The Odesa region’s Governor Mikheil Saakashvili has announced that negotiations are being held with the United States on construction of a brand new airport in the Odesa region.
"We are working with today's guys. It is a very difficult job. The Finance Ministry is again not allocating money. However, we are simultaneously working with the United States’ department of aviation on construction of another airport. It will be an airport outside the city. There will also be a large cargo terminal there..." Saakashvili said during the Black Sea container summit that began in Odesa on Thursday.
The governor expressed hope that new airlines will come to Odesa in the near future. "We hope that ‘Open Skies’ will kick in and that we will have competition," he concluded.
As reported, Saakashvili said last year that the authorities could decide to reconstruct one of the three military airfields near Odesa with a view to transforming it into a civilian airport if investors in the new Odesa airport terminal were too slow to complete the work on it.
