will launch a flight program from Kyiv to Batumi on April 15. The flights will be operated twice a week, but the airline plans to operate them daily from June. The cheapest roundtrip ticket will cost UAH 5,944.

"We see all the prerequisites for increase of passenger traffic between Ukraine and Georgia in 2017. These are tourism and the business ties between the two countries. Therefore, we plan to increase the frequency of our flights between Kyiv and Tbilisi and arrive at a daily timetable of flights to Batumi," said Pushenko.

In addition, the airline company will launch a flight program from Odesa to Batumi on Wednesdays and Saturdays on June 3, with the cheapest roundtrip ticket costing UAH 4,797. It will also launch Odesa-Tbilisi-Odesa flights on Thursdays and Sundays on June 4, with the cheapest roundtrip ticket costing UAH 5.459. 

According to Pushenko, the airline will most likely launch Lviv-Batumi flights at a frequency of two flights per week this year.

Yanair Ltd was registered in Zhytomyr on 15 June 2012. It received its operating certificate in July 2013. According to the register of civil aircraft, it has a fleet of two Saab 340, two Airbus A320, one Airbus A321, two Boeing 737-300, and one Boeing 737-400 aircraft as of 23 January 2017.